WAL*MART: Plans Dropped For First NYC Wal*Mart

The New York Times is reporting Vornado Realty Trust ended negotiations with Wal-Mart for its Rego Park, Queens retail development after intense opposition grew from neighborhood, labor and environmental groups as well as small businesses to the proposed 132,000-square-foot store. An unidentified executive said the real estate developer had hoped city planning officials would approve the Rego Park project before it became publicly known that Wal-Mart was involved.

Hopefully all sides involved in Round 1 of Wal-Mart NYC have learned how not to introduce the nation's most contentious retailer to an urban marketplace such as New York. From the beginning, Wal-Mart hasn't been forthcoming with the public, or willing to put in the time with leaders representing the communities involved. Now hearing that the developer involved in the project intended to be just as allusive shows that those involved underestimate the heated opposition that Wal-Mart can spawn.

If Wal-Mart expects to locate in New York City, and eventually they will, despite the capacity for organized opposition in the city, they (and their developers) need to be forthcoming and cooperative with all the interest groups that will claim to have a stake in the outcome of the project. The City Council member representing Rego Park, Helen Sears said, "I am hopeful that if Wal-Mart attempts to locate another site, whether in Queens or Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan or Staten Island, that its officials work tirelessly to improve workplace benefits and conditions so that New York City will welcome it with open arms. Until then, we can only offer our backs." [ The Boxtank ]