'Provide a reason to shop' in Monroe

I am delighted to see an effort to improve the downtown section of Monroe by the Chamber of Commerce. This area resembles the land that time forgot: Ghastly and wholly inappropriate red brick buildings from the Staten Island strip mall school of architecture ... empty storefronts that once housed businesses that never made any sense to begin with .. .and topped off with a monstrous carbuncle of a pond that would be of better use if sections of it were filled in and paved over and converted to a weekend country marketplace with parking. What is needed is an imaginative vision that will provide a reason to shop there. Pardon me if it seems like I am singling out Monroe. I live in Woodbury and it is no better. Al Gonzales Highland Mills