Fry Street is gone - and it's about time

By: Jon Liptak

Posted: 4/19/07

I know I'm probably going to catch a bunch of crap for saying this from the vast emo population on this campus, but at this point, I don't even care. I think it needs to be said: Fry Street as we know it is going away and it is not coming back. And it's about friggin' time, too. When I came here as a freshman, I was not as enamored with Fry Street as were the hippies in this town. As a matter of fact, I saw it for what it was: a filthy cesspool of concrete populated by whores, drug dealers, drunken steroid users who start fights for no reason and dropout teenagers that are an inch away from robbing somebody.
People started saying that Fry Street is what made this town unique, and the little shops and restaurants made it seem more like Austin. Too many people in Denton want this town to be "mini Austin," but that can't happen. Little shops and independent businesses don't make this town unique. The fact that there's a big damn college right in the middle of it is what makes it unique. You're supposed to come to school to learn, not because of independently owned shops and local music, and if you want Austin, then you need to go to Austin.
A big protest ensued when the rumors came about that the street was sold to United Equities, and cries of "corporations are bad!" came about like wildfire. Corporate presence is exactly what Fry Street needs. Given all the regulations places like CVS pharmacy have to follow, things will be cleaner from day one. Lord knows nobody around here is doing it. When the street was in danger of being torn down, all these people made a big deal about taking care of it after the fact, like a child who only wants his toy when his sibling is playing with it. Save Fry Street, the organization that tried to rally people to sign a petition (even if it meant getting people who don't live in or have never lived in Denton to sign it) tried to have annual clean-up days every month. But it didn't work. Neither did the 7 a.m. picket in cold weather. If we can't take care of it, then the corporate presence can. Hell, they can even tell the loitering scumbags to buy something or get lost. Save Fry Street can't make Fry Street a clean place, but perhaps United Equities can.
Of course, Save Fry Street did try. They wanted to work with United Equities to preserve the buildings, but they wouldn't listen. And who could blame them? It's no wonder that Save Fry Street can't get anywhere with this developer. A lot of the whiners who have written to the developer have way too much attitude and lack of respect for any member of authority. I read an e-mail sent to a member of United Equities and I have to say, if I was this guy I wouldn't listen to the Save Fry Street organization either. The harsh e-mail said that the company can "go to Hell for helping to destroy Fry Street," and ended saying that the writer hoped that the owner was "a happy man because you won't die that way!!" Is this the way you're supposed to kindly convince somebody to see your point of view? It's like, "Gee, people are threatening me and telling me the same old B.S. about how I'm an evil corporate whore. Maybe I shouldn't do this." But that's not how it works, folks. All you're doing is adding fuel to the fire.
My point, my fellow eagles and eaglettes, is that we should embrace corporate presence on Fry Street. It's not like it's evil. (If you asked somebody why corporations are evil, they won't even give you a straight answer, just the same lines from the same script you've heard over and over again from all the other emos). Even small businesses want to attain corporate status and get filthy rich, because that's how our economy works. And complaining about corporations isn't going to help our economy at all.

Jon Liptak is a theater senior from Fort Worth. He can be reached at jol0013@unt.edu.