In the Five Points area of Athens, Georgia, businesses and residents are battling Eckerd's attempt to build a superstore there. This was a result of a 150-page Madison Historical Preservation Construction Plan prepared by the city after a Hardees was built in their historic district and abandoned two years later. We are known for looking like Madison, not looking like every other city. If you let these larger chain businesses come in and not check them, they will have you looking like every other town. And that brings me to my main point.
Every community has their own individual identity based on their history.
By preserving this history it sets the community off from the rest of the world showcasing the people and events that made that community what it is. This homogenization of our downtown destroys the unique quality and character and separates us from our past. Homogenization is good for milk but not for historic tourism. Eckerd or the others could rehab the Quackenbush Building on Third and Broadway, have their drive thru in the alley, and rent out the top floors of the building for offices, high tech start ups, or even fancy apartments - and SAVE a historic building.