Davis city council postpones Target decision

Tuesday night went into Wednesday morning as Davis City council heard from over 87 public comments about their concerns about big box retailer Target coming to Davis. At issue was whether the city council should change the Davis General Plan that prevents big box retail from operating in Davis. This general plan maintains the quality of life in Davis by not having big box retail siphon off income from downtown businesses, pollute air with traffic jams, etc..

At around 2:30 am Sue Greenwald spoke up for the people and asked that no decisions be made this early in the morning, Mayor Ruth Asmundson reluctantly agreed and the meeting was finally adjourned. This represents democracy in action as the overwhelming presence of public speakers were adamantly oppossed to Target big box retail bringing their sweatshop made merchandise into Davis at the expense of local downtown businesses. Other concerns were about increased smog and air pollution from slower traffic, sprawl into farmland, decreased quality of life for neighbors, etc..

Currently Davis is one of the few remaining oasis in the Sacto Valley (and throughout the nation) that is completely free of any big box retail outlets (ie., Wal-mart, Target, Sam's Club, etc..), though Davis is surrounded by big box retailers in all six directions..

"The Davis City Council is currently scheduled to vote on this proposal on June 13, 2006: one week after the City Council elections, but before any newly-elected Councilmembers may take their seats. This attempt by the current Council to jam home such a major development a week after a new Council is elected is politics at its worst. If you care at all about having a 137,000 square foot big-box store in your neighborhood, you need to make your opinion heard now, before it's too late.

Update: After over 6 1/2 hours of discussion and public input on June 13 (and the wee hours of June 14), the Council... did nothing! They will resume discussion at their next meeting on June 20."

more on Target's intrusion into Davis @;
http://www.notargetindavis.org/