The additional foot traffic on the heretofore deserted street has also provided opportunities for a little side commerce, such as young men selling $5 bootleg DVDs of current movies or setting up tables piled high with colorful socks and shirts.

Glenn, the store manager, who did not want to divulge his last name, said he’s had to call the cops to chase away the entrepreneurs more thanonce.

I mean their strategy is infinitely silly. They show up at the Planning Commission with 3 to 8 people at every meeting. They have a little show that they do where various members say various things, but there are two certainties: 1. George Nesbit reads the commissioners rules they already know in byzantine detail, without removing his hat. 2. One of them says something icky to the commission or to an individual commissioner.

Seriously, have they ever won anything? Sometimes I think the planning commission would be more likely to consider community input against development if STAND wasn’t there.