The recent change in the makeup of Troy's City Council didn't surprise many historians. Trojans are an independent lot and many times in the past tossed out politicians and their parties when they appeared too big on themselves and failed to listen to the will of the people. Troy is very much a city that practices democracy.

Perhaps this new council can move the city forward with visionary goals. One of the first orders of business should be creating a Master Plan for the city. A master plan is a blueprint with input from the citizenry in deciding where business, schools, new development, preservation, and parks should be located. It's a process where everyone has input, not just one or two planners or consultants, or politicians that dictate what is good for everyone and then cram it down our collective throat.

Troy has distinct geographic and socio-cultural boundaries and specific needs: Downtown, South Troy (against the world), North Central, the Burgh, Beman Park, East Side, Sycaway, and Albia. Many of the people that live here have roots that go back to the founding of the city.

Planning sessions in each neighborhood would allow residents to define what they need. Afterall, they live there! They know what they like and they know what they need! Only after you conduct sessions in the entire city do you put it together and let the "planning experts" try to massage it into a workable overall plan. Finally, let the people of Troy decide if the final plan is acceptable.

Troy definitely needs a Master Plan. Why? In the last two years, the entrances to the city have been kidnapped and approved to become welcome mats for national drug chains like Eckards, CVS, and Rite Aid. While the Historic Action Network knocked the Eckard Freihofer plan down temporarily, rumors are they're back. CVS won approval recently for a box at 112th Street in that section of Colonial Lansingburgh. There have been several proposals for Hoosick, and I predict one at the entrance near the Menands Bridge. Has anyone seen more than five or six cars at the Eckards on the other side of the Ferry Street bridge?

Imagine this future scenario. No matter what entrance you take to one of the oldest and most historic cities in America you will not be greeted by a historic site, or inviting vista as you enter. Instead, you will be welcomed to Troy by a big box national drug store. Pathetic.

Perhaps with a new council we have a chance to put in place guidelines to preserve the remaining historic infrastructure. If not, it will continue to be piece mealed out by national chains that see our city as a temporary profit center, only to abandon it when the bottom line isn't there.

Many of these chains have questionable records. Eckard's, for example, closed 300 stores last year but continues to open or relocate about 100. CVS acquired the customer files of some 350 independent pharmacies in 1998 and under their "File Buy Program," they required purchased drug stores not to tell customers in advance that they were closing their doors, or to inform customers that their prescription information was being transferred to CVS.

To the drug chains, the American landscape is like a large chess board. When Eckard's makes a move by building a new store on one corner, CVS, Rite Aid, or Wallgreens tries to check mate on the opposite corner. All that will remain for Troy is to figure out what to do with all the vacated "chess pieces" left in their wake; it's like ulcers eroding away the historic lining of the city.

I'm not against development, not even drug stores, but where is it written that a developer has rights that run counter and at the expense of our history or neighborhood fabric? In scores of cities across America, planning boards, preservation boards and city councils have implemented design guidelines, zoning laws, and encouraged adaptive reuse of existing historic structures. If retailers want to be here bad enough they will comply with any guidelines we mandate - even the national drug chains. Remember, they have no loyalty to this city, only to making money.

What's our bottom line? These drug chains are coming into OUR city to take OUR money. Shouldn't we have some say about how they do it?