What we know now about a new commercial center east of the interstate is that we never knew much in the first place.

And we say “commercial center” because it’s a vague term that will fit (we think) whatever kind of construct inhabits developer Bucky Wolford’s head. That is hard to define because Wolford’s proposals have changed several times and because he has receded from the media of late. What was once a “regional shopping center” became something open to the air and smaller — err, that is the plan, right? The ever-changing concept for the development illustrates well what have been the chief attributes of the entire mall/no-mall debate: confusion, obfuscation and frustration.

Economic studies, we’ve had plenty — all, it seems, widely disputed for their premises, methods and calculations, all presumed to be biased toward one conclusion or the other.

Legitimately competing concerns for free enterprise, smart growth and conservation of natural resources — too often reduced to academic shouting matches (in print, out loud or both) with compromise conspicuously absent. City Council members and involved citizens engaged in debate — and each one of them demonized merely for their rational but divergent beliefs.

Maybe that’s just politics. There’s no changing that.

The city and Wolford, for the time being, are clashing on who will pay for infrastructure development along the long stretch of 13th Street between Dayton Avenue and the proposed mall site, among other items. This is frightening because it means we are getting further from a city-developer agreement that aligns the best interests of both the city of Ames and Bucky Wolford’s pockets.

As Ames Smart Growth activists have been religious in pointing out, the completion of Wolford’s development is still far from a sure thing. For that matter, so is a renovation of North Grand Mall, though the signs are optimistic.

All we can say, it seems, is that no part of the mall situation is desirable. Wolford’s new proposal sounds like a dressed-up collection of small stores, a large cement parking lot and a few anchors — a couple of them new to Ames. The plan for renovating North Grand Mall sounds suspiciously similar, though the mall’s new ownership is looking more and more like the reasonable party in this entire mess because it adds options without contradicting the city’s land use plan and the apparent wishes of a segment of the city.

This page has traditionally seen support for free enterprise as the most important part of the mall issue. Given the events and debates of these last few months, it’s now obvious the market, although certainly an important factor, should not trump residents’ concerns and the hazy social and economic implications of new development.