They just don’t make them like they used to.

That’s a phrase I hear fairly often from old-timers and old-timer-wannabes (like me), usually just after something breaks. My version of that phrase also includes a blistering, profanity-laced criticism of manufacturers who reduce the quality of their items to hit the retail pricing “sweet spot” of $19.99. Don’t get me started.

The same principle could also apply to our houses and commercial buildings. If You ask my uncle about this, he’ll talk for an hour about the solid beams and tank-like qualities of his grandfather’s house built in the 1940s. During an earthquake, the house would probably damage the earth.

But they just don’t build them like that anymore. Can you imagine that any of the buildings we’ve created in the last 20 years would be worthy of historical designation 50 years from now? “On your left, we’ll be passing an excellent example of late 1990s steel building design, complete with a replica store that performed what was once known as ‘check cashing’.”

Probably not.

Black Diamond, Covington, and Maple Valley all have some big upcoming building projects, ones that will define them for at least the next 30-50 years. After that? We’ll probably be asking when they’ll tear down those run-down pieces of junk.

Why? Well, we just don’t build those things like we used to. Timeless designs with unique architecture aren’t the order of the day. Playing it safe is our current mind set, and bold ideas are frowned upon.

Case in point: Maple Valley’s Legacy Site. This 50-acre wooded parcel of land was purchased in 2000 with the intent of creating a local government campus, with some open space in the mix. After four years of careful deliberation, a relatively safe plan was presented in 2005. Since then it’s been quiet, progress has stalled and the political wind has gone out of the sails, even for a nondescript building proposal. Nine years have passed, and we still have a 50-acre wooded parcel.

Hopefully, there’s a grand monument waiting for us when it’s finally finished. The land for the Empire State Building was purchased in 1929, and the building was completed 2 1/2 years later. The Eiffel Tower went from idea to completion in less than four years. My guess is, Maple Valley will eventually settle for an ordinary but functional building that looks like everything else.

Now, it’s easy to criticize, and much harder to create. So in an effort to create, I’ll give you my Dumb Idea of the Week. I have plenty of dumb ideas, but there can be only one at the top. If you want to see all of them, follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/dumbideas.

In the movie series Back to the Future, some of the famous scenes revolve around the center of town at Courthouse Square. It’s a movie set on the Universal Studios lot that’s still in use today. The Dumb Idea of the Week is to build an exact replica of the set, complete with the clock tower and other hints from the movie. One side of the square could house the post office, while the theater at the end of the street could be a performing arts center and $3 movie theater showing second-run family films (complete with a crashed DeLorean in the front).

Besides being completely functional as a city hall and municipal campus, it would add an element of tourism that Maple Valley doesn’t have any more. It would certainly put the town in the Weird Washington and Roadside America books.

Personally, I don’t have an interest in what the final product is, other than to hope we create something worth talking about. Maybe we could also build it the way we used to.