No Small Change

The pile of rubble you see at left used to be Jerry's 27th Street Market, a small neighborhood grocery store a few blocks from a house I once owned in Boise.

Jerry's had been in business for more than 60 years. I know they had some hard times and when I lived nearby, I did my part to keep the place open, stopping in for milk and bread, snacks and the occasional lottery ticket.

And it was here, in the late 1990s, that I won $5,000.

It was one digit of one number from the $12 million Powerball jackpot! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. At the time, I was a single mom with a steady but small freelance business and an $800 mortage that I wasn't even sure how I'd pay that month.

No, it wasn't $12 million, but that little windfall was sent from heaven. I thanked Jerry every time I saw him after that!

Jerry’s was torn down last week to make room for a three-story condo complex with “ground-floor commercial shops” and not nearly enough on-site parking to be practical.

 “We’re going to have the tallest structure in the area, so you’re going to have some beautiful views of all over Boise,” the real-estate agent said in a June 12 front-page article in the Idaho Statesman, confirming he's completely oblivious to the fact that the complex doesn't even begin to fit the rustic charm of this modest, older neighborhood.

Or that anyone would have to win a much bigger lottery prize to afford to live there.