Developers claim that the land west of town is ripe to be turned into a combined retail/residential area. They say that the extension of Highway 85 would give shoppers access to a greater variety of stores. In truth, though, we already have a great variety of stores downtown—over 200 of them. Many of these businesses have been hurting for several years due to the neglect of the Exit 10 overpass, which has made driving difficult. Extending Highway 85 would give shoppers a reason to avoid downtown altogether—likely dooming many small businesses and leaving buildings vacant. However, the overpass could be repaired at a fraction of the cost of the highway extension. This small investment in city infrastructure would be good for businesses and shoppers alike. In 1-2 sentences, identify the author's point of view and the author's purpose.
The author's point of view is that extending Highway 85 would negatively impact downtown businesses, and the author's purpose is to argue for the repair of the Exit 10 overpass instead of the highway extension.
