I remember being at the grand re-opening in October 1981 like it was yesterday. I am surprised at how many sources have this wrong.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-remember-when-Westland-Mall-was-awesome/258290049036?ref=mf

I remember those “golden years” in Georgian Heights as well. Our neighborhood pool was Westview. Wasn’t it great growing up in the 70s on the Westside?

It has, however, suddenly become quite a topic on the news. Ohio just passed a state constitution amendment granting four casinos to specific owners in specific locations. (Yes, you read that right. Ohioans just modified their *state constitution* to grant four specific businesses to four specific owners in four specific locations. It is appalling that nobody thinks this a gross abuse of the state’s highest law, under which all are supposed to be equal. But I digress.)

Franklin County, in which Columbus and Westland Mall are located, voted against the measure. Suddenly interest groups are popping up saying “We’ll take the casino!” as there is considerable opposition to its presence downtown in the arena district. One of those groups, which has such businesses as Haydocy Pontiac (located near Westland), has said that they would like to see the casino on the Westland site or on the old Dephi plant across the street on Georgesville Road.

I live about 1.5 miles southeast of Westland Mall. I voted against the amendment as I perceive use of the constitution for this purpose as a perversion. However, if they’re going to put it somewhere, I wouldn’t mind it going either at Westland or the Delphi plant. My preference would be for Westland, as this is least likely to impact my drive to and away from my house everyday, as I usually go through the intersection at Georgesville and Broad.

In an incomprehensible twist, the Franklin Township authorities said they were against the idea. Their reasoning? They get property taxes from Westland and Delphi. Yup, these geniuses oppose the plan because of the property taxes they think they’re going to get from a completely vacant auto supplier plant, and a nearly-dead mall complex. There are politics involved with the City of Columbus because of annexation and other things, but still…

The Westland saga continues.

On an even sadder note, I took 275 photos inside City Center on the day it closed. I don’t like to shop, but I really liked City Center. In September 1989, it was the first place real place I went in Columbus after starting school at tOSU. It has always had a special place in my heart. I even shot 15 minutes of video inside the mall so that I could coordinate all my photos. If I were really documenting its ultimate demise, I would have been taking pictures of its demolition, but I refuse to go see it.

I came across your Flickr pics and it was unreal! I was about to link to them on this post. Truly, truly strange- my thought was the wires for the old sign somehow weren’t properly capped/disconnected and caused the fire.