January 13, 1999

Santa Cruz Sentinel
207 Church Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
ATTN: Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:

As a student of urban planning, I am proud to call Santa Cruz County home. In many respects, the greater Santa Cruz area is a paragon of planning excellence, distinguished by cities with strong downtowns, accessible open space, a rich cultural environment and most important, a vibrant economy founded on locally owned and operated businesses. Indeed, most regions our size can only dream of the diversity and quality of independent businesses that we take for granted.

Thus it's ironic that at a time when communities across the nation are lamenting the homogenizing effects of chain retailers on their local economies, city officials in Capitola are entertaining a development proposal that will bring three new chain retailers to the county. Beyond merely altering the character of retail in Capitola, the anchor tenant of this development, Borders Books, poses a serious threat to the viability of one of our region's most precious cultural resources - our independent bookstores.

We should learn from regrettable experience elsewhere. The "big-box" approach to retailing concentrates all the services of a given kind in one place, a practice that is especially destructive in a small town like Capitola. Imagine how it would feel if all the city's restaurants were forced onto a single site, or if every workplace were consolidated in one office tower.

These scenarios may seem extreme, but we can expect a similar plight should Borders come to town. All of our book buying will soon be done at one big box, because deep pockets, as well as better terms of sale from publishers, give chain stores such as Borders distinct competitive advantages over independent bookstores. The result is that independents in proximity to chain stores are regularly driven out of business. This will mean the loss of the friendly, small-grained community texture that we all love in Capitola. It will also mean the loss of community income as profits and payments for business services such as accounting and legal counsel flow to corporate headquarters rather than remaining in the community where small proprietors live.

It's up to us to determine the future character of our community. The proliferation of chain retailers is not inevitable, but results from a series of conscious choices made by city councils, planning commissions and ultimately the citizens themselves. These choices bear long-range and often unintended consequences for the fabric of a community.

The question city officials and citizens alike should be asking is how we want our communities to look, feel and function five, 10 and 20 years from now. Let's not carry forward a legacy of regret over decisions made hastily today.

Sincerely,
Alicia Kitsuse
A citizen concerned for the future

cc: Capitola City Council
Capitola Planning Commision

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