Building Up

I used to take my dog outside at night before heading to bed and be able to look straight ahead into a field of nothing. It was peaceful, calm, the best thing to look at at night, especially since I live at a somewhat busy intersection. The other night, I was shocked by reality when I took my dog out, as I do every night, and looked straight ahead. No longer did I see a field of nothing.

No.

I saw a big, glowing WALGREENS sign with lights pouring out of the newly installed glass windows.

I live in a small town in Southern New Jersey. A few years back I remember driving around seeing large signs reading "BRING YOUR BUSINESS TO PINE HILL!" Well, Pine Hill, here's your business. In the past three years, we've received new sidewalks (inlaid red brick), new town banners, new street lights (I have a feeling we're going to be called "historic Pine Hill" in a few years from now), and a new plaza, respectively named Elevations Plaza. (Pine Hill is the highest point in South Jersey.) In Elevations Plaza, we have a new Rita's, a pool supply store, a pizza place that's been around for years, a Chinese take-out restaurant that's a few years old, and some other store. We also have a Papa John's, a few convenience stores, a liquor store, a corner shop (you know, lottery tickets, candy, flowers, cards, and now a deli!), a grocery store (the one that I work at), a bank (that's fairly new), a printing company, a couple other pizza places, a new car wash, a diner, and a couple of gas stations...

Yes, we are expanding. We also have a few housing developments, a couple apartment complexes, a high school, two elementary schools, a middle school, a recreational center, a baseball field with playground, a soccer field with a trail and other accompanying fields, our own borough hall (all towns have one...really), the municipal utilities authority, our own police and fire forces (we used to have three fire halls...one closed, one became a sign shop, and the other is all we've got), and two water towers. Why we need two water towers is beyond me. (We're on odd-even water restrictions.)

Okay. So we're not THAT small.

I enjoy seeing the town grow... But I also enjoy my open spaces. Rather than erect conglomerate chain stores in empty lots, why not erect a library? Or a playground, one that's not in the back of a school or one that's a little more elaborate than the one at the ball field? Why not a skate park? Or even better -- reinvent the drive-in theater.

I think it's dumb economically to have a Walgreens (though it's technically not IN Pine Hill, but listed as the Pine Hill branch) around the corner from a Rite Aid, which is down the street from a CVS. Of course, it's competition, and this Walgreens is going to do some mighty business when it first opens up, but really~

I don't know.

I think I'm just frustrated with having to see something rather than nothing when I look out of my window from now on.

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