Vine City Wal-Mart hiring (Atlanta, Alma: co-ops, home, neighborhood)

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by cqholt

In certain areas where WalMart is announced, North Decatur, they'll raise hell. But an area like Vine City that needs to jobs and retail very little opposition is heard. WalMart is a good fit for this area, but not a good fit for Glenwood Park.

And why is that? Has Glenwood Park suddenly become an extremely wealthy area that Neiman Marcus should be looking to put a store in?

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Not only are there plenty of people willing to work those "low paying jobs," there are plenty of Americans willing to pay those "low prices." People who hate Walmart are hypocrites. Who would deny others a job when jobs are so scarce? Who would deny others a chance to save a buck and provide for their families with brand name products at affordable prices? Walmart wouldn't be the success that it is if there wasn't a huge demand for the services they provide. People who refuse to shop there "on principle" are only hurting themselves.

I agree with this. I am not an avid Walmart shopper but will go there occassionally. I also love them in my 401k as they are a solid company and pretty much always hold their value. I think a lot of people with IRAs or 401ks who hate Walmart, yet are invested in the company via these sorts of accounts, are pretty hypocritical.

And unfortunately, there are many people taking care of families making $8 to $9 an hour. If they have kids, they actually qualify for CAPS so don't have to pay much for childcare, if anything at all, but it is better to have these people working than sitting around collecting benefits since they actually will be contributing to the tax base via payroll taxes. And Walmart does offer overtime so they could potentially bring in more income.

My older sister works for Walmart in Ohio and makes much more than $9 an hour. She started off as an overnight stocker so always made more than $9 an hour there. She now is a supervisor of that entity of the store and makes a decent living for a single person. She doesn't have kids but has a girlfriend she met while working at Walmart who has kids. Both their incomes together are more than the median income of the average American family.

[red92s]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

And why is that? Has Glenwood Park suddenly become an extremely wealthy area that Neiman Marcus should be looking to put a store in?

Nope, primarily because of the site access and traffic concerns. And I don't mean the typical "blah but if WalMart comes there will be more traffic". The access points for the proposed location are really lousy, Glenwood can't handle the volume in it's current 2-lane configuration, and it can't be easily expanded because of residential properties that are already very close to the street. Try turning left from northbound Moreland onto westbound Glenwood and tell me they need to build a Walmart down there.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by red92s

Nope, primarily because of the site access and traffic concerns. And I don't mean the typical "blah but if WalMart comes there will be more traffic". The access points for the proposed location are really lousy, Glenwood can't handle the volume in it's current 2-lane configuration, and it can't be easily expanded because of residential properties that are already very close to the street. Try turning left from northbound Moreland onto westbound Glenwood and tell me they need to build a Walmart down there.

Then that's an issue the city needs to address via proper zoning and planning regulations. If the site can't handle the traffic that the proposed use is going to generate, the zoning ordinances should be designed to prevent that use at that site. I don't know the particular area's traffic issues well enough to comment, but it sounds as if they should be able to keep the development from happening based on the inability to handle the traffic, provided they have proper regulations in place.

[KrazeeKrewe]

Most Walmart employees & their family are on government assistance or being supported by other family members. Every Walmart store cost tax payers $1 million a year. Half a million dollars goes to support their employees & their families & the other half is for tax deals city, county, state & federal government allows them avoid paying.

[cittic10]

So many great comments have been made. And I'd add a lot more if I had the time today.

I'll just say that Vine City is, what Vine City is because of companies like walmart.
It is by no means a knight in shining armor here to provide jobs and save a community.
As Joe Biden would say... "That's a bunch of Malarkey"

[cqholt]

And why is that? Has Glenwood Park suddenly become an extremely wealthy area that Neiman Marcus should be looking to put a store in?

Nope, primarily because of the site access and traffic concerns. And I don't mean the typical "blah but if WalMart comes there will be more traffic". The access points for the proposed location are really lousy, Glenwood can't handle the volume in it's current 2-lane configuration, and it can't be easily expanded because of residential properties that are already very close to the street. Try turning left from northbound Moreland onto westbound Glenwood and tell me they need to build a Walmart down there.

This^^^ and there is a Kroger, Target, and Lowe's a mile away in Edgewood Retail District. Also the residents don't want WalMart and that's the #1 reason.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

Then that's an issue the city needs to address via proper zoning and planning regulations. If the site can't handle the traffic that the proposed use is going to generate, the zoning ordinances should be designed to prevent that use at that site. I don't know the particular area's traffic issues well enough to comment, but it sounds as if they should be able to keep the development from happening based on the inability to handle the traffic, provided they have proper regulations in place.

Agreed 100%. That was the issue at Lindbergh -- the opposition wasn't to Walmart, but to the failure of the developer to comply with the zoning codes.

In that case the project was shot down before Walmart entered the picture and it was never clear they would be the tenant anyway.

As to Glenwood, I don't see how saying "the residents don't want a Walmart" is any reason to block them from coming in. Walmart has the same right to open a store as anyone else so long as they meet the code. If people don't like it they can vote with their feet.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by arjay57

As to Glenwood, I don't see how saying "the residents don't want a Walmart" is any reason to block them from coming in. Walmart has the same right to open a store as anyone else so long as they meet the code. If people don't like it they can vote with their feet.

Exactly. We're going through the same thing right now in the town I live in. A developer acquired a bunch of adjacent parcels that were all zoned commercial, and started marketing the assemblage to interested companies. Since the parcel is right at an exit ramp from 575, Walmart jumped on it. When the story hit the paper a week ago, residents went bananas- "we don't need another Walmart", "why haven't we heard about this?", "why didn't the city tell us about this?"

a) The city didn't know Walmart was coming, nor did the developer have to tell them- the land is zoned for that use, they'll have to meet all the zoning restrictions, and you can't deny a particular company from building in a properly zoned area (well, you can try, but you'll spend tons of $$ in court, and end up losing anyway)

b) If the city did know about it, it would have been discussed at the city council meetings, which no one ever attends, but then they complain about the results of the meetings when they're published in the paper.

c) One resident did sign up to speak at last night's city council meeting to discuss concerns about traffic that the new development might generate- they never showed up to speak, but will probably continue to complain about it.

People love to sit at their computers and complain, but that's the extent to which they're willing to go to have their opinions heard.

[arjay57]

Walmart has a way of getting what it wants. For one thing they are just so massive. In many counties they are one of the top employers (#4 in Gwinnett, #3 in DeKalb, #8 in Cobb, #8 in Rockdale, #4 in Banks, #8 in Forsyth, #3 in Dawson, etc.).

In many cases the only larger employer is the school system and the local hospital.

So it's pretty hard for local governments to say no to them. If you mess with Walmart you are playing with fire. I predict their influence will get stronger and stronger as they continue their rollout into Georgia.