news-record.com

Opposition to the proposed retail development at Hobbs Road and West Friendly Avenue is not about a grocery store. It is about preserving the mainly residential character of one of Greensboro’s most beautiful thoroughfares. When the Shops at Friendly were developed, there was an apparent accord that the development was allowed in exchange for certain concessions to adjacent neighborhoods, including defining Hobbs Road as the western limit for any new commercial development. Evidently, some City Council members, other “city leaders” and the News & Record have conveniently forgotten about that understanding.

Even if there were no commitment to limit commercial development on Friendly, the citizens of Greensboro should make one now. Otherwise, before we know it, Friendly will have turned into another Battleground, with snarly traffic, a cluttered commercial appearance and a hot, treeless landscape.

We don’t need some outside developer to tell us what we lack. Greensboro needs to attract skilled employment to replace the manufacturing jobs that were sent overseas. We don’t need to shuffle jobs from one shopping development to a new one, leaving behind a glut of empty storefronts like the former Fresh Market site at Quaker Village.

Donna and George Lawson
Greensboro