So I'm listening to NPR this afternoon, half a sleep, but I'm listening to this report on rebuilding a town in Mississippi.  Pass Christian is the town, they were pretty much wiped out by Katrina.  The Wal-Mart was destroyed.  Wal-Mart is promising to return and the city officials are very excited.  One of the things the mayor of Pass Christian said is the Wal-Mart might build a "Wal-Mart Villiage"  This would be a standard Wal-Mart with housing, in this case condos on the floors above the main store.  A proposed structure is pictured below:


I'm wondering if Wal-Mart wants to come into Thurston County, or elsewhere in the Northwest, should we not, as part of the planning process, demand these so called "Wal-Mart Villages".  I'm not certain if I would want to live in such a place, but I am certain it would be better than having yet another big box store in a sea of parking spaces.  I commend the innovative thinking, even if there is a buck to be made by Wal-Mart.  More than anything I would like these pseudo-Urban Layers type projects to be how all retail is incorporated into a community.