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The push for Neiman Marcus in Walnut Creek: Chamber of Commerce's shove?
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http://parentzing.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/crowded-street.jpgCould this be Walnut Creek's future?
A wave of controversy splashed the normally quiet Walnut Creek community after its city council proposed adding Neiman Marcus to downtown shopping center Broadway Plaza. The original plan featured a three story building stretching 50 feet high and accompanied by a new parking garage; the project's extensive size was just one of the concerns voiced by residents.
On May 19, Walnut Creek City Council approved a revised Neiman Marcus plan; a two story building only 35 feet high and a parking garage with 175 free spaces. The dispute, however, continues. One of the groups opposed to the plan, RAMPART--Residents and Advocates for More Parking and Reduced Traffic--is invoking a veto referendum process to overturn City Council's decision and allow Walnut Creek citizens to vote on the final verdict. Those in favor of leaving the fate of the community entirely up to Walnut Creek City Council created Yes for Walnut Creek, a group determined to honor the council's decision for immediate store placement.
Walnut Creek's Chamber of Commerce, a strong proponent of Yes For Walnut Creek, is optimistic about the potential financial benefits of the store. "Neiman Marcus at Broadway Plaza will benefit our community by keeping our downtown vibrant and serving as an important sales tax base to fund police, road improvements, and our community services." The Chamber of Commerce also lists "higher property values", "a competitive downtown" and "a stronger local economy" as benefits of the new Neiman Marcus.
The Chamber of Commerce insists that the community approves of the Neiman Marcus addition, its website boasting, "After meeting with and talking to thousands of community members in dozens of community meetings and open houses, we have found that most of our neighbors are excited and supportive of Broadway Plaza's plans for a new Neiman Marcus store." Yet the chamber was stupefied when RAMPART petitioned to let the people of Walnut Creek vote on the matter, an appalling idea that would "force the City--at a cost of over $300,000--to place the project on a ballot."
In other words: give the power to the people. What a concept.
Yes, adding the measure to the ballot may cost the city additional money, but the Chamber of Commerce estimates "a cost of over $300,000". Surely there is a more practical voting procedure. If Walnut Creek cannot grant residents the right to determine their community's future for less than $300,000, then perhaps City Council should focus its efforts on improving citizen representation rather than the downtown population.
Yes for Walnut Creek addresses opposition to the store by attacking the motives of RAMPART organizer and owner of Concord's Sunvalley Mall, the Taubman Group. Yes defends its reluctance to accept a decision from the Walnut Creek community by arguing that the RAMPART veto referendum petition is simply "an effort to waste precious city funds." "Allowing this kind of election in any community is divisive and dangerous," its Myth vs. Fact online document explains. But really, can an election that gives residents a vote in their city's downtown development be considered "divisive and dangerous"? What?
The real issue here has nothing to do with the Taubman group and its supposedly selfish motives. The intentions behind RAMPART may never be truly known and can be analyzed for pages--see Yes For Walnut Creek website--but in this case, their nature is irrelevant. What does matter is that RAMPART's petition purpose seems sign-worthy: "to let the voters decide on the recent action of the City Council authorizing additional development at Broadway Plaza that will result in increased traffic in Walnut Creek--and make parking downtown much more difficult." If the allegedly money-hungry "bully" Taubman hadn't proposed a community vote, well, I'd hope that someone else would have taken the initiative to do it--background check not necessary.
Yes for Walnut Creek believes that Neiman Marcus will "bring new customers for our locally owned merchants". But how many tourists--oops, "new customers"--will it take for Neiman Marcus to generate the incredible tax revenue estimated by the city? A lot, because the majority of Walnut Creek residents won't be the ones splurging--especially not in this economy. Although high-end stores like Nordstrom and Tiffany's prosper in Broadway Plaza, these stores sell affordable merchandise in addition to the more expensive designer products. Neiman Marcus, however, is notorious for its sky high price tags; check out Neiman Marcus online and good luck finding much that costs less than $100. 175 parking spaces are not enough to accommodate the swarm of trendy tourists that will fuel our downtown economy with their enormous cash surplus, and I don't see any plans to make the sidewalks or other stores larger.
But hey, if Neiman Marcus really is the best thing for the city of Walnut Creek, then that's what the city of Walnut Creek--not the city council--will vote for...after the proposal gets added to the ballot, of course.
Decide for yourself:
Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce "Invest in your future!": http://www.walnut-creek.com
RAMPART: http://www.rampartwc.org/why.htm
Yes for Walnut Creek: http://www.yesforwalnutcreek.org
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