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MY VIEW: Widewaters – why them and not us?
By Lori J. Selden
Stuyvesant
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein
This is one of my all-time favorite quotes and today, walking out of yet another meeting about the ever-finagling Widewaters Group , meetings which I have been attending regularly for over three years now, I think I might be going insane.
Why is it so hard to get the “powers that be” to understand the importance of local business?
Why must we keeping proving that money spent with local merchants vs. big corporate box stores generates over three times the return to the local economy than money spent at a national chain?
Why do we have to keep reiterating that local businesses use local services and vendors, while chain retailers usually use large national firms?
How come people just don’t get that local business owners not only spend their profits locally but are also heavily invested in the community, doing charitable and volunteer work, running for public office and more?
Hello, is anyone actually listening?
Do you remember how in 2006 we packed your town halls and meeting rooms, crying “Baloney!” when Widewaters kept insisting that they would never ask for any financial incentives or PILOT programs?
When Widewaters came before the IDA in 2008 looking for handouts, do you remember how we proved hands down how wrong that was (and you believed us)?
So why is this all up for discussion again in 2009? Is having Kohl’s so important that it’s worth giving away 20 years of real estate tax money while local businesses can’t even get functioning lampposts or properly plowed streets outside their non-subsidized front doors?
With malls foreclosing all around us, is it a good investment of our preciously tight county funds to bail out this one?
Let’s be honest. The whole point of a “shopping mall” is to replicate established city centers which provide a variety of shopping choices, all under one roof. When a mall is successful, it’s because it has managed to create an “artificial urban buzz” without the maneuvering around city streets or city parking. Do we need to keep financing “mock city shopping” when our real local businesses need your help?
Malls tend to work on similar design concepts, where large “anchor” stores serve as magnets for the smaller retail store units. Often the anchor stores are somewhat competitive and spaced at opposite ends of the mall, thereby creating a flow of customers circulating between each of them. Think Macy’s at one end, Boscov’s at the other. This creates a flow of replicated “city foot traffic” for the smaller stores that are spaced between the anchors.
The goal for a smart mall developer is to provide a layout that is going to maximize rental return, because mall developers don’t only get monthly rental fees, they also get a high percentage of actual store sales, a service fee for creating this “imitation” city foot traffic. Consequently, when business is down for retail (i.e. a slow Christmas season) funds are down for mall developers too.
This past spring, General Growth Properties, the second largest mall operators in the country, filed for bankruptcy, suffering what some call “the biggest commercial real estate collapse in US history.” It’s not just our homes that are dropping in value, mall vacancies are at their highest in over a decade. It’s why you are seeing former retail stores turn into office or dance spaces, game arcades or temporary costume outlets. It’s also why more discount dollar stores pop up in mall outlets where they might not have been welcome before. Big anchor department stores are getting harder to find so grocery stores are taking their place.
Is this the economic climate where we want to be cutting 20 year tax deals for a national chain that may not even exist two decades from now? Wouldn’t we be better served by putting county funds towards helping our struggling local businesses who have already invested significant time and equity into making our community more successful?
The recent Widewaters proposal to the IDA will reduce the assessed value of the Kohl’s property by millions of dollars a year. Imagine if those lost funds were instead spent marketing and promoting our county! What if those same funds went to improving our current main street commercial districts with better parking, proper signage, repaired sidewalks, beautified parks and landscaping, effective lighting and even restoring some of our beautiful, historic buildings to make them viable for future commercial tenant use?
There are many, many positive alternatives for the kind of tax relief Widewaters is requesting which would allow us, as a community, to become actively engaged in progressive changes and improvements within our community. Enhanced local business districts also translate into more local jobs and more local sales tax. Why does the county prefer to donate those funds to a Milwaukee-based corporation for the exact same purpose and not to our own backyard?
I urge you to write to the IDA with your opinions on this matter. Send your letters quickly (a decision is imminent) to:
Bruce Bohnsack
IDA Chairman
4303 Route 9
Hudson, NY 12534
This is one of my all-time favorite quotes and today, walking out of yet another meeting about the ever-finagling Widewaters Group , meetings which I have been attending regularly for over three years now, I think I might be going insane.
Why is it so hard to get the “powers that be” to understand the importance of local business?
Why must we keeping proving that money spent with local merchants vs. big corporate box stores generates over three times the return to the local economy than money spent at a national chain?
Why do we have to keep reiterating that local businesses use local services and vendors, while chain retailers usually use large national firms?
How come people just don’t get that local business owners not only spend their profits locally but are also heavily invested in the community, doing charitable and volunteer work, running for public office and more?
Hello, is anyone actually listening?
Do you remember how in 2006 we packed your town halls and meeting rooms, crying “Baloney!” when Widewaters kept insisting that they would never ask for any financial incentives or PILOT programs?
When Widewaters came before the IDA in 2008 looking for handouts, do you remember how we proved hands down how wrong that was (and you believed us)?
So why is this all up for discussion again in 2009? Is having Kohl’s so important that it’s worth giving away 20 years of real estate tax money while local businesses can’t even get functioning lampposts or properly plowed streets outside their non-subsidized front doors?
With malls foreclosing all around us, is it a good investment of our preciously tight county funds to bail out this one?
Let’s be honest. The whole point of a “shopping mall” is to replicate established city centers which provide a variety of shopping choices, all under one roof. When a mall is successful, it’s because it has managed to create an “artificial urban buzz” without the maneuvering around city streets or city parking. Do we need to keep financing “mock city shopping” when our real local businesses need your help?
Malls tend to work on similar design concepts, where large “anchor” stores serve as magnets for the smaller retail store units. Often the anchor stores are somewhat competitive and spaced at opposite ends of the mall, thereby creating a flow of customers circulating between each of them. Think Macy’s at one end, Boscov’s at the other. This creates a flow of replicated “city foot traffic” for the smaller stores that are spaced between the anchors.
The goal for a smart mall developer is to provide a layout that is going to maximize rental return, because mall developers don’t only get monthly rental fees, they also get a high percentage of actual store sales, a service fee for creating this “imitation” city foot traffic. Consequently, when business is down for retail (i.e. a slow Christmas season) funds are down for mall developers too.
This past spring, General Growth Properties, the second largest mall operators in the country, filed for bankruptcy, suffering what some call “the biggest commercial real estate collapse in US history.” It’s not just our homes that are dropping in value, mall vacancies are at their highest in over a decade. It’s why you are seeing former retail stores turn into office or dance spaces, game arcades or temporary costume outlets. It’s also why more discount dollar stores pop up in mall outlets where they might not have been welcome before. Big anchor department stores are getting harder to find so grocery stores are taking their place.
Is this the economic climate where we want to be cutting 20 year tax deals for a national chain that may not even exist two decades from now? Wouldn’t we be better served by putting county funds towards helping our struggling local businesses who have already invested significant time and equity into making our community more successful?
The recent Widewaters proposal to the IDA will reduce the assessed value of the Kohl’s property by millions of dollars a year. Imagine if those lost funds were instead spent marketing and promoting our county! What if those same funds went to improving our current main street commercial districts with better parking, proper signage, repaired sidewalks, beautified parks and landscaping, effective lighting and even restoring some of our beautiful, historic buildings to make them viable for future commercial tenant use?
There are many, many positive alternatives for the kind of tax relief Widewaters is requesting which would allow us, as a community, to become actively engaged in progressive changes and improvements within our community. Enhanced local business districts also translate into more local jobs and more local sales tax. Why does the county prefer to donate those funds to a Milwaukee-based corporation for the exact same purpose and not to our own backyard?
I urge you to write to the IDA with your opinions on this matter. Send your letters quickly (a decision is imminent) to:
Bruce Bohnsack
IDA Chairman
4303 Route 9
Hudson, NY 12534
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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of registerstar.com.
HudsonInvestor wrote on Nov 13, 2009 12:34 PM:
" This is well put. If Khol's and Wide Waters think this is such a great market for them why don't they build a store with private funds the way our locally owned businesses have.
And to "grgsill" I say, Khol's and Walmart sell cheap & often toxic goods made in China by slave/child labor, and pay local workers minimum wage with no benefits, drain our local infrastructure, then take our local dollars back to WI and AK, YOU can live off THAT? May I suggest you move to Orlando, FL grgsil, this is more your type of place and there are plenty of low wage fast food and big box jobs there for you to choose from. "
And to "grgsill" I say, Khol's and Walmart sell cheap & often toxic goods made in China by slave/child labor, and pay local workers minimum wage with no benefits, drain our local infrastructure, then take our local dollars back to WI and AK, YOU can live off THAT? May I suggest you move to Orlando, FL grgsil, this is more your type of place and there are plenty of low wage fast food and big box jobs there for you to choose from. "
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grgsill wrote on Nov 11, 2009 8:13 AM: