Traffic-Mart

For local communities one of the most salient issues surrounding a proposed Wal-Mart is traffic. These people may have no ideological problem with the retailer but they become quite distressed when their already congested local roads are asked to accommodate the influx engendered by 200,000+ sq. ft. supercenters.

It is first important to examine exactly how many vehicle trips a Wal-Mart supercenter actually generates. According to the Institute of Traffic Engineers, a 200,000 sq. ft. discount center on average results in 76,232 car trips per week (with the high end of the range being 92,806).

Yet this astoundingly high number may in fact be much too conservative considering that the Institute’s traffic estimates for “regular sized” discount stores are actually higher than for the larger supercenters. This paradox became quite important when Wal-Mart wanted to build in Pasco County, FL:

If you build a regular Wal-Mart, the traffic experts say the store will draw 850 car trips during the busiest evening hour.

If you build a Wal-Mart Supercenter - which includes the regular store plus a full-service grocery store, hair salon, vision center and tire and lube express - those same experts say the store will draw only 750 car trips that hour.

If you think those numbers don't add up, you're not the only one.

County-hired engineers have been sparring for months with Wal-Mart engineers over the best way to estimate how many shoppers will visit the proposed supercenters in Holiday, Bayonet Point and Land O'Lakes.

…

Wal-Mart's engineers want to stick with the industry standard - the Institute of Transportation Engineers' Trip Generation Handbook - which estimates a lower traffic count for superstores than regular discount stores. The averages are based on traffic studies of other Wal-Marts, most of them paid for by the retail giant.

But the county's consultant, Tindale-Oliver and Associates, argues those numbers are "not logical."

After all, the supercenter is about a third larger than a regular store, "with a broader range of goods that would appeal to a larger sector of the shopping public," Tindale-Oliver wrote in a March 31 memo about the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter in Holiday.

Wal-Mart's consultant, Kimley-Horn and Associates, argues that supercenters draw fewer shoppers per hour because they are open around the clock. They also say the supercenter data, which is more recent, is more reliable than the regular discount store data.

The county's consultant wasn't convinced.

This Florida case reinforces the need for an independent traffic analysis when Wal-Mart decides it wants to site in an area. As we’ve said previously, the sole job of a developer–hired consultant is to minimize the project’s impact so that it will face less resistance. According to these liars-for-hire, traffic never is a problem and can always be mitigated with better timed traffic signals, left hand turn lanes and improved off ramps.

Residents opposed to a Wal-Mart in the Tri-Lakes area of Colorado saw this whitewashing in action. By approaching an independent engineer the anti-Wal-Mart coalition was able to deconstruct the study:

The Developer's traffic study shows that the Wal-Mart retail center including lots 2 and 3 would generate a total of about 11,936 vehicle trips per day.

The traffic study estimates that 34% of these trips would be by passers-by, that is, by people who are on their way to another destination via Baptist. An experienced traffic engineer we consulted feels that since Wal-Mart is considered a "destination store", 20 to 25% is a more realistic factor.

Another questionable assumption is that the satellite businesses would be "general retail." It is far more likely that the businesses that lease lots 2 and 3 would be a fast food restaurant, convenience store, drive-through bank or gas station. This more realistic assumption would generate two to four times the traffic assumed in the Developer's traffic study.

Using the conservative 25% passer-by figure (rather than the unrealistic 34%) and doubling the assumed trips generated by lots 2 and 3, the projection for the proposed Wal-Mart is 10,968 new trips per day not 7,598 as shown in the latest traffic study. View the details of this calculation of Wal-Mart Trips. For comparison, the traffic study shows 9,500 trips per day as the current load on Baptist Road. If this Wal-Mart proposal is approved, traffic would more than double to over 20,000 trips per day.

A similar situation occurred in Gresham, Oregon where the developer’s traffic study estimated:

The complex will generate 290 new trips during weekday morning peak hours, 635 new trips during weekday afternoon peak hours and 1,010 new trips during Saturday peak hours, according to an estimate that Kittelson & Associates gave to Gresham city planners in late March.

Wal-Mart’s traffic analysts assured that they could mitigate this impact:

Wal-Mart's traffic analysts said the retailer could make changes to local roads to prevent serious traffic jams and safety problems; it plans to spend about $2 million in fixes and in traffic fees.

However, according to a traffic consultant hired by GreshamFirst, a group opposed to Wal-Mart coming to their community:

Some of Wal-Mart's proposed fixes, such as better timing of traffic lights, may not solve jams or safety problems, Nys wrote. Others may prove unsafe, Nys wrote, such as allowing drivers to turn left from Powell on a flashing yellow arrow if they don't see oncoming traffic.

Still other changes are the responsibility of other developers, and Wal-Mart shouldn't assume that they will be built, Nys wrote. In some cases, Wal-Mart's traffic consultants didn't provide enough correct information for the city to make a decision, he wrote.

GreshamFirst Board Member Javon Gilmore responded to the new revelations about the proposed development, saying that:

The congestion it could create makes it a bad fit for an area the city has designated as a transit corridor and commercial area for residents' day-to-day needs, Gilmore wrote. The store could hurt police and fire department response times, partly because of congestion and partly because of the store's needs on issues such as shoplifting, Gilmore wrote.

Another Oregon case demonstrates the difference between Wal-Mart’s analyses and reality. The following is from an article entitled “Study: Wal-Mart Will Clog Streets:”

A third traffic study has confirmed earlier findings of the Oregon Department of Transportation that the proposed Central Point Wal-Mart could clog streets and cause traffic backups onto Interstate 5.

On the opening day of the proposed 207,000-square-foot Supercenter, traffic volumes would either exceed or come close to exceeding roadway capacity, predicts JRH Engineering of Eugene.

"It’s either just failing or it’s just passing," said JRH President Jim Hanks.

…

Both the JRH and ODOT studies conflict with the findings of Kittelson and Associates of Portland, a company hired by Wal-Mart to determine the potential effects of a Supercenter on traffic.

Wal-Mart has also clogged streets in Maine where:

At lunch- time on Sunday, the line of vehicles snaking down the northern end of Upper Main Street reaches 40 cars deep.

Honking starts as drivers wait to make the left turn into Waterville Commons to get to the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Jostling for space ensues as some drivers try to cut in line.

Tempers and traffic safety are wearing thin as the queue of cars grows outside the retail giant's new outlet.

"It's terrible," said Larry Dickey, a Waterville man who was visiting the new Wal-Mart for the first time Sunday. "It took me 15 minutes to get from McDonald's (on Upper Main Street) to here. It needs another lane, I would say."

Since Wal-Mart opened its new Supercenter on Wednesday, Upper Main Street has seen a surge in traffic jams. Vehicle lines at lunchtime and after office hours reach as far as a half-mile down the thoroughfare.

Developers have also downplayed traffic impacts in town like Wallace, Idaho and Columbia, Missouri where a developer-sponsored study had the audacity to claim:

“Building a Wal-Mart Supercenter on a larger site on Columbia’s west side would improve traffic flow.”

These examples are not the only instances of Wal-Mart’s traffic impact causing communities to worry and, in some cases, reject the store:

In Newport News the Planning Commission rejected Wal-Mart’s application due to traffic concerns and the development’s proximity to a residential neighborhood.

The same occurred in Asheville, Buckeye, and Windsor, where the 4,200 new daily car trips generated by Wal-Mart would directly threaten schools close by.

All of this is important to New York City, especially to the outer borough neighborhoods that Wal-Mart is looking to enter into. It will be important to conduct an independent traffic analyses and for various NYC neighboorhoods to then use this data to decide whether it wants Wal-Mart as a neighbor.

Wal-Mart and Labor

An article in today’s Daily News is predicting that the split in big labor could prove to be a boon to the local Wal-Mart organizing effort. The scuttlebutt is that the money previously funneled to the AFL-CIO will now be channeled into organizing campaigns at Wal-Mart and Federal Express.

Another good sign in the wake of the AFL-CIO defections is that local labor leaders are going to try to continue cooperating. As State Fed leader Dennis Hughes says:

"This is a national disagreement. On the local level, we have great relationships with these people," he said. "We're determined to get through this."

Even the Daily News editorial page, not known for its friendly labor positions, sees a potential positive result in the labor split if the new entity goes after Wal-Mart. The money quote:

Stamping a union label on Wal-Mart, for example, would be a shining badge of success.

Eminent Domain

As we predicted, there is a flurry of bi-partisan activity in Albany to curb the excesses of eminent domain (see today's Crain's Insider). Richard Brodsky, already out in front on the issue, has a bill that would restrict the state’s taking power without local approval. Even more interesting is a bill being drafted by Assemblyman Roger Green that adopts a California definition of blight and “says companies should share profits with homeowners they displace.”

Republican legislators are drafting more restrictive bills that would more narrowly define just what public use is and would also restrict eminent domain to blighted areas. Clearly, all of the proposed bills have features that merit further attention and we’re hoping that any legislative action will be preceded by hearings on all points of the proposed statutes.

Billionaires for Bloomberg

In yesterday’s Times Jim Rutenberg did an interesting story on all the big money Democrats who have essentially closed their checkbooks to the candidates seeking to run against Mike Bloomberg. Nothing could be a better illustration of the bankruptcy of the Democratic Party, a party that has become an elite ensemble of wealthy liberals, academics and media folks. In the process, the average worker is basically unrepresented and regular neighborhood people are eschewed.

All of this reminds us just how much Bloomberg has become the reincarnation of John Lindsay, a theme E.J. Dionne elaborates on in the Washington Post. The limousine liberals have taken over and this is not good news for small businesses and neighborhood concerns as far as the expected sympathies of a Bloomberg second term are concerned.

On the other hand, this situation creates an opportunity for these neglected constituencies, especially when it comes to the City Council. Clearly, the power of the Mayor, perhaps enhanced by a robust victory in the fall, will need to be checked by a vigorous Council. The evidence from his first term suggests a father knows best superciliousness and we can anticipate that an overwhelming victory will only embolden Bloomberg even more.

That being said, we should all welcome the challenge since the Mayor’s lack of policy acumen, when combined with a sense of invulnerability, will offer opponents a rich opportunity to bring him down a few pegs. Certainly, we believe that the Wal-Mart fight will be one of these issues and, perhaps, eminent domain and the Willets Point merchants will be another.

We also believe that a second term will be a time to expose the Mayor’s bankrupt solid waste plan and will give opponents the opportunity to demonstrate just how lacking in imagination this mayor is. Yet, even while saying this, we will continue, in Socratic fashion, to offer the kind of advice that we believe will be helpful to the Mayor so that he can avoid policy disasters.

In the meantime, we continue to hope that the Democratic Party will produce candidates that reflect the concerns of homeowners and small business. Bloomberg’s hijacking of the Republican Party has obviously foreclosed this avenue in the current election cycle since no one has the skill or the imagination to get to the Mayor’s right flank.

Where’s the Fourth Estate?

Over the past few months the local papers have been hammering the Democratic candidates for mayor, embellishing ad nausea the pratfalls and the missteps. Amidst all of this negative scrutiny, however, one thing stands out: the relative lack of criticism of the incumbent.

Though the mayor has spent an unprecedented $23 million so far, the press, especially various editorial pages, hasn’t uttered a peep about his obscene expenditure (even though it contradicts what the Mayor had said we would do if he decided to run for reelection). Where is the New York Times, the greatest champion of campaign reform when it comes to national political campaigns (to be fair: unlike its editorial board, some of the paper’s reporters are asking questions). Doesn’t the fact that the Mayor has already spent more than all of what his potential rivals combined have raised give the Grey Lady just a bit of agita?

In addition, what about the Mayor’s philanthropic spending? What about the money that was raised for NYC 2012 from potential city vendors? It has been left to Anne Michaud of Crains to do a hard boiled analysis of the Mayor’s deal making and flip flops. The money quote:

Mr. Bloomberg’s practical deal making, free of ideology, causes him to swing widely on issues. After the West Side stadium project died, the mayor started touting an Olympic stadium in Queens, a plan he had previously derided…

That’s just a nice way to say that the Mayor has absolutely no philosophy or guiding principles. As Professor Muzio says in the same Michaud article, “Since the mayor has no fixed vision he’s totally flexible and that’s what businessmen are.”

Ah but in all of this pragmatic deal making there may actually be an idée fixe: small folks are always expendable to the larger development scheme. Whether it’s the West Side, Willets Point or the Bronx Terminal Market, that one view characterizes all of the Mayor’s thinking.

The corollary to the edifice complex is, of course, that there are some people whose excellence causes them to stand out from the rest. These are the best and the brightest, the mega-rich like Steve Ross and Steve Roth who stand ready to replace the unwashed masses and lesser folks with bright new shopping malls.

These people are given special dispensation and are entrusted with New York City’s future due to the merit supposedly inherent in their great wealth. This logic is, to the similarly endowed mayor, self-evident (and the details are left to Deputy Dealer Dan to implement).

So we hold our collective breaths waiting for the editorial outrage, the exposés and the hard-hitting investigations (for instance, does anyone know that the mayor has quietly put an additional $1 billion into the city’s education budget in the attempt to purchase the extra points in reading and math?). In the meantime, as the Mayor continues to spend his millions, we have to be content with Freddy’s Diallo gaffe, Virginia’s picture cropping and Miller’s mailings.

Wal-Mart and Censorship

The Pensacola News Journal is no longer sold at local Wal-Marts because a columnist had the audacity to criticize the big box retailer. According to editor Randy Hammer:

The store ordered us off their property, told us to come pick up our newspaper racks and clear out.

So we did.

...

Some managers at Wal-Mart didn't appreciate a column Mark O'Brien wrote last month about the downside of the cheap prices that Sam Walton's empire has brought to America. We all pay a little less, and sometimes a lot less, at the grocery store and department store because of Mr. Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart.

...

Bob Hart, one of the upper managers for the Wal-Marts in the area, called me and said he didn't like Mark's column, didn't like a lot of Mark's columns.

I might understand it if Wal-Mart said I ought to fire Mark because what he said wasn't accurate. But that isn't the case. Mark accurately reported that there are 10,000 children of Wal-Mart employees in a health-care program that is costing Georgia taxpayers nearly $10 million a year.

Shouldn't we talk about that?

When we stop listening to people on the other side of the fence, when we try to silence and even punish people for thinking differently than we do and raising facts and figures we don't like, well, we won't be red, white and blue anymore.

...

That's why Mark still has a job and you can't buy a Pensacola News Journal at Wal-Mart anymore

The Economics of Big Box Development

In Macleans magazine, Steve Maich pens a piece entitled, “Why Wal-Mart is Good.” In it he partially focuses on the Western Cleveland’s proposed Steelyard Commons development which will have Wal-Mart as an anchor. Maich touts the economic value of this potential big-box center:

Soon, however, this site will also be a symbol of renewal. In May, work began on what will be the first big-box shopping centre in this city of 500,000 people. It's called Steelyard Commons, and will include a Target store, a Home Depot, a Staples, plus restaurants and smaller businesses. It's expected to bring close to 2,000 jobs to the city identified as the most impoverished urban area in the U.S. in the 2004 census. Unemployment here runs at 11 per cent -- roughly double the national average.

As we have pointed out, these numbers have no basis in reality and are often propagated by biased consultants and certain elected officials looking to exploit job numbers for political gain. Take a look at No Cleveland Wal-Mart’s post on the issue, including their very true statements:

The developers and city administration have been selling this as “creating decent jobs and fueling economic growth“.

We’re the only ones who’ve questioned - does it?

Bronx Merchants Won't Be Mall-ified

Anne Michaud, writing in Crains, gives an overview of the situation at the Bronx Terminal Market. She quotes the Alliance's Richard Lipsky who, talking about EDC's response to the merchants' relocation plan, states:

"EDC responded by essentially telling the merchants to drop dead."

And, for those interested, here is the City Council's report on Terminal Market hearing held in June. It comes down pretty hard on the City and EDC.

For Jack Lester

The Alliance rarely does political endorsements but in the case of Jack Lester an exception is more than justified. We have worked with Jack for over 10 years and there is no one running for the Council today who has a longer and more meritorious record on the defense of neighborhoods and small business.

In the early nineties Jack led the fight against a giant Toys-R-Us on the Upper East Side and later in the decade worked with us in putting together the coalition that eventually defeated the Costcos on the West Side. One of his primary campaign issues: Neighborhood control over large scale development projects requiring zoning changes. Needless to say, Jack Lester would be a major voice for accountable development in the City Council.

Bloomberg Challenges Ognibene’s Signatures

Most of the local press is reporting that Mayor Bloomberg, reversing his earlier position on the issue of ballot challenges, had decided to challenge the nominating signatures of Tom Ognibene. The Mayor clearly wants to avoid an annoying primary, one that would at the every least expose his lack of an real Republican or conservative credentials (no one seriously thinks that Tom could beat Bloomberg since everyone, including the voters apparently, has been bought and paid for).

What the mayor wants everyone to forget is what he told the New York Sun last year: that ballot challenges are like a “cottage industry” where you try to avoid having to “beat the other guy based on positions or your ability to serve.” After saying this, the mayor went on to advocate the end to this “gotcha” technique.

Now, however, the Mayor’s head has apparently cleared and expedience steamrolls principal, as it always has for the philosophically-neutered mayor. What it points to, though, is the increasing dangers involved in a second term for Mike Bloomberg. If the Mayor has no real bedrock beliefs there is literally nothing he won’t do, particularly if he no longer is forced to appeal to crass mass sentiment.

Perhaps the Democratic challengers should invite Tom Ognibene to a press conference where all of them could link arms and expose this chameleon for the insincere man he apparently is. Time is running out on all of them.

Update: Interesting. A search of Bloomberg News for Ognibene results in 0 hits.

Come on Freddy, It’s Time to Step Up for the Neighborhood

It was just a little unsettling to see the Manhattan Republic Party (Is it more than James Ortenzio and his few close friends?) send out some negative literature questioning Freddy Ferrer on his abortion stand. It seems that our faux Republican mayor is doing what his taller and better looking (Sorry Dr. Melfi) predecessor John Lindsay did in 1969: go to the left of his Democratic opponent.

This is good politics, of course, but it does open the door for our putative Democratic nominee to smartly return the favor by getting to the right our Silk Stocking, bien-pensant liberal. The way to do it is to emulate the campaign strategy of Bob Coleman in Pittsburgh. Coleman, the likely winner of that city’s November mayoral election is running on a platform of neighborhood importance. As he has said:

“Across the country, people want to come back to cities and neighborhoods. They want Main Streets and they want their kids on Main Street."

In 1997, Freddy Ferrer did begin to run as an outer borough Catholic candidate who happened to be Puerto Rican. It’s not too late for him to go back to the future and there are a number of powerful issues, so far unexploited, that can still paint Mike Bloomberg as the out-of-touch Manhattan liberal, insensitive to the concerns of New York’s neighborhoods.

Here are a few suggestions:

1) Property Tax Reductions – The mayor leveled all kinds of charges about Mark Green being a tax and spend liberal during the run up to the 2001 election. So, what did he do once elected? He raised property taxes to obscenely high levels, hurting homeowners and neighborhood store keepers. Freddy needs to simply stand up and say he will roll back every single nickel of that tax increase;

2) Eminent Domain – The mayor has already staked out a position on Willets Point, eloquently expressed in his remark that “the land is too valuable for the businesses that are on it.” What Bloomberg fails to realize is that the Willets Point Merchants, along with all of the others threatened with expulsion in Brooklyn and Harlem, can symbolize the fears of the average homeowner.

We were casually reminded about the Supreme Court’s Kelo decision last week when, during a meeting with the Tottenville Civic Association, we were surprised by the vehemence of June Delaney’s response. Delaney, the head of the association, expressed deep opposition and concern about the use of eminent domain to expel people from their homes. As we have already pointed out, this issue has the real potential to become a left-right galvanizer if it is nurtured properly.

3) Expulsion of the Bronx Terminal Market Merchants – While we realize that this issue creates some delicate political problems for Freddy with his Bronx supporters, it also has the potential to distance himself from a deal that, if properly framed, could help to portray the Mayor and Deputy Doctoroff as elitists whose only concern is for the rich and powerful. Even though the BTM merchants are only tenants, their expulsion in favor of Steve Ross’s Related Company has exquisite synergy with the whole eminent domain issue.

In addition, the BTM controversy can be used to demonstrate that the mayor does favor certain special interests in spite of his obvious lack of dependency on campaign contributions. A hot-wired real estate deal with all of its questions can be utilized to demonstrate just how the mayor lacks any real empathy for the little guy. Certainly, the letter from Terri Sasanow of the Corporation Council highlights the mind-over-matter sentiment that the mayor often expresses in unguarded moments: He doesn’t mind and you don’t matter.

4) Firehouse closings – This is another issue that crosses left-right and ethnic boundaries. The mayor, while larding up the police’s resources, has reduced neighborhood security through his cheapskate firehouse closing policy. What Freddy should do is to remind voters what a lame duck Mayor Bloomberg, unaccountable to anyone, will do should fiscal uncertainties once again rear up. We would point to the Dinkins doomsday list (at least 30-35 firehouses) and tell the folks that their neighborhood could very well be next.

5) Wal-Mart – The mayor has staked out his pro-Wal-Mart position but, as our discussions with neighborhood civic groups all over the city underscore, there is a great deal of conservative neighborhood opposition to the box store behemoth. In stressing this kind of opposition Freddy would also galvanize a great deal of the labor opposition to Wal-Mart as well.

Bold Strategy Needed

Put simply, Freddy needs to boldly go where most Democrats have been unable to go. He needs to begin to cultivate those outer borough neighborhood voters who now believe that their only choice is a mayor who clearly doesn’t represent their values or concerns but who appears to be the only viable option.

Neighborhoods Count

The New York Sun reprinted an interesting article by David Shribman that had originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The jump point of the piece was a new mall that had recently opened up in the Pittsburgh area with five sections called “neighborhoods.”

Shribman’s point was to stress just how important neighborhood values are even in today’s sprawl-dominated landscape. The sense of place and community, local responsibility and human courtesy are the values that he chooses to highlight.

The article also takes a shot at the Applebees “Neighborhood Bar and Grill,” and points out that a generic menu and décor and 1,700 outlets worldwide can’t be considered part of a distinctive local neighborhood. We do think, however, that Shribman misses a larger point. Applebees and the Pittsburgh mall, while trying to portray themselves as neighborhood-based, are part of a greater trend that has led to the death of these very neighborhoods: the malling of America.

It is like the tomato sauce that was marketing itself by claiming that 20 Italian grandmothers couldn’t replicate its “authentic” Italian flavor. The mass produced sauce substitutes for the real thing and then, voila, the real thing isn’t needed anymore, replaced by a mock-up that symbolizes its lost glory.

Neighborhoods and Small Business

Shribman also fails to mention the importance of the neighborhood store. When he talks about “walking down the street on a streaming July night with an ice cream cone and, even if you're new in town, running into at least one person per block whom you know,” he is talking about a Main Street that gets its very essence from the mom and pop stores that populate it.

We have made this argument a central feature of our conservative case against Wal-Mart but it is not only directed at the world’s largest retailer. It is about the importance of preserving the ecology of neighborhoods and the stores that give them their unique identity. That is what is so objectionable about the neighborhood facades constructed by mass marketers who, if left unopposed, will bury the last vestige of the real thing.

Alcohol-Mart

As we mentioned previously, Wal-Mart is trying to add beer and liquor to its enormous inventory. There was some protest from local business owners in Fayetteville, Arkansas but the Sam’s Club there obtained its permit:

The Alcohol Beverage Control Division board on Wednesday granted Sam’s Club a liquor permit to sell spirits from its planned store at 3081 Arkansas 112.

To get around local law that prevents a store like Sam’s Club from selling liquor:

Plans indicate the liquor store will be 6,458 square feet and will be accessible only through an entrance separate from the 136,440-square-foot retail center. The spaces also will have different employees, loading areas, heating and cooling units, utility meters and bank accounts.

Continuing with the booze news, a Wal-Mart in Wisconsin wants to vend beer:

While there has not been a vote yet, the Portage Legislative and Regulatory Committee is showing an apparent split on whether or not to give Wal-Mart a license to sell malt beverages.

Two committee members voiced possible support for an application from the company, while two indicated they had reservations over the number of existing establishments available in Portage to buy malt beverages.

Wal-Mart’s desire is to sell as many different types of merchandise as possible. Its portfolio is ever-expanding and small businesses in NYC that feel they are immune or will not be affected by the box store should take note. In fact, Wal-Mart is now looking to enter everything from banking to gasoline stations.

Wal-Mart on Staten Island Update

As we mentioned in a previous post, Wal-Mart and the Department of City Planning are in negotiations over a proposed site in Richmond Valley on the south shore of Staten Island. Though Wal-Mart is touting the supposedly high support on the Island for the box store, we believe there is a lot more opposition than meets the eye and that this opposition will increase in number and intensity as the store’s plans become more widely known.

During a meeting with June Delaney and members of the Tottenville Civic Association (Tottenville borders Richmond Valley) one of the greatest fears was the increase in traffic that a Wal-Mart would cause. Remember, Statens Island’s road infrastructure is already at or above capacity and the access points that would lead into the proposed Wal-Mart are all old, two-lane roads. Ms. Delaney and the others were concerned about the effect of 50,000 extra weekly car trips on their already congested neighborhood. The folks in Tottenville also stated that members of other surrounding civic associations, including the Richmond Valley group, have similar reservations about the project. Simply put, they don’t see the need for this big box store in their already overdeveloped community.

Another point brought up was that the proposed Wal-Mart location is a superfund site that needs to be cleaned up. Regardless of what is put there, community members worry about whether the site can be cleaned up properly and whether construction will negatively impact local aquifers and other bodies of water. This concern was echoed by the National Resources Protection Association, a Staten Island-based environmental group that also has serious doubts about Wal-Mart. Jim Scarcella, President of the NRPA, told us that a number of other SI groups also are concerned about the potential environmental impacts of a 200,000 sq. ft behemoth.

Much has been made of Wal-Mart’s burden on tax payers (e.g. workers on public health care, the cost of infrastructure improvements) and Staten Islanders are listening closing to this line of reasoning. Nothing aggravates folks in Richmond Valley more than seeing tax dollars being wasted and for this reason groups like the SI Partnership for Community Wellness and the Staten Island Tax Payers Association, led by Dee Vandenberg, do not want a Wal-Mart coming to SI.

Staten Island is burdened by traffic and overdevelopment and, we predict, as more people pay attention to Wal-Mart’s negative side-effects – especially those who live closest to the proposed sites – there will be tremendous opposition.

Russell Harding Goes to Jail

After a long, agonizing period of feigned mental illness Russell Harding, the symbol of the Giuliani administration’s slogan, “one city, one standard,” finally got sentenced for stealing from the NYC Housing Development Corporation, the agency he was unqualified to run in the first place. Only the Times story, however, alludes to Harding’s father Ray who was the recognized patronage king of the former mayor’s reign.

We bring up the Giuliani slogan because Harding symbolizes the blatant hypocrisy of the Giuliani years where nothing, except perhaps law enforcement, was done without pure, unadulterated political considerations. Though, when you consider the reasons for firing Bill Bratton, not even law enforcement can be considered above crass politics.

We bring this up because we just returned from Staten Island were we are working with local civic groups on the anti-Wal-Mart campaign. About ten years ago the first BJ’s was defeated in the Charleston neighborhood at the behest of their councilmember, now Judge, John Fusco. You see, this was in the middle of Giuliani’s promotion of his megastore policy which, in his usual fashion, he subordinated to his own political interests.

In fact, without Giuliani realizing it, he and the Alliance made a fine team together. Whenever there was a megastore proposal in a community that had supported the former mayor we went in, helped the local civics organize the anti-development effort and, once done, sat back and let the Giuliani do his thing. And do he did – in Forest Hills, Mill Basin, and Bay Ridge the ex-mayor stepped in to prevent the very kind of stores he argued were vital to the city’s economy.

This brings us to a Wal-Mart point. No matter how much rhetorical and theoretical support for the store exists in the City, it all comes down to location and it will be those locations that will step up to defeat the behemoth.

Wal-Mart and Organized Labor

Juan Gonzales writes today in the Daily News about the looming potential schism in the AFL-CIO unless current president John Sweeney agrees to some substantial changes. The dissident unions, calling themselves the Change to Win Coalition, are pointing to the drastic decline in union membership and the impact of Walmartization on the country’s entire workforce.

It is important to note that the impact of Wal-Mart goes way beyond its own practices or even the fact that imitators like BJ’s assiduously ape the behemoth’s labor philosophy. Put simply, the Wal-Mart business model has become the dominant one in the entire retail industry and, with the decline in industrial employment, has come to dominate the employment practices of many American businesses.

That is why the fight against Wal-Mart can never be seen simply as a battle against particular sites. As the New Republic reports, Wal-Mart opponents, led by the UFCW and SEIU, are taking the fight to Washington. The effective battle against Wal-Mart must be a political one that de-legitimizes the company’s business model.

Bronx Pols Demand Preservation of Bronx Terminal Market

Today at the offices of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation a number of parties met to discuss preservation of the Bronx Terminal Market. This meeting, organized by County Leader Jose Rivera, was an outgrowth of the earlier City Council hearing where a number of Bronx council members echoed the need to resolve the current situation.

In typical fashion, EDC wavered and reiterated its reluctance to relocate the wholesalers collectively. However, a number of Bronx electeds, including Maria del Carmen Arroyo, Joel Rivera and Adolfo Carrion, forcefully told the dithering economic development agency that it was imperative that the merchants be given a viable relocation deal. This is great news and we commend these politicians for defending indigenous Bronx small businesses that have served the community for generations.

There will be another meeting next week where the merchants will present to EDC preferred sites (based on Professor Fainstein’s report), necessary square footage, the amount they can pay, as well as other specifics. While we are pleased by response of Borough President Carrion and members of the Bronx delegation, we’re still skeptical about whether EDC is willing do all it can to ensure preservation of the Terminal Market. Remember, this is the same agency that has said it is under no obligation to relocate the wholesalers, that it will not assist in the construct of a new facility and that the merchants are of negligible economic importance to the City. Hopefully, the political pressure being applied will be sufficient to ensure an optimal outcome.

More Eminent Domain

Once again the ED issue finds another voice indicating just how hard it is to pigeonhole people ideologically on this issue. Writing in the Sun, Jamal Watson inveighs against the use of eminent domain, at any time, for the purpose of economic development.

In particular, Watson pinpoints the potential that the policy has for disadvantaging poor people. He approvingly cites Justice O’Conner on this point:

The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process…

In response to the Court’s ruling, Watson suggests that New York adopt Utah’s recently passed legislation that bans the use of eminent domain for economic development “once and for all.” In this he diverges from Chris Owens's position – no doubt mimicking his congressman father’s – that ED can be a useful tool in some situations. We welcome people’s comments on all of this since it is not an issue that can be easily resolved given the lack of neatness in the real political world.

Bronx BTM Meeting: “Still Fighting Mad”

The Daily News is reporting on today’s meeting between Bronx pols, EDC and the BTM merchants. The sub-head: “Ousted Merchants push for relocation plan.” The funniest comment (aside from our own of course) is from our dependable straight man Michael Sherman of EDC. When queried about the possibility of building a new market the EDC folks say that a sticking point is the issue of comparable rents. Sherman’s hilarious comment: “We want a return on our investment.”

If EDC does build a market for the BTM merchants it will, in fact, be the only development that does a fair return for the City since it won’t be coming from the heavily subsidized Gateway project. In addition, given the EDC position (“we will not consider the construction of a new market”), it is hard to see just what the agency plans.

Wal-Mart Plans New York Ad Blitz

The NY Post is reporting today that Wal-Mart, looking to generate popular support for its incursion into the city market, is readying an ad blitz on land, sea and air. Breaking from its tradition – and we’ve already stressed many times that everyone should watch how adaptable the company will become – Wal-Mart is planning to place ads in 9 community newspapers (which is ironic considering its effect on those papers). More ominously, it also plans to “expand the campaign to ethnic newspapers, radio and television as well.” The ad campaign’s goal is to stress, in each borough, all of the wonderful things the city has to offer except – “everyday low prices.”

In addition, Wal-Mart has also begun holding meetings with local reporters who, undoubtedly flattered, will be seen as more likely to soften criticism of the company’s less than flattering labor practices.

The Post also reports that the company has yet to find suitable sites (disingenuously, we might add). As Mia Masten says, “We still don’t have a site … But we are still interested,” This is, of course, poppycock since the Richmond Valley location on S.I. is very much theirs and the developer has been trying to negotiate a site plan that accommodates the views of City Planning as well as Wal-Mart. In typical big box fashion, neither the store nor the developer wants to publicly be identified with the site before they are ready to go full speed ahead.