The free market and the policies of Evanston’s government are making Evanston’s downtown lame. Business downtown is thriving, everyone in the city’s business community seems to agree. That is, everyone agrees except the people who’ve been forced to close their stores and the people whose favorite stores have been pushed out.

The two are linked directly. Stores close because the rents are going up and they can’t afford to stay. Rents are up because other stores want to move in, demonstrating the area’s vivacity – at least in the minds of those receiving the rent money.

Unfortunately, students end up on the short end of all of this change. We end up surrounded by stores we can’t afford to shop at and places that sell things we don’t want.

And it’s clear why. Stores that cater to the college student on a budget just can’t pay the same rents as stores that cater to the yuppie condo-dwellers invading downtown.

There’s nowhere within walking distance of campus to get a good, cheap burrito – Chipotle doesn’t count. When I came as a freshman, the Sherman Restaurant and Chicago-Style Carry-Out both provided good, cheap food. Now we have Cos