I am seriously disappointed at the Ames City Council’s decision to change the Land Use Policy. This decision shows the council’s disregard for the citizens it was elected to represent.

After petitions gathered by various organizations, many city council meetings and multiple surveys that proved at least half of the citizens of Ames are against the mall, the council has chosen to ignore the requests of the citizens of this community, and grant the wishes to “Bucky,” the large-scale developer from Tennessee.

In addition, I agree with Councilman Matthew Goodman, that this will not bring “an oasis” of shoppers into the town of Ames itself, rather just to the edge of town for one-stop shopping.

We are not “behind” other commercial areas if we choose not to have a mall directly off the interstate.

This mall takes away from the character and aesthetics of this town and benefits only the select few.

If nothing else, this decision proves that even our local government, just like our federal government, would rather cater to the interests of large scale developers and businesses in exchange for the respect of their community.

If I wanted to live in a town whose greatest assets were its strip malls and megaplexes, wouldn’t it simply be easier to live in Ankeny?

Heather Stricker

Senior

Natural Resource Ecology and Management