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live in Orange County. We would live in Charlotte or Cary, and I just think that there is such a lack of leadership that people are being led by their noses by developers who are telling us that big box stores for the future. They're already the past, they're already failed, they're already abandoned and empty and scars on the landscape. I just think that, with more Ph. D's per square foot than you can shake a stick at, this County ought to be able to come up with something beneficial to the future. He said big boxes are part of history and he said this county ought to come up with something that is beneficial for the future. I just don't think we're trying. I think the sales tax revenue is great, but it's going to cost a lot of money. I read in the paper today, $314,000 for three firemen in Carrboro for three years. That's not trucks, that's not a building, that's not equipment. And three firemen aren't going to do it; I believe the first gentleman that spoke was a fireman. My father always told me, there's two kinds of wealth in the world —what you can make and what you can dig out of the ground. This spends wealth rather than produces wealth. It spends wealth on credit cards. We're already hopelessly indebted in this country. It produces jobs that are low-wage. I don't want my child cooking burgers at Red Robin. With all the Ph. D's here, I know we can find something better. I'm trying to think of ideas, I'm a college dropout, I'm a small business guy, but I know that there's going to be a lot of money, especially if the Democrats win, for green technologies. The people that thought of RTP could have put a mall there. Why can't Orange County be known for something, why can't we create a green technology center that trains new trades people that creates new jobs and new technologies. I just think it's very short-sighted, and we have enough malls. There's one 17 miles that way and 20 miles that way. That's all the shopping I need to do, and I just think it's short-sighted. We can say no to this, I think. I have not paid enough attention to local politics, but I'm going to start counting who votes for what, and elections are close by. I think that people are concerned about this as whether this is the direction we want the County to go. Anita Badrock: I have been sworn in. I currently serve as the Chairman of the Economic Development Committee for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, and I also serve on the citizen's advisory committee for the Orange County Economic Development Commission, which is not taking a position tonight on this particular project. I would like to come to you as a 30-year resident of Orange County, as a small business owner, who has owned a small, local business in Orange County for a long time, and as a partial owner of another business, to encourage you to support this project for a couple of reasons. First of all, I know that for the last 15 years, we've had that economic development district identified through a process that involved a lot of public input, a lot of hearings around the area, and we came up with three economic development districts. But I didn't know until I came tonight that we've actually been looking at that particular site for economic development for 25 years. So we have for a long time been waiting for the right thing to go into this district. The current proposal proposes 130 acres out of a 900-acre piece of land for development to fill what we have identified as a gap in Orange County, which is retail services. The stuff that your own staff showed you tonight showed you clearly that we have retail leakage that's going into other counties. Our residents are spending money elsewhere, and I'd like to see them spend that money here, because I'd like to see those voluntary tax contributions go to give my son's teachers a raise. And I'd like to see it used for Sheriffs Deputies and for emergency personnel, and to provide and mental health services to residents who need it. It is consistent with the County's Economic Development Strategic Plan in terms of promoting non-residential development for the taxbase. It is part of the identified gap, as I mentioned earlier, and most importantly, I think this project allows for the rest of that property to be considered for other uses down the road. As a local business owner, I know that my business, when I've had a retail outlet, has done better when good, high-quality regional and national retail has been around it. So, I think that the developers have stated that that's their goal. We're fortunate that these are