The more than 11,000 Davis residents who live west of Highway 113 have been without a full-service grocery store in that area since May 21, 2006, when the Food Fair market in the Westlake Plaza shopping center closed. This creates great inconvenience for thousands of residents, who must travel four miles or more round-trip to shop for food and other household essentials. This burns more fossil fuels, depresses property values, increases traffic and diminishes our sense of community. The greatest burdon falls on students, the elderly and the disabled. who often do not have access to convenient transportation options.

The owners of the Westlake Plaza shopping center claim they cannot find another grocery tenant for the now-vacant market and has asked the Davis City Council to re-zone the property to convert most of the space to more profitable office space and other uses. Only 3,000 square-feet of the space would be left for a convenience store of some sort.

Many Davis residents think not enough has been done to locate a full-service market at Westlake Plaza. A group of concerned citizens have formed a non-profit organization, Davis Advocates for Neighborhood Groceries (DANG) with the goal of working with the city and the shopping center owner to come up with a solution that will benefit everyone. Since other Davis neighborhoods have experienced similar circumstances, DANG welcomes all Davis residents to join in a call for smart planning that is neighborhood-friendly, good for the environment and builds strong communities.

For more information about Davis Advocates for Neighborhood Groceries, visit our website at: http://www.davisdang.org or you may contact Carolyn Hinshaw at (530) 757-2830, or e-mail at: helpDANG@gmail.com .