Opponents of Walmart at Suburban Plaza declare ‘war’
- 3/1/12
- Categorized in: Business, DeKalb News
After months of neighborhood meetings, rallies, fundraising and petition-signing, residents who oppose the proposed Suburban Plaza Walmart in Decatur have sent a message to the retail giant.
“This is a war,” said attorney Donald Stack, of Stack and Associates, one of two attorneys hired by Good Growth DeKalb to conduct a legal review of the proposed development. “This is a war for your community. It is war for your property values. It is a war for your safety.”
Good Growth DeKalb, a group of residents formed to promote economic growth around the Suburban Plaza area, is opposing the Walmart there. The group held a community forum on the proposed Walmart property on Feb. 23 that attracted hundreds of residents.
“Some neighborhood associations asked for concessions instead of opposing Walmart,” said Louise Runyon, a founder of Good Growth DeKalb. “Good Growth DeKalb takes the position that Walmart at Suburban Plaza is not a done deal. We oppose Walmart at Suburban Plaza while at the same time we are looking to develop an alternative vision for a positive, neighborhood friendly and commercially viable shopping area.”
Walmart is planning to construct a 150,000-square-foot store that would have groceries, deli, a pharmacy, an optical center and underground parking.
The developer, Selig Enterprises, which was not represented at the community meeting, has predicted that the improved development, which will increase by 30,000 square feet, would add 600-800 jobs to the community and spur redevelopment in the corridor.
Opponents of the proposed Walmart have a list of reasons they do not want the world’s largest retailer in their neighborhood.
One reason is the increased traffic that will bring “added dangers” to ambulances, pedestrians and cyclists, Runyon said.
“We can hardly afford the added traffic of a Walmart,” Runyon said.
Residents are also complaining about the 4-mile proximity to the nearest Walmart, the possible reduction in property values and the wages the department store pays its workers, which they say are too low.
Walmart’s “success is based upon low wages here, sweatshop conditions abroad, limited health benefits, putting the burden on the taxpayer as low-paid workers are forced to seek government benefits,” Runyon said.
“Walmart is a giant that’s breathing down our neck,” Runyon said.
Jan Crawford, who envisions Suburban Plaza being a gateway to the city of Decatur, had a message for the shopping center’s developers: “Be good stewards of our community …instead of being known in history as helping Walmart lead their urban penetration and assault.”
Peggy Sharkey, who lives and works in Decatur, was one of a few residents at the forum supporting the Walmart.
“I think that what we all are here for, whether we’re for or against [Walmart], is what’s best for our community,” Sharkey said.
Sharkey said she is concerned that “it’s being declared a war.”
“I have never been a Walmart sympathizer,” Sharkey said. “As a matter of fact, for the record, I boycotted Walmart for 15 years…because I saw what they did to small towns. But times have changed. They’re not the same.”
Sharkey said Walmart can help address the county’s unemployment.
“Walmart may not be ideal jobs, but if you’re not putting food on the table and you’re not providing for your family, that job is better than no job,” Sharkey said.
Melissa Link, a spokesperson for People for a Better Athens, countered Sharkey’s comment.
“You wouldn’t tell a victim of domestic violence that an abusive husband is better than no husband at all,” Link said. “That’s what Walmart is. It’s not the answer to jobs and unemployment.”
People for a Better Athens is a group “facing a similar fight against Selig and Walmart in Athens,” where Selig plans to build a 100,000 square-foot Walmart, Link said.
“Keep up the fight,” Link said to the DeKalb group. “Don’t back down and never be discouraged.”
Raising the minimum wage adversely affects the people that "progressives" intend to help because it prices the unskilled out of jobs. Why would an employer pay an unskilled worker when that worker's contribution to the employer's profit is less than the employer is forced to pay? Especially for teenagers seeking their first work experience, which adds value to their resume, builds skills that are then worth more in the marketplace, and teaches values that schools no longer impart.
The long-term consequences of this "progressive" policy are devastating. Because entry-level jobs are destroyed for teenagers and other unskilled workers, they must somehow leap from no job and zero experience to positions paying a higher wage. That is not going to happen with any great regularity, and so high school dropouts and those without the benefit of higher education remain dependent upon parents and government handouts instead of bettering themselves through work. Yes, work that benefits an "evil" corporation also benefits the worker. Sad that some on the left do not acknowledge that learning to show up on time, respecting coworkers and supervisors and customers, and achieving a little financial independence are valuable life lessons.
All the good intentions of "progressives" are heartfelt but an examination reveals many are hurtful, such as an insistence on minimun wages that are too high for unskilled workers. Is protesting Wal-Mart another good intention gone bad?
hint: He controls both ends of the Panama Canal.
Do you people know Wal*Mart puts less than 5% foreign in all their stores in China and have their Global Procurement Office located there.
Do you people know they hire a experienced lobbyist, field organizer and media relations strategist that came for the PR firm Edelman...the same firm that fake blogs for Wal*Mart.
Do you people know Sam Walton was east of Seoul in 1975 at a factory listening to a "whistle while you work" song...that was the last year America had a trade surplus and the same year Jimmy Hoffa disappeared.
1975....thirty-seven years of MORE George Washington's leaving America for so-call cheaper items....now, how many years will it take before America is out of currency?
Remember, once the currency is gone the only thing left is Retail...that makes NOTHING and a government that has to sell Bonds(debt) in order to get that currency back into the states.
Fifteen cargo ships pollute as much as 760 million automobiles...and it takes over $9 billion dollars a year from all taxpayers to clean the fish from ballast tanks of ships.....DO YOU SEE THE WORD CHEAP IN ANY OF THAT.
Sam Walton didn't remove the hyphen from Wal-Mart years ago and replace it with a big single STAR...Wal*Mart....he was dead.
America is over $57 trillion in debt and it didn't get there by people using common sense. If the American people don't wake-up to that fact within another twenty years they will witness Lady Liberty kneeling to her knees in the Hudson and someone in Tiananmen Square holding that tablet from under her left arm celebrating what is written upon it.
Made In America is the only way out of this mess cause foreign made put US here.
and a Walmart in every section. We can't even keep Chick Fillet or a Pop Eye.
New York doesn't want them and they don't have them .
From Toy Stores to Drug Stores, Wally World makes plans and implements plans to drive other businesses out of business, Wally World can easily do this with their buying power.
And what IMPROVEMENTS has Selig Properties made to these properties over the decades, FEW to NONE !
I LIVED IN THIS AREA FOR ALMOST 20 YEARS AND THE TRAFFIC ALREADY IS A NIGHTMARE !!! In and Out at DeKalb Hospital Complex will be affected !!!
The Kroger in Downtown Decatur and many other businesses will be greatly affected.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO NORTH DEKALB ??? ALREADY VERY SHAKEY ???
People get ready this is War !!!
BE AMERICAN BUY AMERICAN !!!
I also challenge everyone who is pro-big box development to read the 2007 Economic Policy Institute analysis about the number of American jobs that are being lost to China, directly attributable to Walmart and others since the majority of their suppliers are now outsourced to China.
But especially Walmart, since it's the largest retailer. 77 jobs are lost per super-store, according to that report in 2007.
That's the jobs displacement effect, which many of you may not have even considered, and which has certainly climbed upward since then.
It's just too bad there is no anti-trust law in place against a company this large. Barry Lynn wrote such an article in 2006, in Harper magazine. http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/07/0081115
"(in 2005) Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott called on the British government to take antitrust action against the U.K. grocery chain Tesco. Whenever a firm nears a 30 percent share of any market, Scott said, 'there is a point where government is compelled to intervene.' Now, Wal-Mart has never been shy about using antitrust for its own purposes.... such a statement, by the CEO of a firm that already controls upward of 30 percent of many markets and has announced plans to more than double its sales, sets a new standard for hubris."