Ian Enterline’s post on The People Demand It! about the vacant retail buildings along West 12th Street by the Peninsula, near West 38th and Liberty streets, and on East 38th Street and Pine Avenue raises some interesting questions.

It also introduces a topic we haven’t talked much about in this venue — namely the hollowing out of Erie’s inner core.

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about the efforts to spruce up and revitalize downtown (and that is a crucial effort).

But we haven’t paid much attention to the next ring of development surrounding downtown before we reach the wealthier suburbs.

Many of the vacancies alluded to in Ian’s piece are the direct result of the retail development boom on upper Peach Street and the shift in wealth from the edges of the city into Millcreek, Summit, Fairview and the like.

For decades, places like Liberty Plaza were central to folks who were doing their weekly grocery shopping, their trips to the drug store and to specialty shops like jewelry stores and sporting goods operations.

But many of those folks with disposable income have moved out of that part of town and into bigger homes in the burbs. And the retail explosion on upper Peach Street has attracted all of those dollars.

The stores that remained in the inner ring have slowly struggled and died — leaving behind the carcasses of buildings that have no demand.

I fear that situation will only worsen for awhile. As more anchors like Value City leave town, shoppers have fewer reasons to trek to the remaining stores in those areas.

Soon, the vacancies will creep further out from the inner ring and the sprawl into the suburbs will continue.

The hope, of course, is that the redevelopment of Erie’s downtown will bring growth to the region’s core and will spread out into the outer reaches of the city limits, pushing up demand for real estate in areas like Liberty Plaza and along East 38th Street.

But that, my friends, is likely to be a long process.