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Linda Beauchesne in Scotts Valley

I fully support a Target store in Scotts Valley. The statements quoted in a recent Santa Cruz Sentinel article make me wonder where people come up with these silly ideas:

A Target store will put the Hilton hotel out of business? At best, it will be listed on the “amenities” page of every online reservation Web site. At worst, someone who is staying at the Hilton will get into their car to drive to Target instead of taking a stroll next door to purchase the pajamas that they forgot to pack! How could a department store put a hotel out of business?

Homeless people will use the parking lot to camp? Not too many homeless encampments in the rest of Scotts Valley; why would Target suddenly be a magnet for the overnighters?

A traffic nightmare? True, there may be an estimated 9,000 daily trips to Target, but my intuition tells me that most of those will be made by the already 43,000-plus cars that drive to and from work on Mt. Hermon Road every day. Why not have them stop at Target and leave some of their sales-tax revenue in our city coffers on their way home from work or on their lunch breaks? Worried about the trip to Brook Knoll in the morning? My guess would be that not too many people shop at Target between 7:45 and 8:30 a.m. And moms and dads will probably be stopping at Target on their way home from school, along with everyone else — too convenient to pass up.

Tarnish the city’s reputation? Just what kind of reputation do we have? Elitist? NIMBY? Is shopping at a Target store some kind of a bad thing, because if it is, maybe I need to be banished from Scotts Valley. I shop at Target when I am in San Jose and have actually driven all the way to Watsonville (no really, I have), to specifically shop at Target. They have great seasonal products, mid-range clothing for reasonable prices, music, books, sporting goods, home decorating products, a garden center, etc. Oh, and when I’m in Watsonville, I usually shop at the other stores in the area. Again, wouldn’t it be nice to keep some of my sales tax dollars in my city?

As much as people would like to save the meadow, the property is zoned for this type of use anyway. Why not attract businesses that can actually make the city some money! That is what city planning is all about.

So count me as a supporter of Target. I can buy my large Kenmore appliances at KMart, my groceries at any number of stores in town and my garden supplies at various places and might never need to go to Capitola again. Scotts Valley gets all of my sales-tax money, I save gas and time and we all come out ahead!

Linda Beauchesne, Scotts Valley

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written by Frank Z. Kertai, May 03, 2008

For Responsible Local Development in Scotts Valley, see www.rldpac.org

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