Mayor Anderson is worried that the LDS Church is blowing its opportunity to create a great downtown. The trouble, the mayor says, is that the church is preparing to replace its two enclosed downtown malls with another one. He calls malls a "failed paradigm."

He wants The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to consult urban design specialists to help it think outside the mall and open the two downtown blocks to the sky and life on the surrounding streets.

But the mayor's criticism is premature. The church has not made public its plans for the Crossroads and ZCMI malls in any detail yet. Until it does, informed judgments are impossible.

The mayor's concern rests on the fact that the church's equity partner in the project is Taubman Centers, a mall developer, though a highly respected one.

The mayor might say that a mall is a mall is a mall. But we're not sure.

Though Taubman and the church have said that the two malls will become one and will be enclosed, they also have said that the project will include a lot of glass opening to the sky, sidewalk dining and other features that will guide pedestrians to surrounding blocks.

In other projects, Taubman has created an open-air market and experimented with hybrid designs.

Until Salt Lakers see some detailed plans, we won't know what the church and Taubman have in mind. And neither, to his apparent chagrin, will the mayor.

What everyone knows is that the vast expanses of unrelieved brick that are the street faces of the two existing malls have been a disaster for downtown. It is unimaginable that anyone, least of all the LDS Church, would repeat that mistake.

And while The Gateway's faux streetscape is popular with some shoppers, the jury is still out on that project.

Maybe there's a third way. Maybe that's what the church and Taubman are looking for. Maybe that's why it is taking some time.

We share the mayor's frustration with the lack of information. We hope that public reaction will help to mold the church's initial plans once they are unveiled, and that the church will bring public comment into the planning process.

Meanwhile, nostalgia for a 1950s-style Main Street that cannot be re-created is pointless.

On the bright side, Salt Lake City has a "problem" that most cities would die for: a landlord willing to invest $500 million in redeveloping two huge city blocks in the downtown core.

Count your blessings, Mr. Mayor.