EDITORIAL: Minding the store

University City Associates'University City Associates'on-line restaurant/retailUniversity City Associates'on-line restaurant/retailsurvey is a great idea, in itsUniversity City Associates'on-line restaurant/retailsurvey is a great idea, in itsdesign, execution and goals.University City Associates'on-line restaurant/retailsurvey is a great idea, in itsdesign, execution and goals.________________________________ All of this could change in the next few years, if you take the opportunity to speak out now. University City Associates, the University's for-profit real estate corporation, is currently conducting a restaurant/retail survey via the World Wide Web. The survey includes questions about your dining and purchasing habits, covering approximately how much you spend and where you spend it each month. By completing the survey, you also become eligible to win a gift certificate to one of eight businesses already thriving in University City, including The Gap, Le Bus and the White Dog Cafe. The aim of the survey is to discover what kinds of establishments students, faculty, staff and community members want to see -- and patronize -- in University City. Ideally, UCA will analyze our input and use it to convince businesses that might not have considered locating in this area to open franchises here. It's the basic theory of supply and demand; if they open, we will come. Cool Peppers, the new Mexican restaurant on 40th Street, provides one immediate example of this phenomenon. Aside from fulfilling students' desires for cheesesteaks and salads and clothing for spring break, additional retail outlets in the University area pump profits and jobs into the now-sagging retail corridor between 34th and 41st and Spruce and Market streets. Increased pedestrian traffic created by stores staying open late can even cut down on crime. We urge you to point your Web browser at "http://www.upenn.edu/ real_estate/survey" before this week ends. You might win a gift certificate for participating, and the community as a whole will win if UCA heeds our suggestions.