We must be getting to them! The Village has decided to commission a third and independent analysis of the parking and traffic issues at Cottonwood Mall. This is not the FULL IMPACT TRAFFIC STUDY we would like to see, but it's a step in the right direction.
The Wal-Mart expansion proposal has been taken off the agenda for the April 10th Village Board meeting. This is a good sign and indicates that the Trustees and Mayor are taking the concerns of their residents very seriously. Each Trustee has been asked to review a large packet of information and submit questions to the Mayor.
Give them the questions to ask. Contact your Village Officials and tell them your concerns. Make sure they address each one of them.
We will notify every resident when the proposal is back on the agenda and the meeting date and time so we can show the Board how we feel in person.
THIS is the power of people; use it and make it strong. We can say no to Wal-Mart, we will show them that the Village of Glen Carbon has more power than a giant corporation with no concern for our community.
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The reasons why I will be at the polls:
1. A key home developer is allowed to put in 10 yr. old underground pipes in Glen Carbon but must put 30 yr. old underground pipes in Edwardsville. I guess the leadership doesn't mind the cost it will take to change these pipes out in ten years (?).
2. A sidewalk is put through the middle of the sledding hill in the Glen park when the walking trails could suffice this need. After all, millions of dollars were spent to put the walking, jogging, bike ride trails in place of the RRtracks.Why is the grant money used so poorly?
3. The decision to allow our local roller skating rink and local businesses to be torn down to be replaced with a Lowe's next door to Home Depot (?). This decision was not in the best interest of the community.
4. Allowing a key developer to put in 2 new subdivisions on the Old Troy Rd., which they can't afford to repair or support the traffic. Where is the foresight?
5. The Glen Carbon leadership spent thousands of dollars to fight with Edwardsville because of the Old Troy Road (?) They, Glen Carbon, refuse to take care of the road. Why not better use that money on the road rather than lawyers? Why not work with Edwardsville rather than fight with them?
6. The ugly cement building behind the nursery, across from Deirberg's is poorly landscaped and an eye sore. Glen Carbon will just let the developers do whatever they want without any restrictions. They aren't interested in the way the community looks. I hope that they don't put any more eye sores on 159. How ugly. (in contrast you can see Edwardsville forced Deirbergs and all the other beautiful restaurants to landscape and create pleasantness to the eye. Edwardsville has their act together, unlike Glen Carbon.
7. The decision to put Walmart in a tax free zone(and now possibly supersize it) when Glen Carbon can't even hire a full time fire department (?).
In summary, it is time to elect new city leadership. This leadership cares nothing about the citizens. What motivates them to make such poor decisons? What motivates them to act with no regard to the citizens' voices? Let's get them out. I will see you at the polls each time they are open. I hope to see you there.
Why doesn't anyone acknowledge that the Village Boards do not exist to stop businesses from selling their assets/property if that is what they want to do? If the property owner(s) of the Cottonwood shopping center feel greater gain can be made from an expanded Wal-Mart, it is not up to the Village process to stop the existing businesses from being removed simply because people don't like the Wal-Mart chain. The land for Wal-Mart to expand is not being taken through eminent domain, simply through the free will of someone to sell/lease them the land. The displacement of these other businesses through the refusal to extend leases is not the concern of the Board.
The same is true of the repeated mention of the property that now houses the Lowes store. This land was sold willingly and purchased by someone who was willing to buy it for a different use, it was not stolen. We cannot out-regulate the willingness of property owner's to do as they please with their property, which can and sometimes does include selling it.
People claim the expansion will over-saturate the market for groceries in the area, however it is not the job of the Village Board to DISCOURAGE competition for fear of weaker players failing. If the market proves to be over-saturated after the expansion of Wal-Mart, then the weaker store will go out of business; it's a natural part of the business cycle. Blocking Wal-Mart on this premise would essentially amount to government regulation of the retail foods industry, restricting access to certain markets amongst the different companies much like the airline industry in the past. It does not favor the most efficient and cost-effective methods of doing business.
Wal-Mart plans to use the free market system to grow as it has the means to do, legally. Opponents of the store simply want to stop this development because it is a Wal-Mart SuperCenter. How does this represent the name "Glen-Ed Citizens For 'Fair' Growth?" Picking and choosing which businesses you want to have in town does not represent being "fair."
An interesting comment...It sounds as if it was written by a board member. The wording, "being fair", sounds as if it came from a child. I don't see that Edwardsville cared much about being "fair" to big business bullies. Didn't Edwardsville board members tell Walmart that they could not build, where Deirberg now sits, on their (Walmart) terms? Didn't Walmart come over to Glen Carbon because it couldn't get Edwardsville to build on tax payer dollars, and on their terms? Hmmm... That doesn't sound "fair" to the citizens who pay those tax dollars. Edwardsville looks out for their citizens but Glen Carbon has to say something as childish as "fair". Is it fair to build a supersize Walmart in my back yard? Is it "fair" to allow this for small businesses in the community? Is that fair to me? Perhaps, "fair" only works one way. I hope we can VOTE OUT board members who speak as this person did. Let's get them out of office and vote in those who really do look out for the voters and our community!!
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THIS is the power of people; use it and make it strong. We can say no to Wal-Mart, we will show them that the Village of Glen Carbon has more power than a giant corporation with no concern for our community.
What on earth is the big deal about having the Wal Mart Supercenter in our community? The Cottonwood Mall (the actual mall part) has been an eyesore for the community for years and years. It has been empty. It has been a spot where teens get into trouble. It has been a place of absolutely no value to the community. Elegant Brides decided to vacate Cottonwood Mall to move to a newer, more conventient location. That leaves ZERO businesses inside the mall. It's a MALL!!! It's supposed to have businesses.
It is not going to get any better without someone putting more money into its future. Fortunately, Wal Mart is here to do that. Wal Mart has been a good neighbor of the citizens of Glen Carbon for over 30 years. They consistenly donate money back to the community. They allow organizations to have fundraisers on their property.
Yes, I am a fan of smaller business. But Cottonwood Mall is not the place to have a small business. I've seen arguments that Wal Mart won't be paying any additional taxes when they raze the mall to expand the store to a supercenter. The fact of the matter is that no new business in Cottonwood Mall is going to pay taxes. That property is UNTAXABLE. Why not put it to good use?
I am quite interested, as well, as to why you people are concerned about the traffic coming in and out of Wal Mart. Do you have evidence that making the store a supercenter is going to create more traffic? The infrastructure in that area is more than capable of handling the traffic coming in and out of the shopping center. There are two stoplights, a one way entrance and a back entrance (that is supposed to be for deliveries only, by the way) to access all of the shopping in the mall.
The citizens of Glen Carbon have gone mad with this idea that our little community isn't going to change. Being an Old Town Glen Carbon resident, I would much rather see new businesses and businesses willing to invest in our community rather than nothing being done at all (such is the case with Old Town).
For those of you concerned about the "cheap seat" movie theatre being torn down - do you realize that Kerasotes has a plan you can sign up for online that is called Five Buck Club? A week after a movie comes out, it goes on the Five Buck Club list. That's right. You can take a family of four to the movies in Edwardsville for $20 (without refreshments). This does not seem unreasonable to me. I can't even tell you the last time I saw a movie at the Cottonwood Theatre. It might have been Ghostbusters in 1984. It's small. The seats are horrible. The screens are too small. I'm sorry, but paying a couple of dollars extra to enjoy the comfort of the new movie theatre is worth it to me.
As for Lowe's - yes, many OLD, uncared for buildings were torn down to make way for the super hardware store. However, the skating rink has been replaced. The indoor tennis courts have been replaced. The bowling alley is in the process of being replaced - along with two huge music clubs to add even more entertainment options to our community.
People, change is good. Having a Wal Mart Supercenter in our community is not going to kill it. The only thing it can do is make it better. When old stuff is torn down, new better stuff is built. And the people who own the newer and better stuff have to pay taxes. They also have to improve infrastructure. It's all part of a grand plan.
I feel that your petition to tell Wal Mart to go away is a waste of time, and I will not sign it. I understand the outrage, but it is important to really look at the big picture before going to such drastic measures. By the way, I've also signed my real name to this letter. I am not listed in the phone book, but it should make my email readily available to anyone who would like to contact me. Just please, don't sign me up for any spam newsletters.
Thanks for reading,
Andy
It seems that those who tote that a big super Walmart haven't really thought through a number of issues that have already been addressed on this blog. Investigate it a little further before making statements such as, the property is "untaxable" or that "Walmart is going to pay taxes". Who made the decisions for Walmart to be in an untaxable area, built with tax dollars. Investigate the fact that Edwardsville was approached by Walmart and refused to let them build on those terms. Intestigate that Walmart doesn't pay city taxes. Sure you could consider sales state taxes, perhaps. How do you consider sales tax to be the same equality as city tax? Edwardsville was smart about it. They protected their city from a leech like buisness, which gives nothing back to the city. If you investigate a little further you will see there are business surrounding the mall. There is the dollar theatre, subway, radio shack, payless, gaming store, etc. Don't those count as stores or businesses which will be torn down so we can be overrun by a huge Walmart? Andy, please do your own research before posting your comments as legitimate arguements. Do we need numbers for you to see the amount of traffic a super Walmart will bring? Perhaps, you need to visit one to see how much traffic from all the surrounding areas will be brought into our neighborhoods. Surely, you speak with little knowledge.
I have a great idea. How about Walmart takes its business elsewhere?! Walmart could easily move out into the country away from neighborhoods and build their Super Big Walmart. They could help make the eye sore gone by selling the building to better businesses that will benefit the community with tax dollars. That would solve the problem.
To the anonymous poster after me - believe me, I've done research, read, spoken to people ... everything that I've needed to do to form my opinion. I am hardly uneducated on the issue.
1. I've already explained the "three-dollar" theatre. It's no longer the dollar show. Go spend two more dollars using the Five Buck Club at the big theatre.
2. In a typical Wal-Mart development, another building (or buildings) is built to have other businesses surrounding the Wal-Mart. Go check them out in Highland and Wood River. They're there. All of the displaced businesses, including the Payless, Radio Shack, Subway (which there are already three others in town), the extremely delicious Chinese restaurant, and even the lawyer will all have somewhere to go. These businesses aren't going anywhere. Again, they're getting BRAND NEW facilities.
3. Yes, Edwardsville was very smart about letting Dierbergs and Best Buy and everyone else into town. Glen Carbon wasn't. I don't think there's much we can do about it at this point. The TIF is here to stay. That's why we have a Lowe's that doesn't pay any property taxes. As a matter of fact, I shop Home Depot whenever possible because of the fact that Lowe's doesn't pay taxes in Glen Carbon. I would shop the Bargain Center, but they can't hardly stock anything anymore. It's actually quite sad.
By the way, I'm sure some people from Old Town are involved in this little project. Did you notice the two properties for sale on Main St.? Boy, the money I could make putting a couple of strip malls there ... maybe another bar. It's all so exciting. In all seriousness, I hope someone buys those places and puts something worthwhile there.
Anonymous No. 1(the one who posted after me), thanks so much for replying. I was hoping that someone would. I always love a friendly debate.
I am strongly opposed to this Walmart expansion. As I remember from a previous post on this blog, all the Glen Carbon officials have to do is to enforce the city ordinances to prevent the Walmart expansion. Perhaps, the city officials will finally stand up and make better decisions for the city. My friend, an engineer calls Glen Carbon representatives, the village of the idiots. I had thought that was a very harsh statement when I first moved here. However, if the representatives expand Walmart, I agree with my friend. Walmart belongs out in the country away from the neighborhoods.
I recieved a flier today. Come on!!! Do you really think the picture of crashed cars is a fair representation of what will happen if Wal Mart expands? Has this happened elsewhere? Where is your proof???
So what if Wal Mart comes. If they don't get the expansion they will probably leave the current building empty, as they are probably only leasing. I guess then Cottonwood Mall would be completly empty. What fun we could have then with teenagers turning the parking lot into there own personal skate park. In the community I grew up in Wal Mart left a big empty box over 15 years ago and it is still empty today because nobody wants to invest the money to fix it up. This could very likely happen here if they don't get to expand. I think the impact of Wal Mart leaving would be much worse than if they expand.
I understand that the flyer people received, with the crashed cars, was NOT from GlenEd Citizens. Someone else put out that flyer and then said "For more information go to GlenEdCitizens.blogspot.com
But if it got you here to learn about the issue, maybe it's not so bad.
I thought the picture of the cars crashing on the flyer was really funny. It was a great idea. Yep, that is how it would look with all the congestions, a bottle neck mess which would prevent me from getting to other stores or places of need. I don't know who put the flyer on my door, but I appreciated it. It reminded me to check this blog for the latest update when I had been so busy with my family life and forgot. Thanks for the flyer.
Can you imagine the problems we could have if Walmart supersized? It just doesn't make any sense. If you read some of the informative factual statements mentioned in this blog, there is more than ten reasons why this would be bad for Glen Carbon. I know that Walmart could attest to the fact that there are a number of different cities that come to this area to shop at Walmart. It already attracts a huge number of different cities. Just look at their sign up sheet for support. That is scary. How many more people from all over would be attracted here to a business that pays NO city tax (which would support our roads or fire dept.,etc.)? The answer, too many. The odd thing is to think that the leadership would support a business that would deplete the local business and therefore deplete the city tax money. Why would they do that? What motivates the leadership to even consider such an absurd thing?
The flier is just one example of the outrageous propaganda the citizens for fair growth is coming up with. If you are going to make sure walmart is truthful then you should be too.
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