To the editor:

To understand why our approach to economic development makes no sense, look no further than the new Dillons in The Crossing at KU. This project is supported by Tax Increment Financing, a subsidy meant to encourage redevelopment of blighted properties like old factories and dilapidated residential areas.

What has this subsidy accomplished so far? An existing Dillons will relocate less than 1 mile down the street, onto former sports fields. What happens to the old building? Like most abandoned big boxes, it’ll likely sit empty. So, we’re losing green space and increasing blight; not a great start.

Will this at least increase economic activity? Maybe we get a short-term boost from the construction, but it’s just another grocery store, so it won’t attract new shoppers from outside of Lawrence, and people who live here will keep buying the same amount of food and household items they already do, so economic activity won’t increase in the long term. Maybe with a better store, Dillons captures more of the market and squeezes Hy-Vee and other competitors. If they squeeze hard enough that Hy-Vee leaves Lawrence, that’ll just hurt competition and in turn, Lawrencians. Why exactly are we paying for this?

Meanwhile, people in northeast Lawrence live in a food desert with no nearby grocery stores, but somehow we manage to keep killing proposed projects like a grocery at the old Borders Bookstore.

How do we stop this nonsense?

Percy Wegmann,

Lawrence