Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

Wal-Mart threatens farmers, report says

Retailer's growth in organics a worry in state

By TOM DAYKIN
[email protected]

Posted: Sept. 27, 2006

Plans by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to increase its offerings of organic foods could create a competitive threat to smaller organic farms and food producers, according to a briefing paper released Wednesday by a Wisconsin-based group.

Wal-Mart already is buying milk and other organic products from large-scale dairies and other large, conventional food producers that have little experience with organic production, creating what the Cornucopia Institute calls "corporate organics." The non-profit group is an advocate for what it calls "family-scale farms."

"This competitive challenge has the potential to destroy healthy markets for other retailers, distributors, manufacturers/processors, and family-scale domestic farmers," the paper says.

Wal-Mart, which is Wisconsin's largest private employer, is the world's largest retailer, with annual sales of $312 billion. Its continued development of Supercenters - combined discount stores and supermarkets - has made it the nation's largest supermarket chain. Wal-Mart operates dozens of supercenters throughout Wisconsin, and last week disclosed plans for its first Milwaukee Supercenter.

Wisconsin has a large presence in organic farming, including the Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools, headquartered in La Farge. The co-op, which sells milk, cheese, meat and other products under the Organic Valley brand, represents more than 800 farmers in 24 states, and in 2005 posted sales of $245 million.

The Cornucopia Institute, in its briefing paper, says Wal-Mart is already the nation's largest retailer of organic milk through its relationship with Dean Foods Co., which owns Horizon organic milk. The paper says Wal-Mart's business strategy of buying large amounts of products at low prices from conventional food producers like Dean will shut out small- and medium-sized organic food producers "who cannot compete on price with these industrial behemoths."

The group also questions whether large-scale conventional food producers such as Dean truly reflect what the paper calls the "organic movement." It said Dean and another Wal-Mart organic milk supplier, Aurora Organic Dairy, have confined their cattle in feedlots with little access to pasture, as required by federal organic standards.

Wal-Mart responds

In a statement, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Karen Burk said the company believes organic standards must not be compromised.

But the statement did not address the specific allegations made against Dean and Aurora, which are being investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"We believe that both organic and conventional agriculture provide safe, healthy and sustainable products for customers," Wal-Mart's statement says. "It is up to our customers to choose which type of product they want to buy, and we want to give them the choice."

That freedom to choose will determine whether Wal-Mart's organic strategy will succeed, said Mark Kastel, Cornucopia Institute co-founder.

That's why the group is publicizing what it considers Wal-Mart's practice of "cutting corners" when it buys organic products from companies like Dean and Aurora, Kastel said.

Armed with that information, Kastel said, consumers can better "partner with companies that share their values."

Link: JS Online:Wal-Mart threatens farmers, report says.

 

The McIlheran weight loss plan: Buy bigger pants

Many meetings to attend this morning, but I had to post this asphalt-worshipping nugget in its entirety right away. NOTE: This not a parody; this column was actually printed in the newspaper.

By the way - what is this "Reason Institute" that McIlheran evidently holds in such high regard? The ExxonSecrets website sheds light on where they get their funding:

Corporate Donors in 1999 included: American Farm Bureau Federation, American Forest and Paper Association, American Petroleum Institute, American Plastics Council, ARCO Foundation, BP Amoco, CA Building Industry Association, Chemical Manufacturers Association, Chevron Corporation, Chlorine Chemistry Council, Clorox, Coca-Cola, American and Continental Airlines, Daimler Chrysler Corp, Dow Chemical, Eastman Chemical, Edison Electric Institute, ENRON, Exxon Mobil, FMC Corporation, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Kimberly-Clark, Koch Industries, Koch Materials, Eli Lilly, Microsoft, National Air Transportation Association, National Beer Wholesalers, National Soft Drink Association, Pfizer, Inc, Philip Morris, Procter and Gamble, Shell Oil, Sun America, Union Carbide Corporation, United Airlines, Western States Petroleum, Watson Land Company, Whole Foods Market, Winston and Strawn.

Hmmm... Car manufacturers, petroleum concerns and chemical companies believe we NEED MORE HIGHWAYS? My goodness!

More later ...

Planning as if people's time mattered

By Patrick McIlheran

 

Mary Peters, picked to be the new federal secretary of transportation, did something exciting: First thing, she said highway congestion's a problem.

This is refreshing. It was like hearing theologians denounce sin. They're supposed to, sure, but if you remember the 1970s, they all seemed to give up the fight as hopelessly square and talked politics instead.

Ditto road planners and congestion. As long as I can remember, any talk of how Milwaukee's rush minute grew into a rush hour has been, "We can't build our way out of congestion," which meant we'd better get used to brake lights and buy a bus pass.

We could turn every third street into an expressway, goes the line, and cars would still fill them. Eventually, we'd have 17 SUVs each and use amphetamines to stay up all night driving to keep ahead of the pavers.

We didn't have to. The pavers gave up, or the planners got tired of being tackled by NIMBYs on the way into public hearings. We've had some new lanes and a few new roads, but since the population's been increasing faster, and since it insists on buying cars and moving, congestion's been worsening.

It doesn't have to, suggests a new study. A think tank, the Reason Foundation, toted up how much congestion the nation's drivers will suffer by 2030, then reckoned how much it would cost to expand roads enough to reduce it, rather than cope with it. About 7.7 billion more hours a year would be frittered away on the brakes if nothing's done. It would cost $21 billion a year to fix it, which the authors point out is about 15% of what we're going to spend on roads anyhow.

More locally, the study predicts that even in slow-growth Milwaukee, where it now takes about 21% longer to travel somewhere during peak times, things will jam to the point that it takes 35% longer. That's what Boston or Minneapolis lives with now.

Our cure is commensurately cheaper: about $1.2 billion total over the next 25 years, the study's authors say - about 6% of what regional planners already say they plan to spend between now and 2035. It's about $2.70 per hour of your time saved.

None of it amounts to paving over Story Hill, either: The study's lead author, David Hartgen, who teaches transportation at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, says some would be more freeway lanes added when the roads are rebuilt, but a lot would be retimed traffic lights, more left-turn lanes and so forth. They're "not very sexy," he says. But "in total, they make a huge difference."

Local planners seem to be singing from the same hymnal.

"Our projections show that we're not simply permitting congestion to go unabated," says Kenneth Yunker, deputy director of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

Specifically, Yunker says planners call for a 20% increase in lane-miles on metro Milwaukee freeways. In the planned rebuild, just expanding transit and managing traffic still meant a doubling of congestion, he says, so planners looked at adding capacity to roads. They now think they can get congestion below 2001 levels by 2035, says Yunker.

The plan comes under fire from anti-highway activists who fault it for spending about twice as much on roads as on transit. Yunker at times sounds defensive about adding lanes at all, noting that even in Portland, the light-rail utopia, planners envision a similar expansion of freeway capacity.

Yunker need not be defensive, nor Portland: As transit carries less than 5% of trips in metro Milwaukee, outpaced by bikes, it's eating more than its share of public money already. Even if ridership doubled, reversing a half-century of declining market share, its dent on congestion would be almost unnoticeable.

Bus lines are worth keeping for those who use them - those who can't drive or those who work downtown and don't stop for groceries or to pick up the kids. But even on rails, they won't displace many cars soon.

Which means the message of the past 30 years, that we can't build our way out of congestion, is out of gas. The result of that thinking, congestion, has real costs - it eats people's time, it limits their work and home choices by making travel hard, and it makes it tougher for businesses to move goods.

It's encouraging, then, to hear the nation's road chief talk about fixing congestion. What Peters can do and how much she means it isn't clear, but there's one more hopeful sign:

Peters was an adviser to the project behind the study suggesting congestion is curable.

Patrick McIlheran is a Journal Sentinel editorial columnist. His e-mail address is  [email protected]

Link: JS Online:Planning as if people's time mattered.

Developers plan $10 million retail center in central city

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By TOM DAYKIN
[email protected]

A Lena's Food Market, with space for additional retail businesses, would make up a $10 million neighborhood shopping center planned for Milwaukee's central city, one of the project's partners said Monday.

Developers also plan to build 70 to 90 homes nearby in a $16.5 million residential development.

The 45,000-square-foot Lena's supermarket and 50,000 square feet of additional retail space would be built on 7.5 acres along the north side of W. North Ave., east of N. 25th St., said Mark Irgens of Irgens Development Partners. The vacant site is owned by the city Redevelopment Authority.

The Lena's store would replace a smaller Lena's market at 2322 W. Oak St., Irgens said. The project's additional space would be developed in phases as the developers secure leases with neighborhood-oriented retailers, he said.

The entire project would cost about $10 million to $12 million, Irgens said.

The Lena's store would be developed and owned by the Martin family, which operates four Lena's Food Markets on the city's north side.

The additional retail space would be developed and owned by the Martin family, Irgens Development Partners and Williams Development Corp., Irgens said.

Irgens Development and Williams Development created North Avenue Commerce Center, which has offices, a school and retail space in the 2500 and 2600 blocks of W. North Ave. The Lena's Food Market and additional retail businesses would be east of North Avenue Commerce Center.

Irgens said the developers are still assembling financing for the new retail center. The project's plans were disclosed when Rep. Gwen Moore's office issued a statement about a $700,000 federal grant that would help finance the development.

That grant will be provided to Northwest Side Community Development Corp., a non-profit community development agency. That organization plans to lend the grant money to the project's developers.

Northwest Side CDC also will recruit and train unemployed and underemployed central city residents for jobs at Lena's and other retailers.

"This project promises to increase job opportunities available to central city residents, as the store and the retail center will provide for additional employers to move into the area," Moore said in a statement.

Derrick Martin of Lena's couldn't be reached for comment.

Irgens Development, Williams Development and Legacy Redevelopment Corp. also plan to develop 70 to 90 new homes in an area bordered by W. North Ave. and W. Brown, N. 20th and N. 24th streets.

Irgens said the retail center plans are separate from the housing development proposed by Irgens Development, Williams Development and Legacy Redevelopment. However, the housing project would create additional customers for neighborhood retailers, he said.

"Everything builds upon each other," Irgens said.

Under the housing proposal, the city would sell vacant lots for $2,000 each to a non-profit corporation made up of Legacy and its partners. They would then sell the lots to home builders for around $15,000 each to cover their development costs and fees.

The home builders would construct three- and four-bedroom houses that they would likely sell for about $150,000 each.

Also, the city would provide $3.25 million in financial assistance for the project. Most of those funds would pay for new streets, sidewalks, sewer lines and water lines to serve the housing development. The money will be repaid through the development's property taxes.

There are no other public subsidies connected to the housing development, which is driven by demand from families with children for new homes near downtown. The Common Council will review the housing proposal, including the planned city financial assistance, at its meeting today.

Link: JS Online:Developers plan $10 million retail center in central city.

Another tax on the poor

Though no routes are cut, raising fares is about as regressive a tax as you can imagine.

Bus routes remain, but fare boost sought

In 2007 proposal, Walker rejects plan to cut back

By DAVE UMHOEFER
[email protected]

Posted: Sept. 24, 2006

No Milwaukee County bus routes would be eliminated, but fares for regular riders would rise significantly under County Executive Scott Walker's 2007 budget proposal.

Walker said he has decided to shelve a transit system plan to end four routes and truncate nine others. But he doubled fare-box revenue increases proposed in June, saying riders had told him they preferred to pay more than lose service if they had to choose.

The adult fare for riders who pay cash on the bus would remain at $1.75 on regular routes.

For riders with disabilities, Walker went along with a transit system proposal to increase the fare from $3.25 to $3.50 for the Transit Plus van service. It provides door-to-door service for riders who are physically unable to use regular buses.

The details of Walker's plan, which could be changed by the County Board in November, include:

• Routes 8, 45, 47 and 219 would stay in service. They had been on the cut list proposed by the transit system, which Walker had instructed to find millions in savings to help balance the county budget without a property tax increase. Walker also rejected other proposals to shorten or combine various routes.

• Weekly passes and sheets of 10 tickets, now $14, would cost $17. That works out to an annual increase of $156 for every-week riders.

• Ten-packs of Freeway Flyer tickets, now $19, would go to $22.

• Special weekly passes for Milwaukee Public Schools students, now $13.75, would be $16. Regular student passes and tickets are no longer available.

• Commuter value passes, a discounted fare offered through employers, would increase from $155 to $189. Employers are billed once a quarter under the program. Employees and employers share costs.

• U-Pass charges would rise, from the current $41 up to $44. The U-PASS provides college students unlimited riding on all Milwaukee County bus routes for the semester. Students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University and three other Milwaukee colleges pay for the pass through student fees.

Transit passenger revenue is estimated to grow 13% next year under Walker's plan. Ridership has been stronger than expected as high gasoline prices have moved some commuters out of cars and onto buses.

System sought cuts, too

Transit system officials had proposed $2.6 million in fare increases and $2.3 million in service cuts. Net fare increases in Walker's plan are $4.25 million.

The bus system is run by a not-for-profit corporation under contract with Milwaukee County. Walker's plan cuts total compensation for the corporation's top two positions by 38%. That would reduce the compensation from $342,000 to $212,000 for the managing director and deputy director.

The idea, Walker said, is to bring the compensation in line with county managers in the Department of Public Works, of which the transit company is a part. Company employees are not county employees.

Last year, the County Board scaled back Walker's proposed fare increases.

 

Link: JS Online:Bus routes remain, but fare boost sought.

Bayshore's streets will have meters

What a terrific idea in the battle against the high price of "free" parking - not only a way to encourage pedestrian activity, but also a means of charitable giving.

Change collected at premium parking spots to benefit charities

By DORIS HAJEWSKI
[email protected]

Bring a few quarters if you want to park in front of your favorite store at the new Bayshore Town Center.

Advertisement

The Glendale shopping center expansion, set to open Nov. 2, looks just like a mini-downtown. That will include parking meters that will set you back $1 per hour. And then you'll have to move your car.

Unlimited free parking for about 4,200 cars will be available in parking garages and surface lots at the new lifestyle center. But users of the 180 spaces on the internal streets in the center will have to pay 25 cents per 15 minutes, and there will be a one-hour limit for the spaces, shopping center spokesman Phill Trewyn said.

The center's developer, Steiner & Associates of Columbus, Ohio, will donate all parking fees to local charities in a program designed to make shoppers feel better about paying.

Steiner uses the Change for Charity Meter Program at several of its existing lifestyle centers in other states, including Easton Town Center in Columbus, in an effort to keep spaces available to shoppers who want to make a quick visit to just one or two stores, Trewyn said. Without the meters, it would be difficult - or impossible - to prevent employees or others who arrive early from hogging the spaces.

"It's been very well-received," Trewyn said.

Proceeds from the meters at Easton totaled $15,000 last year.

Parking scofflaws will get a $5 ticket if they leave their cars at an expired meter, Trewyn said.

Mall security guards will issue the tickets, which come in waterproof envelopes. Violators can pay their fines at the center's service desk, where they will get a receipt, because the fine is a deductible charitable donation.

Lifestyle centers are among the most popular configurations for new shopping developments. The centers combine retail, restaurant, office and entertainment venues in an open-air setting designed to look like an urban streetscape.

Change for Charity is one of five programs in Bayshore's Community Foundation. The center also will fund a scholarship program for students at Dominican, Whitefish Bay and Nicolet high schools; will donate to other programs at the schools; and will make the town center available as the site of a fund-raising event once a year for a different group each time.

Bayshore announced this week that Bar Louie, a national chain with a location on N. Water St. in Milwaukee, will be part of the center. Other tenants announced this week include New York & Co., Champs Sports, Cheesecake Factory and Sunglass Hut.

The center will have 1.2 million square feet of retail stores, restaurants, office space and residential units.

 

Link: JS Online:Bayshore's streets will have meters.

Wal-Mart wants a supercenter in Milwaukee

This particular Wal-Mart is already physically repulsive and not very well maintained. Bad news for the entire surrounding area.

From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Wal-Mart wants to expand a store on Milwaukee's south side into a supercenter, a development that would create its first combined discount store and supermarket in Milwaukee County.

If it receives approval, Wal-Mart would substantially enlarge the store at 3355 S. 27th St.

That proposal will likely rekindle opposition from nearby residents, who fought plans for the original store before it opened in 2000, said Ald. Joseph Dudzik, who represents the area on the Common Council.

The supercenter would be just a few blocks north of a Pick 'n Save store. Pick 'n Save is the Milwaukee area's dominant supermarket chain, with a market share estimated at just more than 60%.

Wal-Mart has been adding supercenters in outlying suburbs, including a Germantown store that opened this week. But a supercenter on the south side would bring Wal-Mart's competitive might much closer to the heart of Pick 'n Save, which is operated by Roundy's Inc.

The increased competition would likely force Pick 'n Save and other south side supermarkets to lower their prices, said David Livingston, a supermarket industry consultant.

Some of the weaker stores would likely close, he said.

Greendale church's land purchase blocked

Above: Greendale circa 1940

Greendale, Wisconsin is one of three greenbelt towns envisioned by Rexford Guy Tugwell, friend and advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and created under the Resettlement Administration in 1935 under authority of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act. (Greenbelt, a suburb of Washington, D.C., and Greenhills, Ohio, near Cincinnati, are the other two towns. A fourth town, to be located in New Jersey, was never built.)

From the Journal Sentinel

Greendale - Electors have blocked plans by a church to buy 1.5 acres of school property for a parking lot, Greendale School District Superintendent William Hughes said Tuesday.

A preliminary count of the vote at the School Board's annual meeting on Monday was 288-199 against the sale of land to Greendale Community Church, 6015 Clover Lane. State law requires most school districts to put any sale of land to the voters.

The church had sought to buy the parcel to add parking spaces required for a planned expansion of its 53-year-old building. Some village residents objected, saying the sale of land, where many families gather for annual parades and fireworks, would increase traffic in residential areas and be contrary to the village's intent to preserve open space.

Link: JS Online:Greendale church's land purchase blocked.

Army of road warriors grows

Rising numbers of commuters travel more than 90 minutes

By MIKE JOHNSON
[email protected]

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Every workday, John Kuzma wakes up about 5 a.m., then hustles out the door of his Greenfield home an hour later, slips behind the wheel of his car and settles in for at least a 90-minute commute to his federal government job in Chicago.

Michael Coughlin's schedule is similar, though he heads in the opposite direction from his south side Milwaukee home for Appleton, hoping that traffic will be light so the trip will take him only two hours and he can start his workday at an adhesives company at 8 a.m.

Kuzma, an enforcement agent with the Federal Communications Commission, has been making the drive to Chicago and back for about two years. Coughlin's been commuting to Appleton for six years.

They are what the U.S. Census Bureau counts as "extreme commuters," people who drive 90 minutes or more each way for work.

Their ranks are growing, too, according to a recent Census Bureau report. The number of extreme commuters in Wisconsin has risen 29% - to 37,661 in 2005 from 29,226 in 2002. Wisconsin commuters in that category grew at a faster clip than the rest of the nation. Across the U.S., the number of extreme commuters rose to slightly more than 3 million, up 19.8% from 2002.

Kuzma and Coughlin say they would rather not be driving so much, but they have to go where the jobs are.

"For the last six years, people think I'm nuts," Coughlin said.

"In Milwaukee, that's considered to be borderline mentally ill," he said of his four-hour roundtrips. "But in Chicago, on the East Coast and West Coast, it's not that unusual."

"I talk to salespeople in California, and they don't consider this to be abnormal. In Wisconsin, though, everybody is looking to work 15 minutes from their home," Coughlin said.

Coughlin took his job because it has locations in the Milwaukee area as well as Appleton. He had been hoping for a local position, but the company asked him to work at its Fox Valley site.

"I'm a chemist," he explained. "It's not a job where you can go just anywhere. Unless you want to relocate, you really have to go where the work is."

The company has sites in New Berlin and Germantown, and "hopefully I'll be in Germantown soon," Coughlin said.

For Kuzma, a job loss in 2001 put him on the route to the long commute. He had been working for Wisconsin Bell/Ameritech and Motorola in the Milwaukee area. However, after becoming unemployed, he wasn't able to find work in the region.

"There's just not a lot out of there in electrical engineering, especially in Milwaukee," Kuzma said.

"So I temporarily moved to (Washington) D.C. three years ago to take a job with the FCC. My plan was to get any federal job and work in D.C. until I could transfer to a federal agency job somewhere near Milwaukee. I was able to transfer to the FCC's Chicago field office two years ago," he said.

That means, though, commutes of roughly 90 minutes in the morning and 90 to 120 minutes in the evening for the ride home. Kuzma puts about 30,000 miles a year on his vehicle, and tolls and gasoline cost him a little more than $100 a week.

"Yeah, it's a burden," he said. "But some attorneys who live on the east side and in Mequon work in Chicago and take the train at $40 a day."

Even though the number of extreme commuters in Wisconsin is rising - in part because people are moving to suburban areas that offer more green space and living farther from their workplaces - the state still has relatively few of these commuters.

In Wisconsin, extreme commuters make up only about 1.4% of those who work outside their homes. In the United States, 2.4% of the workers are extreme commuters. New York was the highest at 4.8% followed by New Jersey at 4.4%.

Ken Yunker, deputy director of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, said some of the extreme commuters live here in the region and commute to Cook County, Ill., where Chicago is located, because the housing prices are lower in the Milwaukee area.

Others, Yunker said, are people whose spouses transferred to jobs here but could not find employment in the area. So, they end up commuting to jobs in Chicago or elsewhere in northern Illinois.

The census report also showed that average travel times to work in Wisconsin and the Milwaukee metro area have remained steady, even though more people are making extreme commutes.

On average, Wisconsinites are spending nearly 21 minutes commuting to work, according to the report. New York state residents have the longest commute, at 31.2 minutes, while the U.S. average is 25.1 minutes.

The longest commute time of the 23 Wisconsin counties included in the Census Bureau's American Community Survey was reported in St. Croix County, near Minneapolis-St. Paul. Commuters in St. Croix, the state's fastest growing county, are spending 27.8 minutes to get to work, many of them driving to the Twin Cities.

Few commuters, the report shows, are using public transit. About 84% of commuters in the state drive alone to work. Only 1.6% of Wisconsin commuters use public transportation. Milwaukee and Dane counties had the highest use of public transit at 5.1% and 3.9% respectively.

Relocating not an option

Both Kuzma and Coughlin, two of Milwaukee County's extreme commuters, said relocating to cut drive times isn't an option for them.

"I've thought of Racine or Pleasant Prairie," Kuzma said. "But then my wife would have a long ride."

Kuzma's wife, Mary Jo, is an accountant at Marquette University.

"And I like where I live," he added.

Coughlin said moving is out of the picture for him, too. His wife, Susan, works at Alverno College.

"She can walk to work. I also take care of my father, who's 83," Coughlin said, noting that neither his wife nor his father, Pat, wanted to move.

Coughlin said he has adjusted to the drive, which costs him about $25 daily in gas, and passes the time listening to the radio.

"You really have to develop a mental attitude, especially going up when it's raining and snowing. . . . I slow down and let people pass and wave to them in the ditch."

Kuzma, as well, is comfortable with the ride.

"Really, the trip is all highway," he said. "It goes pretty fast."

Link: JS Online:Army of road warriors grows.

Park East proposal approved

By Tom Daykin
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A $70 million development proposed for the Park East area won approval today from a committee of Milwaukee County supervisors, but only after they voted to add a new level to the county's approval process for such proposals.

The first phase of Park East Square, which would be bordered by N. Milwaukee, N. Jefferson and E. Lyon streets and E. Ogden Ave., was approved by the County Board's Committee on Economic and Community Development. The full board is to review the matter at its Sept. 28 meeting.

The development, proposed by Chicago-based RSC & Associates, would include a 143-room hotel, 127 luxury apartments and 81,100 square feet of retail space. RSC would buy the 2-acre vacant lot from the county for $2,725,000.

Richard Curto, RSC president, told committee members that he's secured $14 million in equity investments for Park East Square, and is now working to obtain a construction loan to complete the development's financing package.

Park East Square's second phase would be on a neighboring county-owned lot, bordered by N. Broadway, N. Milwaukee St., N. Water St. and E. Ogden Ave. RSC is refining its plans for that phase, which would include upscale apartments, retail space and another hotel. The Park East Square lots are among 16 county-owned acres that became available for development when the Park East Freeway was demolished.

The committee also recommended the County Board pass a measure requiring development agreements for all Park East proposals be subject to board approval.

Currently, board approval is required only for the sale of the Park East lots, a process that includes a review of development plans for those parcels. The development agreements are the detailed contracts between developers and local governments that implement those development plans.

Supervisor Martina Dimitrijevic said mandating approval for the development agreement would ensure that construction in Park East follows county guidelines for minority hiring and other matters. She and other supporters said the new measure would not add a lot of additional time to the approval process.

Others, including Curto and Supervisor Joseph Rice, said the additional approval process could bring delays.

More on Wal-Mart

George Will's local-economy savior Wal-Mart came to Lewiston, ME. Here are some costs of doing business with the retail giant that he didn't mention in his pro-Wal-Mart editorial:

From Sprawlbusters

Costs to the city of Lewiston:

• 61 acres of land--assessed at $300,600--for free;
• relocation and expansion of sewer lines, $1 million;
• a new sand and gravel pit for $940,000;
• a new shed for sand and gravel, $800,000;
• a commercial subdivision plan, $45,000;
• water and sewer fee reimbursements, $18,300;
• property tax reimbursements, $5.8 million.

The total comes to nearly $9 million from the city. The TIF (tax incremental financing) deal came to 25 pages, plus a 65 page memo of agreement.

Add to that another $8.4 million in state handouts:

• a "Business Equipment Tax Reimbursement" program that will reimburse Wal-Mart over 12 years as much as $7.8 million on all personal property taxes;

• $1.5 million for road relocations;

• $180,000 in "training money," and

• as much as $348,750 in rebated state income tax that comes from its workers' payroll witholdings.

In return for all this, Wal-Mart had to promise to employ 350 people, employ them for 30 hours per week, and pay them $12 an hour. A Wal-Mart employee on such a shift would make less than $19,000 a year. So about $18 million in state and city hand-outs gets $6.7 million in wages for one year. Take off the  "Business Equipment Tax Reimbursement" program (which is spread over 12 years) and it's still a $10 million outlay.