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Walmart, the very word evokes images. Different strokes for different folks; WalMart is what you make it. "Bargains galore", WalMart spokesmen even quote studies that state that disposable income goes up 6% when a store moves into town. "Bargains galore; at what price," cry the opponents of WalMart's policy of sourcing stock from Burmese druglords and other military regimes where sweatshops are the norm. How do we balance these opposing points of view, or do we really care?
Opinion in Cobourg, as near as I can gauge it, is in three parts: those who will welcome it with open arms, those who oppose it for various reasons and those who don't care. An internet search on 'Yahoo' (a search engine) revealed 26 categories (a category is a collection of related links) and 71,700 independent links. You can conclude that a lot of people have plenty to say about Walmart. What are the locals in Cobourg saying? The strident business people are following the lead of the President of the Chamber of Commerce in calling for Walmart to be allowed in at the earliest opportunity possible. His argument is that Walmart is inevitable and therefore get the pain over and done with, the majority of business will survive and become stronger because of the increased traffic in the area. The DBIA is more hesitant in expressing support for an early arrival whilst still opposing the entry into the market. Virtually all of the research that measures the impact of Walmart upon the traditional retail sector comes from the United States and some of that is transferrable. Two researchers, Muller and Beth Humstone concluded, after studying a proposed store in St. Albans, Vermont, that each 'new job' created by Walmart would cost the local economy 1.5 'old jobs'. The reason for this was that existing retail stores are more labour intensive than Walmart. Al Norman, a consultant who owns the "SprawlBusters" website and the author of books that outline how to fight Walmart says, "The studies he has reviewed suggest that 60% to 80% or more of Walmart sales come from other cash registers in town." Quoting the Madison Avenue based Global Credit Services, in a report called 'The Walmart Effect': "…..Local shoppers disgorge so much of their personal discretionary earnings that they are not able to leverage enough additional personal consumption expenditures to support local merchants." He observes that currently there are at least 60 communities (from Manhattan to Honolulu) battling to keep their communities Walmart-free.
So what can the opponents of Walmart here in Cobourg do? If they want to fight the battle they must do four things: be part of a broad based citizens group (which should include the business community), hire a good land-use lawyer, obtain constant visibility in the media and finally collect enough money to assemble and build the first three. In Cobourg anybody opposing Walmart has already lost the first round, they could not persuade Council to postpone the public meeting for a month. On August 21 it could be over if Council approves it that night.
There are four players here: Royal Cobourg the owner of the land, First Professional the builder and owner of the building, and Walmart the tenant of the building as well as the Council of the Town of Cobourg. First some facts. Royal Cobourg and Walmart have been trying to develop the land for many years. Royal Cobourg has paid for the market study that has concluded that little or no long-term damage will occur, to the existing retail stores, when Walmart comes. And, Royal Cobourg donated, in 1997, to the election campaigns of councillors: McCurdy, Spooner, Lindsay, MacDonald (they received $500) and Mayor Chalovich (she received $750). These donations are recorded on declaration forms filed after the election. These are facts to be considered when looking at who votes for or against this proposal and the applicant's record.
If the citizens who oppose Walmart, and the councillors who should wish to appear independent, in the light of exposed campaign contributions, want to profit from this situation then efforts must be made to extract compensation from any of the three parties wishing to develop. In Woolwich, Ont. the developer, of a Walmart, offered nearby Waterloo $340,000 for the services plus $30,000 for the DBIA and $60,000 for environmental compensation. So there is a history of developers buying their way into town.So here's my suggestion: have all parties accept the secondary plan that limits the retail expansion in the lands north of Strathy Place and buy, and then reclaim, the Diversey property downtown. This reclaimed industrial site should become the engine of downtown renewal and Walmart should pay for it as compensation for accelerating the decline of our existing downtown
Walmart Week Three