Well, not exactly; hell, not even close. But the net result is the same.

Until about two years ago, there was a branch of Citizens Bank on the corner of the lot where the Fred Meyer store stands here in Corvallis, at Kings and Buchanan. The bank apparently decided they did not need this branch anymore; customers could go to either the main bank downtown or the other branch about a mile east. In a small town like Corvallis, three branches of a bank are too much. So the Fred Meyers Citizens Bank closed up shop, and the building stood empty.

And then, a little over a month ago, they began to demolish the building. I had wondered if some other business might move in, but the answer was clearly no. No new building was constructed in its place, either; no fast food outlet (despite there being no such businesses in that area and the larger of our two high schools just blocks away, not to mention several thousand college students living with walking distance. The site turned out to have a single value to the Kroger Corporation, which owns Fred Meters: parking.

Yup. They tore down the bank and put in more parking; they just finished in the past few days. They did not add very many spaces, either. They relocated some existing spaces, a dozen or so, and had to leave drivining lanes, even with closing the entrance off Kings. It appears there has been a net gain of about ten spaces; at most -- and frankly, I didn't count very carefully, but the small number was apparent -- maybe twenty. So: a convenient and well-used bank branch closed, forcing customers to do even more driving. No additional business was added, not even one that one might assume to have been profitable. New parking, to the tune of ten or so, has been added to ease the terrible burden of customers who are now forced to park as far away as several hundred feet.

The point being: That's the way it goes. Joni Mitchell was not being over-dramatic. They have paved paradise and put a parking lot. They did so because of all the roads they first constructed, the cars and trucks they shipped in, the stores and businesses they constructed, the houses and schools and churches and everything else we demand of out life and society. None of these things are intrinsically bad, just as none of them need be destructive or inhumane. We, the perpetrators and users of the paving and cars and businesses, can choose to make these things productive and even beneficial, to our lives and our natural world. Or we can choose to blithely accept the easy road, the quick and cheap, the destructive that only delays the tough choices that await us. Fred Meyer has ten more parking spaces. I don't think any celebration is going to be held to commemorate the event.