I wrote once about the Walmart, No. 1274, in Whitewater. (Walmart now uses a name without a hyphen in advertising. I’m guessing they consider it both simpler and more upscale than “Wal-Mart.”)
I wrote about Walmart a while ago, and a lot has changed. Walmart now sells both beer and liquor, there’s no east side of Whitewater grocer, and a recession has left Whitewater with higher-than-average unemployment.
What’s unchanged, though, is my opinion of Walmart as a benefit to the community: “There’s nothing elegant about Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart wouldn’t expect there to be. Without this general merchandising retailer, however, our small town would likely have fewer items for sale, stocked less frequently, and priced above Wal-Mart’s prices.”
One sees that Walmart hopes for a larger store, over a third again as large. See, “Wal-Mart plans upgrade of Whitewater store.”
There will be an open house for discussion of Walmart’s proposal on Wednesday; more particulars will be available then. The latest Weekly Report from Whitewater’s City Manager, Kevin Brunner, also listed briefly elements of a possible expansion.
More competition will be good for Whitewater, and this expansion will produce competition in food prices, and lower costs for food sold within the city.
I’m surely no detractor of Walmart; they’ve been useful to many consumers. Those who have an ideological bias against Walmart ignore the popularity of the retailer among all groups of people — all ages, races, and ethnic backgrounds. Walmart is as close to a universal retailer as America has right now.
Residents should be able to choose shopping at an expanded Whitewater Walmart, as they now travel to shop at larger Walmart stores nearby. (A preference that Walmart ‘s Wisconsin spokeswoman, Lisa Nelson, correctly notes in her remarks with the Janesville Gazette.)
I am happy to hear that Walmart wants to sell more products to Whitewater’s consumers. There’s profit in those sales, and common gain for buyers and sellers.
Significantly, Walmart’s expansion should not come at a cost to Whitewater’s taxpayers. We should not give Walmart myriad concessions for her expansion. One great problem of this town is that her bureaucrats are over-awed by a few big projects, and neglect the needs of smaller ventures. There’s a star-struck quality to officials here, where a few small-town bureaucrats try to make themselves big by advancing large projects (at large cost in taxpayer spending, taxpayer debt, and other concessions).
Meanwhile, small business owners have to scrape by, and listen to one dull official or another insist on burdensome changes and regulatory requirements that serve no use to Whitewater’s consumers. It’s predictable that those who clamor most for regulatory enforcement are taxpayer-paid officials, or taxpayer-compensated consultants and professionals in their employ. (That means in the public employ, at bottom.)
Just a few years ago, the east of the town was sure to have a green grocer, we added a roundabout, and were waiting for an explosion of retail in that area.
Today, we have a roundabout, where one can drive in circles for as long as one wants, until his gasoline runs low, and he has to find a station beyond the area where one was supposed to be, but was never, built.
We have more than a roundabout to show, surely. We have a tax incremental district (Number 4) that’s parched and dessicated, likely a desperate candidate for Governor Doyle’s signature on a distressed tax incremental district bill. (There’s much more to say about tax incremental districts in Whitewater, at another time.)
Much of the public effort for these projects amounts to so much of a circus act, spinning plates one after another, hoping that residents will not notice that the earlier ones in the series have fallen and are broken. So much the better, that no official in Whitewater ever has to accept responsibility for prior messes.
Whitewater will see what Walmart has to offer, and I hope that it’s a solid proposal. We shouldn’t be fooled, though, by the notion that we have to give away the city in return. Excessive concessions will not serve Whitewater’s taxpayers, but will instead only obligate them to burdens and debt.
It’s possible that Walmart will ask for nothing exceptional. That would be the best situation for all concerned.
Our small town doesn’t need to subsidize businesses through selective breaks; she just needs to stand out of the way, and let private companies meet consumer need without interference.