Letter To The Editor On Chick-fil-A, Flagship Carwash In Vienna

Vienna Patch reader Teodora Hryshchyshyn submitted this letter to the editor in response to the Nov. 18 article Chick-fil-A, Flagship Carwash To Hold Grand Openings In Vienna. To post your own opinion on a local topic, sign up for a Patch account or email the editor at Emily.Leayman@patch.com.

I am writing in response to the article titled “Chick-fil-A, Flagship Carwash To Hold Grand Openings In Vienna,” published in your newspaper on November 18th, 2019. While I understand the excitement regarding the opening of the new businesses, I believe that Vienna’s residents should remain cautious of the presence of new corporations, brought to the area under the Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) zoning project. As Vienna becomes more “industrialized” with the redevelopment of infrastructure along Maple Avenue, larger corporations have the opportunity to buy out or take over many of the locations that small businesses currently occupy. Losing small businesses that cannot financially keep up with the larger ones puts the community at risk of losing its connection to the goods and services being produced locally. With small businesses, residents are able to remain connected to the products, in that residents know where all the parts of the products are coming from. The products are local and from the community. The increasing presence of larger, impersonal corporations may increase the efficiency of delivering certain goods and services to residents, however, long-term it will harm the community mentality of Vienna. If residents want to maintain the Vienna community they know and love, the MAC zoning project should be reconsidered.