I’ve lived in Eugene for all 17 years of my life. I grew up at the Saturday Market and Country Fair, and as I’ve grown I’ve been blessed with local businesses such as Cozmic Pizza and Sundance. I’m also the daughter of George Smallman, owner of the Keystone Cafe. I’ve seen personally how local businesses benefit both consumers and the families involved. I’ve watched my dad establish lasting relationships with local producers such as Nancy’s, Red Barn and Veggies on the Run, and have observed how keeping our economy local has been to the advantage to all participating parties. The Whole Foods project endangers this way of life.
Eugene has an agglomeration of local businesses that work to provide consumers with the best local products available. Businesses such as Sundance, The Kiva, New Frontier and Red Barn, work to benefit real people in the Eugene community. These businesses have positive externalities that transcend the obvious. When I was younger, my parents were able to pick me up from school when I was sick, spend time with me when I had adolescent problems, and allowed me to be a part of the community they worked in.
The issue with the Whole Foods project is not the food they would be selling. I, like any other socially responsible individual, am excited by the idea of a store that sells organic food and natural products. The problem is the invitation of a big corporation into our unique community and the implications it will have on the surrounding area. The parking garage alone will promote more downtown traffic, frivolous slates of concrete, and is a poor and unnecessary use of space.
It’s also a violation of the city staff on the unspoken Eugene philosophy. Eugene is a unique, progressive town. Subsidizing a big corporation to develop here strips Eugene of its authenticity and takes us one step closer to being any other city in the United States. The city staff should instead support the local businesses already in existence.
This is about preserving our uniqueness. This is about supporting our local economy. This is about ensuring that local families, like mine, continue to benefit from local, amiable partnerships and are not threatened by corporation’s competitiveness. We are a town of activists , and here is a cause that needs an ample amount of support. Support our local economy, not the Whole Foods project.
Kyra Rose Buckley is a Eugene resident