New York Site Fight: Group Holds Protest Rally
CPR-JC hopes to halt Wal-Mart project [Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin]
JOHNSON CITY—In anticipation of an upcoming protest rally, organizers with the Coalition for Positive Revitalization for Johnson City held a news conference Monday to discuss their disapproval of plans to put a Wal-Mart Supercenter at a former Endicott-Johnson site.
“We have to show the village board just how many residents are against this retail development,” village resident Barbara Thompson, 69, said.
Each of the six CPR-JC members who attended the media event had a variety of objections to the large retailer. Some are against Wal-Mart stores in general, citing the low wages it often pays to its workers and other factors.
Others, such as Johnson City resident Julie Deemie, said the store will be a detriment to the economy, with much of the money spent by consumers going to company profits and not into other local businesses.
“The money does not stay in our community,” she said.
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Tuesday, September 25 | 0 comments | Permalink
Johnson City, N.Y. Coalition for Positive Revitalization Protests Wal-Mart
Some protest proposed Wal-Mart development [Press & Sun-Bulletin (N.Y.)]
In anticipation of an upcoming protest rally against Wal-Mart, organizers with the Coalition for Positive Revitalization for Johnson City held a press conference Monday to discuss their disapproval with a proposal to put a Wal-Mart at a former Endicott-Johnson site.
Each of the six CPR-JC members had a variety of objects to the large retailer moving to the site. Some are against Wal-Mart stores in general, citing the low wages it often pays to its workers and other factors. Others, like Johnson City resident Julie Deemie, said the store will be a detriment to the economy, with much of the money spent by consumers going to company profit, and not into other local businesses.
The village has plenty of retail already—citing Harry L Drive and the Oakdale Mall—but yet can’t fund repairs to roads and parks, Deemie said.
As a local business owner, the proposed Wal-Mart could cost him his life savings, said Bob Olcott, co-owner of Art Allure in Johnson City. The store, he said, was established in an existing building that he and his wife spent all of their savings to refurbish. Local businesses and the wages they must pay, Olcott said, can’t compete with the overseas labor costs of the products Wal-Mart sells.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, September 25 | 0 comments | Permalink
Johnson City, NY. Planning Meeting Scheduled
Planning board to discuss Wal-Mart [Press & Sun-Bulletin (N.Y.)]
A decision could finally be made at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday about a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter’s environmental impact.
The meeting will be held on the village court room at 31 Avenue C, Johnson City. The work session will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the police training room, which is located on the second floor of the village court house.
Planning board Chairman Gerald Putmansaid at a meeting earlier this month that he expects to have New York Department of Transportation feedback that will allow the board to make a decision on the project’s environmental impact. The Wal-Mart is proposed for a brownfield site at 90 Lester Ave., Johnson City.
A subdivision of the land into a 12.38-acre lot for the proposed Wal-Mart, and a 1.287-acre lot for retail/restaurant space is also planned to be discussed.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, September 25 | 0 comments | Permalink
Freetown, MA. Battle Rages Over Traffic
Opponents hope traffic solution will jam up Freetown mall [Boston Globe]
When officials from KGI Properties LLC heard about an 80-acre parcel of land on a former fly ash dump with access to a major highway, they saw opportunity - a prime location for a shopping center with two large retail stores.
But when Brian R. Dunning, who lives in the sleepy Payne’s Cove area, studied KGI’s plans for the 450,000-square-foot “Payne’s Crossing” development, he saw what he considers to be a pending disaster for Freetown.
The battle has raged ever since. Many residents, convinced that a Lowe’s home improvement store and a Wal-Mart are headed their way, have rallied to block the development they fear will choke their roadways, endanger threatened turtles, and pollute the bay. Their Assonet Bay Action Committee now boasts more than 300 supporters.
It is, by their own estimation, an uphill battle. Dunning offers this sober evaluation: “I think the odds are in favor of the developer. But it’s a little bit like David and Goliath. I just know that if this goes in, the town will be forever changed.”
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, September 25 | 0 comments | Permalink
Schnecksville, PA. Residents Start Petition to Battle Wal-Mart
Schnecksville, Pennsylvania is an 1.3 square mile area within North Whitehall Township. Schnecksville is a suburb of Allentown, Pennsylvania, in Lehigh Valley, with a population of roughly 2,000. The community has 7 Wal-Mart stores within 20 miles, including three supercenters, with a supercenter in Whitehall a mere 7 miles away. In its continuing drive to saturate the area, Wal-Mart has proposed a 176,846-s.f. superstore on 32.6 acres at Route 309 and Levans Road. North Whitehall Supervisors will have the final say on the proposal, and are currently selecting a traffic engineering firm to study the impact of the Wal-Mart plan on the already proposed widening of route 309. The Route 309 improvement project has been in the planning for several years. The road-widening project is estimated to cost as much as $13.5 million, and will include the widening of a one-mile stretch of Route 309. The state estimates that 309 carries an estimated 18,500 vehicles travel daily. A Wal-Mart supercenter could increase that total by more than a third. The state Department of Transportation and the federal government have provided the major funding for the design and construction work, which will now have Wal-Mart as its primary beneficiary. The façade of the Wal-Mart store will face the south rather than the highway, according to the Morning Call newspaper. The project is currently under review by the The township’s planning commission, and Wal-Mart held an “an open house” for residents at the Lehigh Carbon Community College recently. Despite this PR push, local residents in Schnecksville are starting to organize against the superstore.
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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, September 25 | 0 comments | Permalink
Combined Reports For Everyone!
You’d think, of all companies, one that bills itself as “the place for one stop shopping” would champion the merits of placing everything under one roof.
Yet, when word of “combined reporting” makes its way down to a Bentonville boardroom, its enough to make a Wal-Mart executive reach for a $4 generic vicadin. Combined reporting is a tax policy that treats parent companies and its subsidiaries as one corporation for state income tax purposes - profits are combined, and then a share of that income is taxed by a state based on a formula calculating the corporation’s level of activity within that state.
Lawmakers in Wisconsin and Maryland are the latest to jump on the combined reporting bandwagon. Apparently in Wisconsin, $90 million is on the table should the state decide to reform its tax law and adopt combined reporting. Its a tough question for a state strapped for cash, and whose revenue department has already gone after WalMartopia for more than $17.7 million in back corporate income taxes, interest and penalties for 1998, 1999 and 2000.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Ninety million dollars is how much officials estimate could gush into state coffers annually if Wisconsin institutes combined reporting on corporate income tax returns. That’s about a 10% increase in corporate tax collections - a tempting prospect for some legislators at a time when Madison is striving for every nickel.
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley had proposed the measure in his state as well, according to the Baltimore Sun:
The O’Malley administration estimates that by moving to “combined reporting,” the state would receive an additional $25 million per year in revenue, with three-fourths available for operating expenses and the remainder reserved for the Transportation Trust Fund. Some legislators believe that the annual fiscal impact could be much greater, perhaps $100 million or more.
Opponents of the measure counter that it will stifle growth, and that businesses facing higher taxes will simply shift jobs and investment to other states. Personally, I can’t wait to watch business after business pack their bags and flee the evilness that is combined reporting in California, New York, Texas and Illinois...the sound of them flocking to Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina will be deafening. The number of combined reporting states is growing so fast - five states proposed the measure this year alone - it is this expert’s opinion that by 2010, every single corporation will be located in Oklahoma. Go Sooners.
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Monday, September 24 | 1 comments | Permalink
Bath, NY. Town Shouldn’t Have to Pay for Wal-Mart
Citizens shouldn’t have to pay for Wal-Mart [Elmira Star-Gazette (NY)]
If a Wal-Mart Supercenter comes to Bath, we may all end up footing the bill.
The financial burden Wal-Mart places on a small community is extensive: increased spending on police and emergency services, fire protection, sewage and water expansion and roadway repair.
Wal-Mart promises a windfall of tax revenues to offset these burdens, but what they fail to mention is that they’ll also demand a lower tax assessment within a year or two of breaking ground. Wal-Mart has done this in communities all across the country—including right next door in Watkins Glen.
In September of 2006, Schuyler County and the village of Watkins Glen had to fight Wal-Mart in state Supreme Court after denying them a $5.4 million property tax reduction. They’re a business and should pay their fair share to support the community—just like local businesses have been doing here in Bath for 200 years.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, September 20 | 0 comments | Permalink
Letter to the Editor: Schnecksville, PA.
Stop the Wal-Mart in Schnecksville [Allentown Morning Call (Pa.)]
I recently received a letter that most people in the community have been dreading—a Wal-Mart in Schnecksville! As a member of this community, I take pride in the local businesses that exist here and do not want them pushed out by this large, inexpensive, overseas purchasing corporation.
As stated on WalMartWatch.com, all these supercenters do is create more traffic, the loss of local businesses and precious farmland and, the scariest of all, increased criminal activity! Who wants that in their backyards? Not me!
In a society that is going ‘’green,’’ Wal-Mart is among the least concerned. But, as a tax-paying citizen of North Whitehall Township, I am most concerned. I have started a petition to stop this virus from growing. I look forward to seeing my neighbors join me in this fight at the local township meetings and community gatherings.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, September 20 | 0 comments | Permalink
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