Today is a sad day because pure laws of economics are eroding what makes our town unique and great. Because of the city’s hunger for revenue, we have allowed the appearance of stores and businesses we do not really want to see in our town.

People choose Davis for its great downtown, friendly stores, great schools and the intellectual appeal that university towns can offer. People do not choose Davis for its shopping malls.

Thanks to a gift card, I went to Target to look for something to buy early last year. As it was my first visit, I probably looked at more than 100 products, all of them made in China. I asked the Target store manager if there was any product that was not manufactured in China and would not break within six months. Her answer was: “I do not think so, everything here is made in China. People want low prices but they have to buy more often.”

Some may want convenience and low prices (actually it is more expensive to buy junk more often), and I understand sales tax dollars are good for the city, but do we need to short-change the future of our town to see great stores like Alphabet Moon go bankrupt? Who is next? Kids will remember their time at Alphabet Moon, but they won’t remember Target.

Why can’t we have a long-term vision in this town? What do we want and are we ready to make the sacrifices for what we want? If we had to have a Target store, why couldn’t we request some form of partnership with our local stores? Countries have tariffs and other mitigation tools to protect their local economies. Why can’t our city protect its local small businesses by levying a much higher tax for big businesses and preserve its downtown spirit?

Christian Renaudin

Davis

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