http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11533-2002May13.html

In today’s Washington Post, there’s a story about people living in a fancy neighborhood who are upset that Wal-Mart plans to build a store near them. The story reads:

Fearing thousands more cars each day on their roads and 24-hour noise and light pollution, residents say they feel betrayed by a developer who promised them a Reston Town Center on the shores of the Potomac.

While I feel sympathy for the people involved — I wouldn’t want a Wal-Mart too close to my $700,000 house, either — I think this is a strange comparison.

I live about a mile from Reston Town Center, and while it’s picturesque, it leaves something to be desired.

It’s impossible to buy nearly anything in Reston, VA after 10:00 or 11:00 at night. All that’s open in a Taco Bell and a few convenience stores. And there are a lot of things that are just plain unobtainable in Reston, at any hour. Reston is more picturesque than a lot of suburbs, but also less convenient.

Having to drive a few miles (and you must drive, of course) to buy certain things is not the worst affliction in the world, but having made too many late-night trips to the nearest all-night drug store (8 miles away: actually an improvement, as the nearest one used to be about 15 miles away), I can personally attest that, for all of Wal-Mart’s tackiness, there’s something to be said for a store nearby that sells nearly everything and that’s open all the time.