"East Campus" development in College Park

Is further discussed in the University of Maryland student newspaper, The Diamondback, in this story, "Some worry chain stores will overtake East Campus."

If you read Rob Goodspeed's quote in the piece, it's also useful to go back and read these previous blog entries:

-- Retail and Authenticity: Continued
-- (Why aren't people) Learning from Jane Jacobs-
-- (Why aren't people) Learning from Jane Jacobs revisited.

And for more on the tension between independent and chain retail and change, these entries are useful:

-- Is there a link between historic designation and chaining up of retail in neighborhood commercial districts?
-- Dupont Circle's changing retail environment covered in today's Post
-- Nurturing independent retailiers through creatively reducing capital requirements
-- Clarendon (Arlington Virginia)
-- Forcing Displacement by the disconnection of tax assessment models from public policy goals
-- Testimony -- Historic Neighborhood Retail Business Property Tax Relief Act
-- (and this shorter sum up) Globalization of the DC real estate market catches neighborhood commercial districts up in the wake.

The thing the article focuses on is scale of the development and the type of business (chain vs. independent). I don't think it adequately focuses on the lack of a great center in the town, outside of the university campus.

Again, check out that video by Kirk Westphal to get a better sense of what I mean. Or check out places like Telegraph Road in Berkeley, State Street in Madison, Harvard Yard, etc.