Rep. Heard to Wal Mart Opponents: Stop It!
The state representative believes jobs the Wal Mart can provide are crucial.
State Representative Keith Heard has a message for the people who showed up at Tuesday night’s Commission meeting to register their opposition to a proposed Wal Mart on the edge of downtown: Stop these public displays. We want businesses to come to Athens, and this is a business, and protesting it says Athens is anti-business.
Heard was speaking to a crowded audience at today’s Pre-legislative Luncheon, sponsored by the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce and the Athens Rotary Club.
“Why do we put up road blocks?” Heard asked, as a slight applause rippled through the crowd. “Don’t make it public. People who believe in it, we haven’t heard the other side of things. They need to speak up.”
So far, there has been no meeting involving the general public and officials from Selig Corporation, which has said it wants to create a mixed use development--including a bix box rumored to be Wal Mart---on the former Armstrong & Dobbs property. Last night’s meeting was the first time people had a chance to tell elected officials how they feel about the rumored Wal Mart.
Attorney Russell Edwards said each commissioner would receive a flash drive containing an anti-Wal Mart petition with 17,000 names on it.
Others said they think Athens can do better than Wal Mart..
They think downtown Athens is too special to have a Wal Mart on its edge.
One said she shudders at the idea of more traffic on over burdened Oconee Street.
Others believe Wal Mart will kill the vitality of downtown and wreck havoc on Athens’ locally owned businesses.
Wednesday, Heard said that an event like last night's commission meeting "sends the wrong signal. Why do we put up roadblocks to business?"
He said he wants people with concerns about Wal Mart “to go to Wal Mart and talk to them directly. My friends in Atlanta and across the country are saying, ‘Don’t y’all want jobs?’ These are jobs we’re talking about here.”
margaret
10:21 pm on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
I think it would be ashame to put a WalMart in downtown Athens. Athens has remained the same for the past 40 years and to stick a WalMart in downtown would take away the beauty of the old town.
gary grossman
8:48 am on Friday, January 6, 2012
Does Heard even live in the district he represents? I guess he is opposed to free speech and thinks that these debates should be held behind closed doors with a few powerful people. Research has shown that aside from the environmental issues associated with a Wal-Mart on Oconee St and the apparent unresponsiveness of the developer to any inquiry, Walmarts drive local stores with similar goods out of business but may have a positive impact on nearby stores that sell different goods via increased traffic see http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/faculty/stone/mssupercenterstudy.pdf . As for jobs, well we could argue about whether low paying are better than no jobs but certainly for job growth in Athens we should be trying to grow jobs that pay more than minimum wage. And what about those discrimination suits??
Rebecca McCarthy
9:18 am on Friday, January 6, 2012
Gary, Rep. Heard also said that if people have a problem with Wal Mart, they need to go to Wal Mart officials and talk out these problems. I asked him if he thought Wal Mart would meet with residents of Athens, especially since Selig hasn't bought the property and hasn't said for certain that Wal Mart is the Big Box slated to come. His point, he said, was that jobs at Wal Mart are better than no jobs. And, he said, Athens needs any jobs. Which meshes nicely with Mayor Denson's remarks at the Commission Retreat that "we can't discount minimum wage jobs." I haven't seen any agency or individual taking credit for bringing a new firm or company to town in many many years, have you?