This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

After taking the 220 bus to downtown Salt Lake City, what my family and I found there saddened us all. Store fronts along Main Street were closed and boarded up, leaving only a few original businesses, such as Lamb's and Edinburgh Castle.

Where is downtown Salt Lake? Some may say, "It's right there, there's City Creek Center." I do not believe that is a downtown. That is a mall, with food courts, water shows and large corporations.

I hope someday people will come out of the malls and revive the local shops and restaurants. To walk outside on the streets instead of enclosed under a retractable roof is, to me, what a real American downtown is all about.

Emily Kam

Salt Lake City