I love Morgan Hill. My entire family cannot wait to return once our sabbatical is over. When I moved to Morgan Hill, we could have choosen anywhere. In fact, Morgan Hill was not even on our list of communities to consider. It was a friend who suggested we take a look.

Once we did, we were sold. Morgan Hill was the place for us. While proximity to things work related was important, even more crucial for us was choosing a place where we wanted to raise our children. A place with good schools and a community that felt more family friendly.

Now we all want Morgan Hill to prosper. But what prices are we willing to pay? In a recent article, I spent some time discussing how Morgan Hill would benefit from having some big anchor retail stores in town. But would attracting those big retailers cost Morgan Hill its unique identity?

I suppose the argument can be made that it would. Lord knows I do not want anything like what Gilroy has. I think that is an example of what happens when a city gives carte blanche to business to do whatever they want.  But does letting the big retailers mean you have to do things like that?

I would suggest that you can preserve the feel of the Morgan Hill we love and still have these big retailers in town. It is about how you do it. Clearly, Gilroy can be the cautionary tale. However they did it... don't do it that way.

Morgan Hill is a great town. Look at the demographics of the folks who live here and you find that we make up a huge chunk of the kinds of folks retailers LOVE. According the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce, the average household income is $108,000. A big chunk of our population are college educated professionals who work to the North and make their home in Morgan Hill. There is no reaso why we should not be able to attract big retailers in a way that stays true to what we love most about our town.

Maybe it is asking too much to want these big retailers and to preserve the most important things about our community. Some seem to think the two are completely incompatable. I don't share that belief.  

If we iintegrate the retailer to the town rather than the town to the retailer (as Gilroy did), there is no reason that everyone cannot get what they want. 

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