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Last Wednesday, several Westwood merchants won a small victory in their fight against developer Alan Casden’s $100 million residential and retail project that would have closed Glendon Avenue for up to a year.

Their pleas were answered with a compromise. Glendon Avenue will remain partially accessible and business owners may be more open to the idea that the project will bring more parking and customers that will eventually benefit the entire Village’s livelihood.

But the agreement is just a small piece of a larger puzzle that will determine the types of businesses and residents that will call Westwood home in years to come – a debate essentially void of students.

While most likely to complain about the Village, students are also the ones doing the least to ensure it becomes the college town freshmen anticipate before they walk its sidewalks for the first time. The only voices currently in the fight for Westwood’s future are merchants, developers and homeowners.

The details of this specific agreement still need to be finalized in an August meeting of the city council. If students want to see a different Westwood they need to speak up, beyond whining to their friends at other schools about the lack of bars. Attending that August council meeting might be a good start.

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