We think Athens can do better than put a 100,000 sq. ft. (counting the loading dock of course!) in downtown. The staggering weight of evidence that shows Wal-Mart kills jobs especially concerns us. Athens, Georgia has a 40% poverty rate.

Atlanta’s Selig Enterprises is planning a massive commercial project on the Oconee River, in Athens’ downtown historic district. The Selig project includes a 100,000 square foot Wal-Mart.

A multitude of peer-reviewed studies nationwide argue a Wal-Mart that close to so many important Athens local businesses will harm Athens’ local economy and, ultimately, its culture.

The Athens Banner-Herald published such studies.

Just a sampling:

http://luc.edu/curl/pdfs/Media/WalMartReport21010_01_11.pdf is a December 2009 Loyola University Chicago study on the opening of a Walmart in that city. While urging caution in interpreting results, the executive summary notes “the weight of evidence suggests that the Wal-Mart opening on the West Side led to the displacement of a range of businesses. There is no evidence that Wal-Mart sparked any significant net growth in economic activity or employment in the area.”

At http://ftp.iza.org/dp2545.pdf is a January 2007 discussion paper from the Institute for the Study of Labor. Noting its provisional nature, the paper reads, in part, that “the negative employment effects of Wal-Mart that we estimate simply imply that retail employment growth was a bit more modest than it would otherwise have been … . The estimates do imply, however, that retail employment is lower than it would have been in counties that Wal-Mart entered, and hence that Wal-Mart has negative rather than positive effects on net job creation in the retail sector.”

At http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/faculty/stone/1995_IA_ WM_Study.pdf, a 1995 Iowa State University study in that state notes that merchants “selling the same goods as Wal-Mart are in jeopardy,” while merchants selling different goods and services “become natural beneficiaries.”

Finally, at http://www.newrules.org/retail/wm-smallbusiness.pdf, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance counters a West Virginia University study finding no evidence that Walmart has adversely affected the small-business sector.

The institute’s report notes that “(b)etween 1998 and 2004 — a six-year period in which Wal-Mart expanded its U.S. store square footage per capita by more than 50 percent — the number of small storefront firms (those with 1 to 9 employees) fell by more than 18,000.”

Wal-Mart kills jobs.

Studies from important institutions across America have repeatedly found that Wal-Mart causes small local businesses to shut down, actually resulting in fewer total jobs in a community, increased poverty, and lost revenue. People for a Better Athens believes a Walmart in downtown Athens is not just a threat to downtown businesses.  A new Wal-Mart so close would also harm too oft-overlooked, minority-owned businesses located on the North Avenue, Broad Street, and in the Iron Triangle.  Studies often show a Wal-Mart affects businesses within 3 miles of the store.  That means small businesses in Five Points, Normaltown, and along Baxter St. will lose customers to an in-town Wal-Mart. Additionally, Wal-Mart’s business model of employee exploitation, paying mostly low-wage, part-time jobs that inevitably force nearly half of their employees to turn to TANF and food stamps to make ends meet. (Click here to read about children of Wal-Mart employees on PeachCare). Athens needs good-paying jobs.  Our 7.4% unemployment rate is 11% lower than the national average, but 40% of the children in our community live in poverty (Census). Athens has plenty of part-time, low-wage jobs and Wal-Mart stands to eliminate many of those and replace just some of them(Cite) with their own corporate brand of part-time, low-wage jobs. Athens needs better than Wal-Mart. Civil Rights organizations including the NAACP, ACLU, and the National Black Church Initiative have repeatedly protested Walmart’s unjust labor practices and record of discrimination. Wal-Mart’s insistence on the sale of low-priced goods has forced thousands of American manufacturers overseas to search unprotected labor.  Wal-Mart’s staggering dependence on Chinese manufacturers put countless Americans out of work.

TRAFFIC
This development will add thousands of cars per day to an already clogged Oconee Street.  If nothing is done to improve that major thoroughfare into downtown Athens, traffic jams will discourage people from visiting downtown. Selig’s lame conceptual drawing that is as accurate as a big yellow cube we’ve seen, is in violation of Athens-Clarke County’s Transportation Concept Corridor Map, which calls for an extension of Hickory St. to cut directly through the property.  This extension of the downtown grid system will likely alleviate downtown traffic and link the Athens-Clarke County Multi-Modal Transportation Center to University of Georgia bus services. The Hickory Street extension would also allow for easier bicycle & pedestrian access to Oconee Street- a main artery that connects downtown and east Athens.

FREE PARKING FOR SELIG’S DOWNTOWN
Selig’s development will include nearly 1200 parking spaces that will most likely be free-of-charge for those who shop there. Have you ever paid to shop at Wal-Mart? This free-pass will put Athens’ local business owners at a disadvantage. Actually, Selig’s drastically overbuilt parking infrastructure will harm all Athenians when one considers we are on the hook for the bond that built the brand-new Athens Downtown Development Authority parking deck behind the GA Theatre.  You know the deck that’s supposed to be paid back with revenue from downtown parking spaces? The new deck has thus far generated far less revenue than projected. Additionally, did you know Selig owns AAA Parking?

SIZE
If we let Selig succeed as planned, the 100,000 square foot Wal-Mart will sit atop a tri-level parking deck. Selig’s Wal-Mart wall across from Nuci’s Space will be 65′ ft. tall.  The area of Selig’s Wal-Mart will total the size of two football fields. Selig’s Wal-Mart will dominate the Athens cityscape for miles around both day AND night. Selig’s entire proposed downtown Athens’ Wal-Mart development will nearly double the size of existing downtown retial- essentially creating an entirely new downtown adjacent to our historic downtown!

ENVIRONMENTAL
We’d love to know more about the environmental issues surrounding the Selig project. Please contact us with any solid information!

POLITICS
Perhaps most troubling, Athens Mayor Nancy Denson refuses to participate in a public forum with Selig representatives to discuss this project.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
There are many, many powerful and knowledgeable people in our community who will not speak out against this development—not because they support it, but because Selig Enterprises has nearly bought half the town. Selig Vice President Jo Ann Chitty moved laterally from UGA’s Real Estate Foundation after failing to convince UGA to buy the property in question. The Seligs created the Selig Center for Economic Growth in UGA’s Terry College of Business. PFABA would love to hear anyone from Terry College comment on the weight of the evidence from other University’s peer-reviewed journals that show Wal-Mart kills jobs. Selig has also hired Oconee County conservative playboy Brian Broderick of Jackson Spalding Public Relations to manage things like bashing the all volunteer activities of citizens who insist on challenging our leaders to push for a better Athens. Broderick brazenly has held on to his seat on the Athens Downtown Development Authority which shockingly has refused to issue a statement on the project.

SECRET MEETINGS
Selig Enterprises tries to pass off orchestrated input from closed-door meetings as public input. These private meetings featured privately-invited individuals. A recent Flagpole article reveals that everyone who has attended Selig’s private meetings likely were painted a rosy picture that conflicted with information then passed on at the next meeting. Without public input, there can be no public accountability. Selig Enterprises refuses to hear the questions and concerns of the people of Athens. Selig Enterprises refuses to participate in a public forum despite repeated requests from organizations including People For a Better Athens, the Federation of Neighborhoods, and Occupy Athens, .

Do you think Athens can do better?

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