Why Weingarten is so Hated

At this point large numbers of the people in College Station no longer associate the name Weingarten with the grocery stores of our youth. The name Weingarten now brings to mind greedy, anti-community, sprawl development. And we are not alone. In Houston, residence unsuccessfully fought Weingarten Reality to save one of Houston’s most treasured Landmarks, the River Oaks Theater. Despite the passioned pleas of over 26,000 citizens who signed a petition to stop it Weingarten has now demolished this 1939 art deco treasure.
While the citizens of College Station have, to this point, had a little more success curtailing Weingarten’s absolute disregard of community values, we are still confronted with threats of trailer parks at our gateway.

The citizens in Houston had no say in determining their community design because Houston has no zoning. This is also why Houston is always the first example out of peoples’ mouths when they speak about what we do not want to be. Luckily, College Station has more community pride than that. But, despite the best intentions of some very committed community leaders, we are still vulnerable to predatory nature of some businesses, especially those involved in the design and development of our community. Development issues and strategies are constantly changing in response to such things as changing technology, business policies and community standards. In College Station we remain committed changes that insure and advance our quality of life. As such there are changes necessary to protect ourselves from predatory businesses like Weingarten.
And here is the rest of it.