I've always had this sentiment about town squares, if people complained in person and literally got on their soap box like they do online we would put a lot more pressure on policy makers. I think this is partly by design. The hypercapitalization of society has also played a big part, community spaces aren't as welcoming as they used to be. Store owners no longer run businesses, it's a regional manager and who ever they can get to work for them. It took the soul out of the business when they pushed out local owners. One thing that does come to mind is the local tavern, while Starbucks has run nearly every local coffee shop out of business in my city at least bars have been the dominant social gathering places and their is plenty of shoulder rubbing going on.
