A few thoughts from Paul Loehr

March 26, 2007

Dear ARRG friends,

A couple of days ago (Mar 24) I actually looked at and read our blogspot and was impressed with what a powerful tool it is for communication, if we use it. With our group being so large, and what with so much going on, it makes an excellent focal point for keeping in touch.

I saw reference to the disc "Walmart, the high cost of low prices" in my reading there. I want you to know that about 2 weeks ago I gave a copy of this to Ron Smith and asked him to share it with whomever he wishes. He had not seen it. If you have not seen it, Please Please Please avail yourself of the copy that is in our group. It is a powerful counter to Walmart's big lie about low prices every day. The reason their prices look low is because they have become extremely savvy about getting local government to pay them to come in, reduce their taxes below existing businesses and heavily subsidize their ongoing operations (every day). When you get your tax bill, no doubt you growl at the tax collector. You should be growling at the Planning Board for letting Walmart come in in the first place. Walmart is expensive, and unhealthy for our community!!

During one of the recent meetings with Mr. Russo and his counsel Mr. Sherwood, they were asked about Walmart's level of interest in this site (the Martin farm), to which Sherwood replied, "They are more than interested." I've pondered that sentence for weeks and wondered what it could mean.

Upon reading Ronald Falkman's letter on our blogspot, wherein he speculates about the possible relationship among Walmart, Russo, Sherwood, and Redstone, it seemed like an Ahah! moment for me. Admittedly I know of no such relationship and I know no one who does—but it is a very interesting question.

Several weeks ago you may remember a combined Village/Town Board meeting to start thinking about emergency preparedness. That lead to a discussion of our patchwork "Master Plans" and their need for updating review and coordination. In light of our recent beginning education about the high cost of sprawl and the wisdom of the "new urbanism" and Smart Growth, which turns out to be the old neighborhoods some of us remember from the 40s and 50s, I think this would be an excellent moment to pause all development of new structures and get our (Village and Town) ducks in order. Let's make a real, new, comprehensive Village and Town Master Plan, guided by those municipalities which have already taken control away from builders and developers and put it back in Smart Growth and the New Urbanism. Perhaps the next time you see a Village/Town elected/appointed person, you could ask them if they know about smart growth and the new urbanism. Perhaps ARRG could give a suggested reading list to all Village and Town officials as well as to us. By the way, do you know who your economic development person is? Do you know a name? Whom he works for? How many hours he/she works for us? Do you know whom he reports to? How often? How much the person is being paid? Are you satisfied with the work that person is doing for you? With your tax money? Do you know where that person lives, or his/her phone number?

If our mindset is that of being desperate and uninformed as we approach development issues, then as we move forward in any negotiations, we will needlessly be ceding power to the developer/builder. Let's put our Town and Village and our interests on top of the list. Other communities have done it. We can too!

Oh! And another by-the-way. Does the Walmart proposal coincide with the existing Master Plan? If not, why not? What is so compelling about putting a Walmart SuperStore on exactly that spot? What is so compelling about the suggested size? Why not 110,000 square feet? Why not 82,000 square feet? Why are we even listening to ANY limitations Walmart wants to put on our land plans? Are you aware of the far-reaching extreme restriction Walmart wants to impose on us? Why should we let Walmart design our Town? Their ONLY interest is in maximizing profit. They do not care about our Town/Village. THAT is up to us.

A few thoughts from Paul Loehr