Wal*Mart opponents start website for their cause.

Over the last 2 -3 months a community activist group who named themselves “Hamburg First” has decided to take the Town of Hamburg N.Y. to court to stop the town from allowing Wal*Mart to build a new super-center on Southwestern Blvd. It is important to say that this web site was built with the name “Hamburg First” before the group ever was created and we are not affiliated with each other.

I feel a little guilty holding the name “Hamburg First” when an actual activist group organizes to tackle big issues like this, but as the old saying goes, “first come first serve”. The issue about stopping Wal*Mart is a hot bed issue in many towns. Most argue that the store chain is driving out small businesses and is stopping competition in the area. The issue here isn’t that at all, what it is about is that the community next to the proposed site is mainly the richest of Hamburg residents and they don’t want a Wal*Mart in their neighborhood.

The group fighting this has just started their own web site and it’s called http://walmartwatch.com/battlemart/pages/hamburg_ny . The issue as I see it is this. These very same people were responsible for the building of the McKinley Mall across the street from my parents house. They lobbied for the building and ultimately the destruction of a family oriented neighborhood and created a monster in our town. So I have absolutely no sympathy for their efforts. What they have to say is this:

Wal-Mart has announced plans to build a Supercenter in Hamburg, N.Y. Citizens of Hamburg have had a public meeting and formed Hamburg First. They are holding regular planning Board meetings to work on their site fight and have distributed over 200 flyers to individual homes in the area most immediately affected by this proposed Super Center. Armed with buttons and signs to state their opposition, community members are gathering petition signatures.

The proposed 205,000 sq. feet Supercenter is in violation of zoning regulations, as the area where the proposed Wal-Mart would be built limits commercial buildings to 100,000 sq. ft.  Hamburg First is also working to educate the community on the increased traffic and the loss of 2 acres of woodlands if the proposed Supercenter was built. Based on these issues Hamburg First, will ask the planning Board to ask for a peer review of traffic and a S.E.Q.R. to provide independent analysis to either offset or confirm Wal-mart’s assessment of these issues. 

The contact for this group is Robert Elardo at raero2@msn.com.

Well good luck to them but I really don’t think they will stop this project. To many people in Hamburg want it and  say, “what is good for the goose is good for the gander”!