Small businesses will suffer

I have often heard throughout my years in business that "small business is the backbone of" the community, the economy and the nation. How many of you in the Westlake Village community have espoused that view, and have said that you believe strongly in sup- porting local small business?

As owners of a local small business, my brother and I have invested heavily in our commu- nity by opening our new show- room in Westlake Village. We of- fer the kind of service that only a small business can offer. Our sales staff is very knowledgeable and has experience that Lowe's per- sonnel cannot match. Neverthe- less, it is no secret that when a huge big-box chain arrives in a community, local small business suffers.

It would be a shame for a cor- porate giant to crush what we have worked so hard to achieve.

In addition, my brother and I both live in the community and support all of our local merchants. Because we live in the commu- nity we have issues with the ad- ditional traffic, congestion, noise and air pollution that Lowe's would bring.

Westlake residents need to band together to keep these big boxes out of our community. We are already faced with dealing with the proposed Home Depot that Thousand Oaks is consider- ing for the old Kmart site. There really should be no room in our community for giants like Lowe's or Home Depot to steal away cus- tomers of small businesses with the lure of low end products that these chains carry.

So, I guess my bottom line question is, will you put your sup- port where your mouth is on Elec- tion Day and vote no on Measure Z, and really support local small business? Dan Smith Agoura Hills