Has Wal-Mart Been Prevented From Locating in Saranac Lake?

Simple answer, absolutely not. First, there are two possible building sites located in the downtown area. Second, eventually the village sandpit area will most likely be rezoned commercial and likely put up for sale.

Wal-Mart obviously thinks than can make big bucks by building a store in Saranac Lake. But only by building a 121,000 (or 100,000 downsized) sq foot store that stocks 60,000 or more items? A more reasonable sized store located in the downtown area cannot be profitable?

Wal-Mart is not interested in compromise nor are its local supporters. They must not want a store very badly.

And the Letters Begin...

In todays Adirondack Daily Enterprise, two 'woe are we' letters not really worth a comment (although the implication that our students wouldn't leave Saranac Lake if there was a Wal-Mart in SL is an original hypothesis). Here and here.

Whose Fault is It? Part IV

This mornings TOT on WNBZ (7:50 AM Mon - Fri):

To sum it up, it's the fault of the small business owners of Saranac Lake. The best thing to do now is to boycott these stores and put them out of business. That will open the way for Wal-Mart to come to town.

Whose Fault is It? Part III

This mornings TOT on WNBZ (7:50 AM Mon - Fri):

First call: Elected trustees and Mayor were for Wal-Mart and then changed their minds. Actually no. They all stated that they would want much more information before they made a decision.

Second call: Wal-Mart would have been a big boost and would have helped the small businesses. We need to vote Democrats out. Actually no. Most academic studies show that Wal-Mart is bad for small town businesses. Democrats were elected with very healthy majorities indicating that most people agreed with thier viewpoints.

Third call: Empty stores downtown, people going to Plattsburgh, boycott SL shopping. Saranac Lake is screwing everyone from what they deserve to have (Wal-Mart). There might be empty stores downtown, but they are difficult to find.

Fourth call: Democrats were wishy washy about whether they supported Wal-Mart or not. Saranac Lake is full of people with disposable income. They come from other places (during the last 20 years) and pay 2-3 times what a property is worth. The majority voters did not seem to agree that the Democrats were wishy washy. Are you saying voters in SL are stupid? Is the answer to prevent any new people from locating to SL? Should they be forced to pay less than what a property is worth? Are you willing to sell your property for less than it is worth?

Fifth call: Wish suitable place for Wal-Mart was found, opposed to Lake Flower Av site. Just as most SL residents apparently were too.

Sixth call: Let's boycott SL. There's an idea. Let's destroy the small businesses of SL. That should help the tax base.

Perfectly Stated

Opinion column in todays ADE:

Finally, let me address the issue of being an integral part of a community. What a subjective beauty this term is. It is a concept that seems to somehow get tied to the length of time a person lives in a community rather than the actions of that person while they are there. If time were the factor, none of the local residents who spend half the year in Florida would be integral. All of the residents who live in a community 12 months a year would be integral. Who is it that determines who is and who isn’t integral? This issue is a two-way street. There’s responsibility on the part of the new person to make the effort to integrate into the community, but there is also responsibility on the part of the existing community to welcome them and encourage them to become part of it. Calling them “elitists” or “outsiders” is not a good start. Fortunately, we have great neighbors and new friends who have done their share to make us feel a part of the neighborhood and community. While we don’t have a checklist on how to be integral, we do help wherever and however we can, and we don’t demand much, if anything, in the way of services from the schools and the government. We frequent and support local businesses, attend and support our local church, help local charities and, in general, seem to be doing all the things that we’ve always done wherever we’ve lived. I’m sure there are “flatlanders” who do more and some who do less. At the same time, I’m sure there are some locals who could do more for their community or could do a better job of welcoming the new people to the neighborhood. Being an integral part of anything has very little to do with time.

It is time to focus on the real issues, unite people to solve the problems and to stop creating classes that divide and provide no solution.

Whose Fault Is It? Part II

On WNBZ's Talk of the Town this morning.

1. Rich people
2. People who live here but don't work here
3. Democrats
4. Rich people who elected the Democrats
5. Rich people political machine
6. People that don't understand that Wal-Mart is a force for good
7. People who want to keep the poor people down because this is a playground for the rich
8. People that only live here in the summer
9. People that did not grow up here
10. People that did not live here during the good ole days (50's)

Whose Fault Is It? Part I

From Plattsburgh Press Republican:

Wal-Mart says:

Wal-Mart said it was disappointed in the board's decision, singling out Michael and saying the sand pit and the surrounding commercial properties it planned to buy make up the only suitable site for a Supercenter in Saranac Lake.

"Thousands of signatures were submitted supporting retail development in Saranac Lake, and we have recently received hundreds of cards in support of our project," the statement said.

"Unfortunately, the board's decision has effectively prohibited Wal-Mart from locating in Saranac Lake."

Typical response from poor beleaguered Wal-Mart. Everyone is picking on us. No one likes us, even though we are a force for good. Wal-Mart is not prohibited from locating in Saranac Lake. There are two perfectly good building sites available. And, even with the rezoning process postponed, eventually the property will be zoned commercial. Future hopes in preventing big box syndrome lie with village zoning restrictions on retail building size as has been done by several towns in Maine that care about their community character. Wal-Mart is now sulking and refuses to return calls to the Plattsburgh Press Republican.

Wal-Mart also places the blame on Saranac Lake Mayor Tom Michael, a man who won the election with a decided majority and who cast the deciding vote on the rezoning issue.

Community Department Store Presentation - June 22

That didn't take long at all. Mark your calenders. A Pro-active group is doing something about retail development already. The Save Saranac Lake Coalition is sponsoring a public forum to learn about Community Department Stores. The presentation will be held at 7 PM, June 22nd in the Harrietstown Hall, Saranac Lake, NY. Representatives from two operating community department stores will be there. More info at slconcerns@yahoo.com.

Stay tuned for the reaction. Will there be wailing and gnashing of teeth or a joining together to do something positive?

What's Next???

The possibility of Wal-Mart building a store in Saranac Lake in the near future now seems to be unlikely, at least at the Lake Flower Ave. sandpit site. However, Wal-Mart probably has better than majority support to build a smaller store at another location in the downtown area of Saranac Lake. But how likely is that? Probably 100% unlikely since Wal-Mart wants what it wants and is known for not listening to anyone. So Wal-Mart the ball is now in your court.

The ball is also in the court of the Saranac Lake community. Most area residents do want a new department store, so what's next? Wouldn't it be great if SAGA, The CSave Saranac Lake Coalition, and CARD got together and determined what everyone could agree on and support concerning retail development? If CARD (Committee for Advancement of Retail Development)is really interested in retail development and not Wal-Mart per se, there is every reason to believe that the groups getting together could happen.

There are sure to be some angry letters to the ADE and calls to TOT concerning last nights vote to stop the sandpit rezoning process. The SL mayor and two village trustees are going to take some serious heat during the next week or so. Hopefully they will remember that they were elected by a substantial majority of voters. Hopefully they will do all they can to encourage reasonable retail development in downtown Saranac Lake.

I'm still ready to put my money where my mouth is concerning a co-operative retail store.

Wal-Mart Derailed in Saranac Lake

Last night the SL Village Board voted 3-2 to stop the rezoning process for the village owned sandpit site that Wal-Mart is interested in purchasing. Hear all about it at ncpr.org

Read about it here in the ADE.

Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) is a coalition of 275 faith-based institutional investors with over $110 billion in combined assets. Founded in 1971, ICCR is a major force in bringing advances in corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, and economic justice through organized share-owner advocacy.

See what they have to say about Wal-Mart here.

Also:
To Whom Much Is Given Much Is Expected, a few sermons.

Sandpit Rezoning Revisited - Mon Vil. Brd. Mtg.

The issue of whether to rezone the Lake Flower Avenue village owned sandpit area will be discussed at Monday nights village board meeting. One question that has been raised is whether the issue of Wal-Mart should enter into the decision to rezone the sandpit site to commercial or to wait for the planned re-evaluation of the Village’s Master Plan and zoning regulations.
In an article published in last week's ADE the following was written:

McEneany said that when he considers whether to continue with the rezoning, Wal-Mart will not be part of his thinking; he will consider the parcel only, not future sale of it.

Village Trustee McEneany has one way of thinking about the rezoning issue. The issue is only about rezoning and whether Wal-Mart might want to purchase the sandpit site to build one of their stores should not be considered.

A Letter to the Editor written by Ms. Gloria Volze has another way of looking at the rezoning issue:

If this is truly not about Wal-Mart, then there should be no problems in stopping the rezone at this time. We have nothing to lose but everything to gain by looking at our future with a renewed comprehensive plan.

Clearly, Ms. Volze has a valid point. What's the hurry if the rezoning issue is not about Wal-Mart? And again, with up to two years of sand remaining in the sandpit, what is the hurry to rezone?

The decision to rezone the sandpit site should be postponed until the Village Master Plan is updated.

What in Hell is Wal-Mart Afraid Of???

Here's a picture of a billboard that went up at 1111 Sam Walton Blvd. in Bentonville, AR. By afternoon, it came down. Here is an email I received from walmartwatch.com this afternoon.

Dear friends,

Last week, with the help of tens of thousands of supporters across the country, Wal-Mart Watch extended a hand to Wal-Mart's management and the Walton family. In a seven-point statement of shared principles, we offered to partner with Wal-Mart to help make America's largest company a true model for responsible business in the 21st century.

www.walmartwatch.com/handshake

To reinforce our offer, we contracted with Whistler Outdoor Advertising to post a billboard near Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. The billboard went up yesterday morning, just in time to greet visitors to Wal-Mart's Annual Shareholders Meeting being held today.

The billboard's message? -- a thoughtful, forward-looking quote from company founder Sam Walton:

"Maybe the most important way in which we at Wal-Mart believe in giving something back is through our commitment to using the power of this enormous enterprise as a force for change."


Yesterday afternoon, just hours after completing the billboard's installation at 1111 Sam Walton Boulevard, Whistler tore down our message. Company management has since told reporters that it was "duped" by Wal-Mart Watch. In reality, Whistler received our signed contract, payment, and artwork on May 25, 2006 and proceeded with the installation on schedule.

Whistler's management most certainly spent the day resisting withering pressure from Wal-Mart before finally giving in. While we hope that they will reconsider their action, we will accept our full refund and contribute that amount to the Bentonville Public Library.

So, while the first amendment doesn't seem to apply in the company town of Bentonville, our proposal to Wal-Mart still stands. Billboard or not, our hand is still extended. Is yours?

Please urge your friends to sign-on to our "Handshake with Sam" today.

Thanks for all you do,

Andrew Grossman
Executive Director

Wal-Mart is probably thinking "We don't need no stinkin handshake".

Sandpit Rezoning

An article in todays Adirondack Daily Enterprise concerning the number of letters being received at the Village offices concerning the sandpit rezoning process. Thus far 200 letters have been received by the Village Clerk.

“This is the biggest volume of letters I’ve ever gotten,” said Village Clerk Kareen Tyler, who estimated that she spent more than half an hour per day this month dealing with the influx.

The article goes on to point out that about have of the letters received thus far are opposed to the rezoning of sandpit site. Interestingly, these letters are not form letters but rather individual original letters. About 80 of the letters are in favor of rezoning the sandpit area. These letters are form letters. Those supporting the rezoning effort must be too busy to write their own letters.

A little more than half the letters were against continuing the rezoning process at this time. The majority of letters expressing this point were original. About 80 letters in favor of the rezone were the same letter with different signatures. This form letter never mentioned Wal-Mart, only that the parcel be rezoned for commercial use.

One major topic of discussion is whether the fact that Wal-Mart is interested in the property should be of concern when deciding whether to rezone or not.

One of the letters to garner the most attention from village officials was from retired attorney Peter Crary, who said he has 28 years of experience as an attorney including working in the environmental bureau of the state Attorney General’s Office. Crary, who is a neighbor to the sand pit, cautioned that the village shouldn’t overlook its SEQR Act obligations at this stage. He said the SEQR should address Wal-Mart because it made its intentions known about wanting to build on the property.

There are also two Letters (here and here) to the Editor concerning the rezoning issue, both opposed to rezoning.

Do Richard Edelman's Ethics Apply to His Wal-Mart Client?

Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman, the largest independent public relations firm in the world has his own blog. Wal-Mart is one of Edelman PR's clients. Mr. Edelman's March 30th post is pretty interesting. He appears to have pretty high moral and ethical standards for his company (short of hiring Krempasky who thinks Rep. John Murtha is not a patriot; we have got to stop conservatives from smearing decorated veterans).

Here are a few things Mr. Edelman has to say about PR companies (hopefully not taken too much out of context, but you can check that for yourself by clicking on his blog link).

How serious is it for PR that the man who runs the foremost center for press and public policy in the US is fundamentally skeptical about our profession?

.....it is time for us to recognize that with our enhanced opportunity comes a very real responsibility.

Tell both sides of every story. We can be more credible by listing the side effects along with the demonstrable benefits.

Empower employees to shape the company image.

Total transparency as to the motive and the funding source.

We need to improve the practice of public relations.

ProPr had a few comments about Edelman PR and transparency.

That’s where Wal-Mart came up short. They used their PR firm’s bloggers and the credibility those bloggers had built up to speak directly to other bloggers. But for the rest of us, people outside of their carefully targeted direct blogger pitch, we could not see what the company was up to. The fact that their activity was discovered resulted from the slipshod practices of a few bloggers who quoted verbatim from the material Edelman/Wal-Mart provided to them, without attribution.

So, true transparency was not achieved. And the resultant uproar should prove a cautionary tale for all.

So do PR firms have the obligation to tell both sides of a story when representing a client? Should PR firms encourage the client it represents (Wal-Mart) to talk about side effects? Should there really be total transparency when representing a client? Should Wal-Mart employee's be empowered to shape the company image?

Maybe I'm just confused about what Mr. Edelman is trying to say.

Talking to the Wal

Talking to the Wal is a movie by Steve Alves. It concerns two small towns, Greenfield, MA (18,000), whose residents prevented a Wal-Mart incursion by stopping a rezoning effort (read more here pdf) and little Orange, MA (7,500) whose residents welcomed Wal-Mart to town in hopes of revitalizing the town.

"Today's Orange is praised for the character, intelligence and thrift of its citizens and for its lack of "rowdyism." It has all the elements that make a small town livable, including good schools, churches (10 of them), library, fire department, water supply, fraternal organizations, and banking facilities. It also has a Wal-Mart, which provides cheap goods at the expense of a thriving downtown".

(from here)

Any hope that the downtown could be revitalized due to a Wal-Mart store's presence has since been abondoned.

Read the NYT review of the film here.

Good Suggestion By Gloria

Suggested in the comments in the below post:

"Folks who do not want a WM - especially the 121,000 proposed WM (which is the
photo) - should send that Postcard marked 'NO, I DO NOT SUPPORT A WM COMING TO
SL' to the Village Board at:

Saranac Lake Village Board
3 Main Street
Saranac Lake, NY 12983

We are afraid sending them back to WM
may be wasteful on our efforts. WM really does not care about our community. We
believe it will make no difference to WM but it may make a difference to our
Village Officials."

What's Next----------??????

These 'outsiders' with 'disposable income' are trying to have their way again.
First, they change the school mascot from a fierce REDSKIN to a wimpy storm; Next, they change the spelling of Schoeter's Field!!!!; Now they are sending out direct mail trying to get us to build a 121,000 sq ft Wal-Mart SuperCenter. These 'outsiders' are in the minority so it's not really certain how they make all these changes.

What's next? Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies; rivers and seas boiling; 40 yrs of darkness, earthquakes, volcanos; the dead rising from the grave; human sacrifice?

DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER????

Something must be done with these 'outsiders'.

Wal-Mart and Schroeter's Field

There was a sad little letter in the Thursday edition of the ADE which can be viewed here, at least for the next 14 days.

What does Schroeter's Field have to do with Wal-Mart? Nothing actually, unless you are a conspiracy theorist. There have been several letters in the ADE, in the last few days, from out of town 'native Saranac Lakers' concerning the spelling of Schroders (Schroeter's) Field. These letters are the result of a 'news update' at the popular Saranac Lake memories website Bunksplace.

First the Saranac Lake Redskins, then Schroeter's Field. What's next--------------????(Drop a letter to the editor at the Adirondack Daily Enterprise link below to voice YOUR opinion. Go to "Virtual News Room" )

The Letter:
We native Saranac Lakers are really getting fed up with the “NEW” so-called Saranac Lakers changing all that made Saranac Lake a desirable place to live. Some with no backbone stole our beloved Redskins from us. A minority, mind you. Another minority of aliens are doing everything possible to keep our town from having a place to shop for groceries and clothing because they have their little specialty shops and we should shop there whether we like it or not. Sound familiar?

No one forced them to move to OUR area, but they came and decided to change it to fit their lifestyle. What about our lifestyle? Now they are changing the name of Schroeter’s field to Shroeder’s field. We all played ball there as children growing up here and have fond memories of George and his family allowing us to use their hose when we were hot and their garage when it rained. Their name was SHROETER. What next? If you weren’t born here, don’t call yourself natives.

Maybe all of us old-timers should contact the Minutemen to guard our borders. By the way, no one had a problem with Ames being in North Elba. Is it just Wal-Mart? Conflict of interest, anyone? Downtown is great if you like pizza, subs or alcohol. Enough is enough. I’m sorry I brought my family back here to enjoy what was a beautiful, caring town of beautiful, caring people. You can have it. Tony Anderson and Bill Wallace must be rolling over in their graves, among others. If they are allowed to do that in our NEW TOWN.

Vermontville

This letter is an example of an attack on the civil rights of "non-native Saranac Lakers" (NNSLers). NNSLers include ANYONE who was 1)not born in Saranac Lake General Hospital and 2) did not graduate from The Saranac Lake High School. The nice thing about this definition is that if you were born in SLGH (damn, who changed the name to AMC?) and did graduate from SLHS (damn, it's not in Petrova anymore), you will keep all the "rights" of a Native Saranac Laker (NSLer) forever. You can be living in Vermontville, NY or Luanda, Angola and you still have a full voice in what happens in SL. A "NNSLer" is an outsider...an immigrant....an alien. It doesn't matter if you've lived here for 50 yrs. Keep your opinions to yourselves and you will be tolerated and allowed to live in OUR (NSLers)TOWN. If you express an opinion WE (NSLers)don't like, please just leave the area. Go back from whence you came. Don't make us form a Minuteman group (a group by the way that is responsible for the formation of some bigoted, racist groups - Here, Here).

NNSLer's are everything that is wrong with SL. They are responsible for all change, even the spelling of Schoeter's Field. Now you NNSLers want to have an opinion about Wal-Mart! What's next ----------??????

Sometimes you can be ashamed to be a NSLer.

PS Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott, Edelman CEO Richard Edelman and you PR/Direct Marketing guys in Rochester.....we don't mean you. You are honorary NSLer's.