One Last Chance To Do Fry Street Properly

Here's the latest news from the Save Fry Street MySpace:

THIS THURSDAY, February 7th @ 7pm
@ The Village Church, 1106 W. Oak

After a month or so of silent defeat, the United Equities crew has reorganized themselves in an attempt to salvage favor in the eyes of the city they divided and demolished. They have organized this meeting because, as they insist, they "are interested in your input regarding our project and would like to give you an opportunity to ask questions that you may have with regard to the development of this property."

It's interesting to note that a couple of council members denied the request from United Equities for the drive thru because the developers did not call a neighborhood meeting of affected residents.

They can check that one off their to-do list, once they meet at The Village (ironic) Church this Thursday. A film crew will be there, so feel free to bring costumes, signs, paper airplanes, etc. Anything positive and creative. Show the top dogs at United Equities what Fry Street is really about - liberty, diversity, culture and community.

For background on the drive-thru story, go here, and you can click the "Fry Street" tag at the bottom of this post for everything else that I've written on the subject.

I can't attend the meeting due to teaching commitments, but this was my reply to the Save Fry Street MySpace bulletin--what I'd say if I were there:

The biggest problem with this development (besides taking this long to consult with the neighbors in the first place) is that a generic chain drugstore is not an appropriate "gateway" to the university. If you had any sense of history, you would realize that the large vacant building at the southwest corner of Oak and Welch (most recently a FEMA call center, I think), used to be the home of an Eckerd Drugs...which has since been taken over by CVS in this area. That is where the CVS belongs; refurbish that building to your heart's content, and I bet nobody would object too loudly to a drive-thru on that corner, much farther away from campus foot traffic.

At the Hickory/Fry intersection, if you truly want to integrate this development into the community, your first "1920's-style building" would be a virtual replica of the buildings you demolished, and some of the restaurants would be there--including The Tomato. Places to meet and eat would serve as the proper entry point, not a drugstore. You can't undo the past year, but I would bet that this would be what most of the community would want you to do to start getting back in our good graces. If you still want your gateway to campus to be something that serves only your needs and not ours, I would ask that you please sell this property to someone who cares more about the community. Thank you.

I invited the Save Fry Street folks to pass that on if there's an opportunity to do so.