A few more items about the Aurora clinic today..
A loyal reader reported back from Aurora's meet & greet at the high school. He stayed an hour, and estimated 7 other people drifted in. He said they displayed a number of posters of the project which included pictures of the vacant buildings on Silver Spring .. a not-so-subtle way of Aurora saying "See? Love us. You have no other choice."
Next, this story caught me off guard. In honesty, I didn't know the CDA was meeting about Aurora. Kept thinking the Plan Commission was the (only) meeting where it'd be discussed.
The summary of that CDA story is that they voted 6-1 that, while they preferred retail move into the old Talbot's/Famous Footwear spot "so surrounding business benefit from the foot
traffic generated" .. that the "proposed medical clinic would probably not hurt the business district."
Hooray. It "probably won't hurt the business district." -- I must agree there.
But my, how we've lowered the bar. Makes me wonder what businesses would hurt the district. A gas station? Used car lot? Hooters? I think you could argue none of them would "hurt" the district. (My neighbor thinks Hooters would be awesome, though. If my wife didn't read this blog, I would agree.)
How about "Would certainly help the business district" or "Would be a great asset to Silver Spring and Whitefish Bay" or . "A unique business Whitefish Bay needs" as guidelines?
I've received more than one email suggesting, with CVS and now Aurora, people (like me) stop trying to "block" business who want to come to Whitefish Bay. Firstly, it's only been two. On the same property. Both fit similar molds, in that they don't fill a community need. We have 3 major pharmacies within a 5 minute drive. There are over 300 physicians within 5 miles. Neither of these businesses move Silver Spring forward. Neither business generate any excitement with villagers.
The argument that we should stop "blocking" .. give in .. lower the bar because what, we've been worn down? What about the next property? Should we just squander great potential this time, or continue to acquiesce until we've got a street full of pharmacies, banks, and clinics?
It's not far fetched to imagine the future areas that may be developed, like Zita's block, Fox Bay lot .. that they would fall to the same peril. Expensive renovation, high assessment, high rent, and presto, citizen opposition because the only ones who can pay are the CVS and AHC type companies few are interested in.
That's where we are headed if things don't turn around, without strong partnerships between the Village, land owners, developers, and businesses.
