Letter: Walgreens Debate Linked to Teaneck's Future

The following is a letter to the editor. To submit a letter, e-mail teaneck@patch.com. 

The question of Walgreens and the future of Teaneck are very much interwoven, especially now with the spectacular shuttering of signature Cedar Lane retailers. 

For me, taking sides on the proposal to open the drive-through pharmacy rests on a prior question: exactly what do residents want from their community? The debate to this point articulates two possibilities - a Teaneck requiring a new business model or a Teaneck requiring instead improvement on the paramount present model of small stores. The former affirms the immediate tax investment value, recognizes the proven convenience of drive-throughs, and promotes competition even with other, near-by pharmacies. The latter wants to keep Teaneck basically artisanal, requests more time to keep it that way, and discourages predatory competition. 

While I favor the latter, I can see the strengths and weaknesses of both sides. Why not jump at the chance of a significant tax abatement and embrace a new, 21st-century Teaneck? As a practical solution, there is little real debate. As an aesthetic solution, there is, if our self-understanding exalts the virtues of township tradition. 

Of course there are exceptions, but the question is, Can and should tradition survive, even to the point of trumping present economic exigencies? The resolution of this conflict of two right opinions relies on two alternatives: The voices of those who speak loudest, and the famous middle road, which is: negotiate a decision deadline with Walgreens to buy the time to find equivalent artisanal investors. 

Teaneck's traditions, one could say, constitute an appealing 21st-century counterpoint to the new-is-better reprise. That's my view. But the realities of economic largesse can also help preserve Teaneck's way of residential and cultural life. The two divergent  paths are fraught. The present imbroglio offers a chance to test both.

-- Dennis Klein, Teaneck resident

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