KLRU
Austin Must Protect Small Businesses
RECEIVED Fri., Sept. 29, 2006
Dear Editor,
Reading J. Willard Marriott's let-them-eat-cake comments regarding Las Manitas' fate [“Point Austin,” News, Sept. 29], makes me think he's forgotten his own humble beginnings as a small-business owner. Saving Las Manitas is critical to the concept of keeping Austin's small businesses thriving by saying no to multimillion-dollar investors who choose to profit at the expense of our city's flavor and culture and history. A solution must be found that allows the small businesses that have made Austin unique, like Las Manitas, to survive alongside carefully controlled new development. Let the solution set the standard – that our longtime cherished small businesses and landmarks are every bit as important to Austinites as new high-rise growth.
Reading J. Willard Marriott's let-them-eat-cake comments regarding Las Manitas' fate [“Point Austin,” News, Sept. 29], makes me think he's forgotten his own humble beginnings as a small-business owner. Saving Las Manitas is critical to the concept of keeping Austin's small businesses thriving by saying no to multimillion-dollar investors who choose to profit at the expense of our city's flavor and culture and history. A solution must be found that allows the small businesses that have made Austin unique, like Las Manitas, to survive alongside carefully controlled new development. Let the solution set the standard – that our longtime cherished small businesses and landmarks are every bit as important to Austinites as new high-rise growth.
Jann Alexander
