The Complicated Saga of Downtown Erie’s Transitway Mall

In the world of well intentioned, but ultimately futile investment of government dollars, The Transitway Mall was chump change compared to the massive boondoggles that happen on a regular basis. Yet, on a small scale, it tells a story of how changes in the way we live have a ripple effect on the world around us. Ed Whitbred grew up a block and a half from Perry Square and four blocks from The Boston Store.   He came of age when downtown was still in its golden years. Like most folks of a certain age, he witnessed the slow transformation into the hodge podge of smaller retail outlets, senior housing, sports and entertainment centers and an abundance of bars and restaurants. How did the downtown area start?  Why did it change? Could the transformation have been stopped? What part did Erie’s legendary mayor, Lou Tullio, play in creating the Transitway experiment? Like most things in life, there is no single reason for this “good, big, mistake”.  But at the heart of this is the single word, “transit”. Changes in how people got from here to there on a day to day, basis, changed almost everything in our lives. It also made the Transitway Mall a non-starter although a great story.