How Wal-Mart gets its way in the KC area
Yael T. AbouhalkahSome people in the Kansas City area are not fans of Wal-Mart.
Dozens of Lee’s Summit residents are expected to show up at a City Council meeting Thursday night to protest a proposed new Wal-Mart Supercenter. They’re worried it will decrease property values, boost traffic and bring in crime.
In south Kansas City hundreds of Waldo neighborhood residents oppose Wal-Mart’s planned Neighborhood Market grocery on the site of the vacant Bingham Middle School. They’re concerned about traffic and placing a store so close to houses.
And in Raytown residents fear that Wal-Mart plans to build a Neighborhood Market grocery at 62nd Street and Blue Ridge Boulevard. The store’s potential negative impact on small businesses is a big concern.
But keep this in mind, too.
Many people in the Kansas City area really like Wal-Mart.
Mission Mayor Laura McConwell and other city officials just wound up their successful bid to woo Wal-Mart to anchor the taxpayer-subsidized Mission Gateway project.
Next door in Roeland Park, Mayor Adrienne Foster was hoping she could keep her city’s Wal-Mart open, thus retaining the $500,000 or more in sales taxes it has provided annually for city services. But it will close now.
Kansas City officials put together a taxpayer-subsidized redevelopment in the mid-2000s to lure Wal-Mart to anchor a new shopping district where the Blue Ridge Mall once stood.
Summed up, feelings run deeply in this region about Wal-Mart.
Christine Bushyhead, a former Lee’s Summit City Council member, is the development lawyer who supports a new Wal-Mart in her city. She says it will be extremely “green,” offering everything from parking for bicycles to energy efficient lighting. Unlike many Wal-Mart deals, this one won’t get a public subsidy, she said, and thus will provide up to $1.5 million a year in tax revenues for the city, school district and other taxing jurisdictions.
Small business owner Melissa Saubers speaks for critics as she fights Wal-Mart’s proposed market in Waldo. Regarding recent concessions Wal-Mart has pledged — such as being open 18 hours a day rather than 24 hours — Saubers doesn’t trust any such pact. “Wal-Mart has a reputation for doing whatever they want,” she says.
I would add this qualification: Wal-Mart often gets what it wants because elected officials give in to them.
Time and time again, many cities on both sides of the state line have aggressively chased Wal-Mart to open a grocery or big box store. Wal-Mart often winds up in city-approved tax increment financing districts, with taxpayers paying for roads, sidewalks and other infrastructure needed to help the nation’s largest retailer come to a site.
Public officials should be much stricter with these incentives, not just for Wal-Mart but for all businesses that have their hands out.
In response, each city usually claims this corporate welfare is needed to compete with other cities to attract retail, a sad commentary on today’s business practices.
In addition, Wal-Mart and other businesses have saddled cities with real estate eyesores. It happened when the Wal-Mart opened in the publicly subsidized Blue Ridge Crossing — and the Wal-Mart near Bannister Mall immediately shuttered. It occurred when a Wal-Mart-owned Sam’s Club in Kansas City closed — and a new one opened a few miles away in an Independence TIF project.
City officials could — but almost never do — require Wal-Mart and other developers to have plans for their old buildings when they go dark. Demolition is one option that cities should put in the deals, especially when new projects are opening with the help of taxpayer assistance.
Based on past results, there’s a good chance Wal-Mart will be allowed to open new stores in Lee’s Summit, Kansas City’s Waldo area and Raytown. If that happens, elected officials made those results possible.
Wal-Mart’s critics will place blame for those actions — but the store’s fans will bless them.
To reach Yael T. Abouhalkah, call 816-234-4887 or email abouhalkah@kcstar.com. He blogs at voices.kansascity.com and appears on “Ruckus” at 7 p.m. Thursday on KCPT. Twitter: @YaelTAbouhalkah
George Hunsucker
Northland
3 months, 2 weeks agoif people are soooooooooooo against WM, why do they prosper? Lower prices, good service and JOBS!!!
WM bashing is a favorite pasttime of you libs yt…… What you need to do is keep supporting mom-and-pop stores and never shop at any big box store—I would wager a tidy sum you frequent big-box stores yt…
Phil Cardarella
3 months, 2 weeks agoI doubt that even Walmart claims that it is a net increaser of job — outside China, that is.
Paying Walmart to come to your town or neighborhood is suicidally stupid. It is an investment in future blight, since if Walmart needs public incentives to be profitable, it will seek other locations when those incentives run out. DUH! (Of course, by that time, its competitors will have been run out of business, you know.)
I would like to think that only heavy, underhanded bribery would explain allowing a Walmart in Waldo. Sadly, I may be too optimistic. One should never assume cupidity when stupidity suffices.
George Hunsucker
Northland
3 months, 2 weeks agodon’t bitch about big-box stores Phillie, make a public promise NEVER TO SHOP THEM. Come on, show us your conviction Phillie……
Steve Alleman
Kansas City
3 months, 2 weeks agoCome on, show us your conviction, Georgie. Make a public promise that you’ll get a life, Georgie.
Richard Koleber
3 months, 2 weeks agoyears ago while Sam was alive, walmart was a decent competitor. When Sam passed and his kids and the board of directors took over, all hell broke lose. walmart has a reputation of telling suppliers what they will pay, thereby getting their “lower” prices. when wally wants a store, they get the land given to them, building and streets built, taxes delayed. anything they want. not bad for the biggest retailer in the world. as for their latest comment of hiring vets? They are in the process of purging all employees with any amount of time in so they can stop paying any benefits and higher wages. yep, a real hero in the retail world.
Brandon Lewis
3 months, 2 weeks agoYou want to talk about decreased property values in Lee’s Summit, the corner of Langsford Rd and 291 Hwy the old Hobby Lobby spot is now Big Lots. This is the perfect example of bringing down values.
Phil Cardarella
3 months, 2 weeks agoOK, I am not a fan of Walmart. Many of their business parctices were considered in violation of anti-trust laws until the Reagan Administration, they treat their own employees badly and they hurt other American jobs by favoring foreign sources.
But, hey! They make a lot of billions for theor billionaire owners. That is the only important thang, right? Shouldn’t we worship that “success” of capitalism?
But, My specific point was the foolishness of a city encouraging — even paying — Walmart to come there. And, especially Waldo — where there are other businesses prospering that will suffer.
George Hunsucker
Northland
3 months, 2 weeks agoBillionaire owners????? Me thinks a bit of ole barrister hyperbole is in evidence here…. But it feels soooooooooo good to say it, doesn’t it?????