Fast forward 13 years to Saturday. My admittedly overly spoiled, now-teenage bundle of joy put her cell phone down long enough to look over at me from across our expansive sofa and asked, “Dad, I need some new jeans for school. Can we go to the mall?”
Quickly determining that her “need” for new jeans for school was more like a standard teenage “desire” for the latest new jeans, it was easier to accept her request for what it was and make a decision.
Having scrolled through the last of the 200-plus TV channels and despite all claims to the contrary, I determined that indeed there was nothing on. I tossed the remote control onto the coffee table and said to my little girl: “Let’s go get you some jeans.”
As we jumped onto Lammers Road and headed toward West Valley Mall, my daughter again looked up from the keyboard of her cell phone only to say, “Dad, you know there’s no Abercrombie and Fitch at the Tracy mall.”
Not wanting to drive back over the hill on my day off, I suggested we try Aeropostale or Pac Sun at the local mall. The look upon my daughter’s face said it all. Her intention was clearly to go to a mall that provided an experience of more than just picking up some pants.
I knew we wouldn’t find an Abercrombie and Fitch at the Tracy mall. We would be limited to an experience that rivals a trip to a local strip mall to pick up some dry cleaning, overpriced milk or perhaps a used book or two.
So we headed over the hill to Pleasanton. We found Abercrombie and Fitch. We searched for some skinny low-rise jeans that met her desire to be fashionable while meeting my demand to keep the top two or three inches of her backside out of the public view. In addition to the jeans, we had a nice lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and picked up a few items at Williams-Sonoma for the evening’s dinner.
Walking out to the car, I could not avoid thinking of just how much Tracy has regressed in the past few years.
Sure, we are in the midst of an economic crisis, but our town is not just struggling to stay afloat in a tough economy. We have found ourselves becoming one of the least-desirable locations in the Central Valley.
Once a gateway to the Central Valley that offered reasonable housing prices and expanding dining, entertaining and shopping options, it is now a town offering a vast array of rental properties and a growing number of low-end retail options.
As we sit back and watch our Central Valley sister cities, Manteca, Modesto and Lodi, progress with destination experiences, Tracy is left to dream about what could have been.
When we could be looking at a real downtown revitalization, we have a hodgepodge of buildings and retail space with no distinct vision.
When we could have taken from the success of Livermore only 15 miles away as they have transformed into the Napa Valley of the Tri Valley, we went our own way. When we could have attracted or helped facilitate an attraction like Big League Dreams or Bass Pro Shops, we pushed for a WinCo.
Tracy residents recently learned that the city is going to spend a great deal of money to lure a Macy’s to come anchor the West Valley Mall. This news came as a surprise. Reading about the pipe dream the City Council apparently had that Macy’s would agree to anchor Tracy’s enclosed strip mall, I almost had to laugh.
While there is no question we need to reverse the demise that has taken hold of Tracy, before we simply throw money at an overreaching dream we may want to take some simple steps that may not only materialize but be in the best interest of our town.
While Macy’s may not be the symbol of prestige it once was, it is not about to come and take residence next to Ross Dress for Less, Payless Shoes and the Suit Outlet for Men.
Is it really in our best interest to spend much-needed funds on an attempt to anchor a mall that is not just in an uncontrolled drift to relative obscurity, but is truly a mall with just an enclosed roof to distinguish it from your average half-rented strip mall?
As my teenage daughter and I drove back from Pleasanton after what will soon be a rare day together, two thoughts seemed to consume the 25-minute ride:
The first obvious thought was that the first developed city you encounter passing into the Central Valley should not be the one you would be least likely to stop and experience.
My next thought was, of course, how can we stop the regression of our town?
Let’s focus on a true downtown revitalization, stop facilitating low-end retail and grocery outlets, put in place a vision of what we want our town to look like and create a plan to get there.
• Brian Williams has been a Tracy resident since 1993 and can be contacted at briansbrain2010@gmail.com.
Tracy doesn't need a new Macy's or A&F (who would want to park their car at the mall to have it broken into?). It needs jobs and a lower crime rate. Hello, Mayor? Hello Police Chief? Anyone? Maybe instead of new stores, we need new leadership. Leaders unafraid to address the problems.
To the author's point above, maybe Pleasanton is so pleasant because it's not overrun by Mexican-national gang members having shootouts and robbing its banks and stores? A fancy new "classy" department store isn't going to make that problem less apparent (although I might feel a little better if we got a Trader Joe's).
I think I'll go support that new gun store today and buy some ammo for personal defense of my family.
Just saying A and F or Chevys will make your life complete is pretty shallow. Jobs are the key factor if the author actually meant he wanted better shopping. Turning every opportunity to discuss job creation into a story about another shopping experience only serves to create confusion about where we should start to focus.
This article is too short sighted.
"Not once did I attack any restaurant business or mention any restaurant business's in Tracy."
struthers wrote on Friday, May 21 at 09:27 PM
"the sub-par stip malls. My personal favorite it the one by Chevy's with an immigration office, nail salon and gun shop! Classy"
And then somebody writes an article saying the town is going to hell in a handbasket because we don't have one of those trashy Abercrombie and Fitch stores?
We need jobs not another trashy store. I wish somebody could explain how trashy clothing stores that are already underutilized will keep Tracy from "sliding".
This is a piss poor argument of a letter.
A store like Fitch can't help you there. Unless your goal is to wear less for more.
Not for me.
What are you talkin about I lived in the bay area and saw those check cachers in the bay area, stepped over the homeless in San Francisco and even been to the pawn shops in San Jose. Fitch is not for me. Don't take it so personal.
If you don’t think Tracy regressing, read the police blotter, take a drive downtown, visit the mall, look for a unique dinning experience or the like.
If this town becomes only a cheap place to live and not spend money, we will continue this downward spiral.
Tracy does have nice amenities and has shown that glimpses of what could be. But its not a cohesive plan. We have a nice one mile stretch on 11st then we have another 3 or four miles that was not redone. We have the grand theater and some nice street work on 10th and central, but its not completed and appears to be a hodgepodge of retail and business and the like. We have the new train station deal kind off by itself not blending in with anything. We have a new highschool, in the middle of nowhere without effective access.
And as the cities around us are growing and adding amenities, we have spend 500k to try and get Macy’s to come here and approved a WinCo and Wal-Mart.
After my 17 years in Tracy, I want my town to be a little more that just a place for affordable housing and inexpensive groceries.
I agree with you 100% Brian!
Not just sending the message WE ARE LIVING IN A MATERIAL WORLD...
Too many neighbors have fallen trap to that in this once great country of ours.
Rid above.
In our Tracy neighborhood, despite our best efforts, we rarely even get a hello out of our renter neighbors. They spend little time outside of their home. Many neighborhood friendships can flourish while mowing lawns, picking weeds, and planting flowers. Not so much of that going on our neighborhood these days and many of the yards show it. Of course, the vacant buy and bail or foreclosed homes don't help matters any.