Civility Strikes Back!

I don't want to leave my 'thugs' posts as they stand and give the impression that the war is lost, even if some battles are over...
Two notes regarding the warm homeliness that still exists in Bridgeport and would be wonderful to recapture:
1) About a week ago one of our postulants asked for money to get a haircut and I red-facedly had to admit that I had dispensed all of it and that the bank was closed on Wednesday: could ghe wait until tomorrow? He responded with disbelief at the idea that a bank would not be open for business on Wednesday. I replied that this is an old local bank with its own customs. A year ago they took a poll of customers to find out what they might do differently to serve us better and one option was to open on Wednesdays. I responded that they should in no way do this: there is something enjoyably humane about businesses that still take days off. We can go a day without the bank! Which leads me to...
2) During the heat wave of a couple weeks ago (as distinguished from our present one), Lina's Pizzaria was closed because the kitchen was too hot! Bravissimo! At other times, Lina's and some other local establishments (Grazziano's is the one I can recall) close because the family takes a vacation! Another congratulatory mention should go to Polo's Cafe, the flagship restaurant of our neighborhood, that only opens on certain days if you call ahead and ask!

Anyway, I love the hours of all these places. They indicate that they are staffed by real people with real lives that include leisure. The city is putting a lot of pressure on the old guard establishments right now. They would like to 'update' our neighborhood and make it Lincoln Park south (nothing wrong with Lincoln Park, another favorite neighborhood of mine, but do we need two?), and this means getting yuppie places instead of Healthy Food, Three Happiness, and Punchinello's. This would probably run the thugs out of the neighborhood, but we would lose the old charm, too. What do you think about this dilemma?