Wal-Mart divides Potsdam again

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Jul 09, 2004 by Spohr, George

POTSDAM - Controversy regarding Wal-Mart's impending store opening here has again polarized this St. Lawrence County college town.

The company's efforts to open a store here in the late-1990s failed when the Village Board was unable to strike a deal that would have offset the cost of bringing village water and sewer services to the store. At the time, Wal-Mart tucked its tail between its legs and built stores elsewhere, such as Massena.

But six to seven months ago, a private developer came to the Town Board saying a big-box store was looking to build a store on Route 11 between Potsdam and Canton, Supervisor Marie Regan recalls.

It didn't take long for Potsdam to realize the big-box would have housed Wal-Mart, and tempers began to flare.

As in many Upstate municipalities that have grappled with the prospect of Wal-Mart coming to town, those here in Potsdam against the store fall into two factions:

* Those who are repulsed by what they say are the company's anti-labor policies and business practices.

* Those who fear the demise of independently owned stores that would lie in Wal-Mart's shadows.

Wal-Mart's public relations office referred reporters to a spokeswoman who is on vacation this week. That spokeswoman's voicemail referred reporters to the company's community affairs office. Employees there referred reporters back to the public relations office, which did not return calls.

Potsdam, as a whole, doesn't seem to be entirely opposed to Wal-Mart, Regan explains. She says the two groups who oppose Wal-Mart - and who have done everything from write letters to the editor to local newspapers to getting petitions signed to block the store's opening - are part of "a small, but very vocal - I believe - minority in the community."

The Town Board can't do much to block or help Wal-Mart's entrance other than hold the company to the letter of the law, Regan says. The town's planning board actually will have more say in the process leading up to Wal-Mart's construction than the town would, since the previously sticky issues of water and sewer and zoning are now nonissues. (Wal-Mart's developing its own water and sewer system, and the area's already zoned for commercial development.)

There's a strong case to be made for allowing Wal-Mart into Potsdam, Regan explains. She sites a Merwin Rural Services Institute study conducted a couple of years ago that says Potsdam is losing $500,000 weekly to Wal-Mart and grocery stores in Massena.

"Merchants are already competing [with] Wal-Mart," Regan says. The case could be argued that the store would "at least make it convenient for shoppers in Potsdam - and keep some of that lost tax money here."

The issue is so polarizing that every new statistic released by Wal-Mart's developers causes a volley of back-and-forth arguments.

Statistic No. 1: Wal-Mart will create 400 new jobs when it opens its Potsdam store.

Supporters say those are 400 jobs that will lower unemployment in the area.

Opponents say those 400 jobs aren't all full-time, and Wal-Mart doesn't give its part-timers health insurance.

Supporters say neither do most of the independently owned stores, either.

Statistic No. 2: Wal-Mart will generate between $200,000 and $250,000 in additional tax revenue for the town, school district, and county.

Supporters say that money will lighten the tax burden of residents and business owners.

Opponents say the number doesn't take into account the lost tax revenues from stores Wal-Mart will be putting out of business.

"The truth probably lies halfway," Regan admits. "People see it as black-and-white, and it's gray. All I can say is this is a democracy. They have the right to come in, and basically what the Town Board and I, as supervisor, have to do is hold them to the letter of the law to the highest degree."

Company representatives contacted Regan asking for her help in minimizing resistance to the new store.

"I told them that I was not going to tell them how to do it," she says. "I told them it was their baby, and anything I told them might help their cause and also might boomerang."

Those who have contacted the Town Board about Wal-Mart have been "a lot more pro-" store construction than against it. Regan speculates that those who want Wal-Mart to come to Potsdam don't want to offend their friends in the business community by making their support public. She says there are a lot of people in the community who can't always afford to drive to Massena for food, clothing, and medicine.

As for the concerns of the anti-Wal-Mart camp, "I share them to some degree, but a lot of them are people who have the luxury of shopping out-of-town or through the Internet," Regan says. "They're more worried about ambiance when others are worried about what it costs them to drive to Massena."