At first I thought the city was empty. The buildings all were empty and in poor repair.
VOA: special.2010.07.17
The suburbs may be pleasant enough when parents are absorbed with work and children, but for the childless and the empty-nesters thecity has many merits.
The mayor had sworn at volunteers when he realised that trucks full of supplies were sitting idle while some of the distribution centres around thecity were empty.
Before the storm 18% of the 11 million square feet available in thecity sat empty, vacancy rates that were five percentage points higher than the national average.