Imperialism
Russia
Fig. 1. Historic Russian empire, from the New York Times, possibly March 6, 2014, fair use.[1]
Anastasia Stognei, “Thousands of Russian officials to give up iPhones over US spying fears,” Financial Times, July 16, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/6567e7f2-c5fb-4da4-bd95-bf7ceef54038
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Century III Mall
Fig. 1. “The exterior of the closed Century III Mall taken from a drone . . . in West Mifflin.” Photograph by Benjamin B. Braun, May 11, 2023, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,[2] fair use.
Moonbeam, the owner of the Century III Mall, has amassed a similar record with malls across the country:[3]
In five of the retail centers, including those in West Mifflin, Ohio, Georgia, New York and New Jersey, Moonbeam has followed a well-worn script.
Company executives presented wide-ranging redevelopment plans to local officials, but didn’t break ground or even maintain the structures, all while taking in rent from tenants and accepting hundreds of thousands in federal funds to keep their business afloat, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has found.[4]
West Mifflin will hold a condemnation vote on Tuesday (July 18, 2023). No points for guessing how this one turns out.
Neena Hagen, “‘Moonbeam needs to go’: Owner of Century III Mall has left a trail of shuttered and decaying malls nationwide,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 16, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2023/07/16/moonbeam-owner-century-iii-malls-nationwide/stories/202307160088
- [1]New York Times, “Ukraine Crisis in Maps,” n.d., http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/27/world/europe/ukraine-divisions-crimea.html↩
- [2]Neena Hagen, “The fall of the Century: Once a retail shopping jewel, the West Mifflin mall has been left to rot,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 21, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2023/05/21/centuryiii-west-mifflin-mall-slag-heap-kaufmanns-sears-police-closed-crime/stories/202305210039↩
- [3]Neena Hagen, “‘Moonbeam needs to go’: Owner of Century III Mall has left a trail of shuttered and decaying malls nationwide,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 16, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2023/07/16/moonbeam-owner-century-iii-malls-nationwide/stories/202307160088↩
- [4]Neena Hagen, “‘Moonbeam needs to go’: Owner of Century III Mall has left a trail of shuttered and decaying malls nationwide,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 16, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2023/07/16/moonbeam-owner-century-iii-malls-nationwide/stories/202307160088↩