Silver Spring Maryland is undergoing redevelopment, and that has some people worried. They think that incoming retail chains and franchised restaurants will destroy diversity. They fear that homegrown small businesses will be displaced by *gasp* evil corporate owned stores.

One resident votes with his pocketbook.

Crime novelist and Silver Spring resident George P. Pelecanos said he checks to see whether Silver Spring Books has the volume he needs before he goes to the just-arrived Borders. He stays true to Vicino Ristorante Italiano on Sligo Avenue, because the proprietor "puts out a better product" than the newcomers.

"People have to make a conscious choice," he said, and they're more likely to do so if they are of a certain age. "The people coming up -- kids, teenagers, people in their twenties -- they're programmed to go to those places," he said, referring to restaurants and stores run by large [evil] corporations.

So, he believes that books sold at a locally owned store are better than the books sold at Border's Books and Expresso. Right or wrong, it's his money. (I personally won't shop at Best Buy because of the dirty bastards that run the place.)

But then there are those that want to force diversity on people whether they like it or not.

Laura Steinberg, the outgoing board chairman of Impact Silver Spring, a nonprofit group funded in part by county grants, said there is a difference between voicing support for diversity and taking the steps necessary to maintain it.

On one level, she said, people need to think about the repercussions of choosing Starbucks over Kefa Cafe. On another, she added, residents of the new Silver Spring may need to assert more control over what happens next.

If you buy coffee or T-shirts from Starbucks, you need to think about what you've done. If you still don't get it, the government may need to "assert more control". That sounds like a threat to me.