Click to enlarge. Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

There was a Vent Line complaint recently in the Charleston Gazette about the barren approach to the front of the Clay Center. That is only part of the problem. With a new admninistrator now in charge at the center, one wishes the facility would rethink the failed front yard of this structure. One cannot help but wonder if the vast driveway turnaround that fronts the center reflects the fact the place was conceived, funded and designed either by bluebloods or with bluebloods in mind -- makes a convenient drop off point right to the front door so as not to have to walk so far in heels and a spangly dress. (True, it makes it easier for school buses to disgorge school children, as well.) But that's not the essential problem. The whole front should be redesigned, with drive-up parking replacing the turnaround so that the center always seems a hive of activity. A kiosk selling cappuccino out front? Re-think the side and back plaza as an inviting place to eat lunch during the workday?