vodka rocks wrote:
If you drive through Vermont, you do not see town after town, strewn with look-alike strip malls. You have locally owned and operated stores that are the hub of the communities. It is too far to drive to the local mall (usually at least 1 1/2 hours) so businesses exist, that serve the towns and the needs of the people who live there. To the visitor they look quaint but everyone shops at the general store in their town. There are small, independent bookstores, pharmacies, clothiers and yes, even places to buy underwear. There are eateries that the locals support and the tourists find irresistible. There are hardware stores that are way more fun to wander around in than Home Depot. You do not see the big box stores robbing the towns of their character and independence. You see carefully planned and implemented, zoning. You can have a fully developed commercial facet to your city/town without succumbing to the likes of Walmart and Loew's, which will surely decimate any area. You need to be creative and open minded and welcoming to local businesses. There is no need to take be sweet talked by developers like Sam Park and his lawyer Michelle Harrison.
That sounds great those people in Vermont are lucky, now open your eyes and look around you that same situation does not exist here in Gloucester. There are scant choices for local shopping and with the exception of this development no one is jumping at the chance to bring more business downtown. There is a glaring need for this development but that does not matter to you because you shop in Vermont....Oh and before I forget neither Loews or WalMart have decimated the downtown area of Danvers infact there are subsatally more vacant storefronts here, and take note of the fact that there are no vacant storefronts in Danvers Square. How do you explain that "vodka rocks" NIMBY
