Blogging Blue

There’s been a lot of controversy recently about the possibility of a Wal-Mart being placed on the site of the failed IcePort development in Cudahy’s downtown area. The Mayor of Cudahy, Ryan McCue, is the subject of a recall effort after voting against allowing the Wal-Mart in Cudahy, despite his previously stated opposition to putting a taxpayer-subsidized Wal-Mart in Cudahy:

I do not think that the City of Cudahy should provide a $12 million tax subsidy to the world’s biggest retailer. Residents may not even see the tax benefits from the development for 20 years.

Throughout the controversy, websites have popped up both in support of the Wal-Mart and and in opposition to it, and there have been a lot of myths, half-truths and outright lies that have been told. Putting aside the issue of whether or not a Wal-Mart in Cudahy would be subsidized by Cudahy’s taxpayers - which I believe it would - there’s still the issue of Wal-Mart’s proven track record of trying to avoid paying its fair share of property taxes:

The Cudahy taxpayers have also been told that Cudahy can rely on Wal-Mart re-paying for this taxpayer subsidy of over $1000 per Cudahy family with the “new taxes” that will be paid by Wal-Mart in the future. First, at the present tax rates it will take Wal-Mart over 30 years before they would even pay off the existing Municipal Bond debt, let alone pay for the fire, police and other services provided by the City. Remember, their Menomonee Falls store did not even last that long, and closed after only 15 years. Second, the citizens of Tomah, Wisconsin also got similar promises from Wal-Mart just a few years ago when they subsidized a new Wal-Mart Distribution Center for multi-millions of tax dollars in their city. The ink on that agreement between Wal-Mart and the City of Tomah had barely dried when, after just a few years, Wal-Mart sued and won a $949,000 property tax refund from the City and a 25% reduction in future tax bills. Wal-Mart did not care that Tomah taxpayers would have an additional 20+ years of payments due on those Municipal Bonds issued for just that Wal Mart development.

For more information on the lengths Wal-Mart has gone to in order to dodge paying its fair share of taxes, click this link.

So says Lisa B. Nelson, Senior Manager of Public Affairs for Wal-Mart, via Randy Hollenbeck’s blog (emphasis mine):

We’d like to set the record straight with regards to claims that Wal-Mart is asking for a taxpayer subsidy to build in Cudahy. Those making this claim are wrong, and are attempting to scare taxpayers and city officials.

Let us be clear: Wal-Mart will not receive, and is not asking for, any financial subsidy for its development.

It’s important to know however, that the City of Cudahy created a tax-increment finance district (TIF) years ago to develop the Iceport site, which failed. The City of Cudahy borrowed over $5 million to invest in this site. The city has spent this money, development has not occurred and because of that, a tax base at the Iceport site does not exist to repay this debt.

We want to be part of the solution. Wal-Mart will indeed pay taxes, and will create the property value necessary in the TIF to generate the revenue needed to finally make the Iceport site a success for Cudahy.

Continental Properties has put together a top-notch development that will create the tax base the city needs to repay its debt. At the same time, this plan brings a national discount retailer to the community and includes a state-of-the-art destination sports facility, retail shops and a hotel. All put together by a local, well-respected developer. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Close to a month ago, the plan for Cudahy Station appeared to be dead. But following some careful, creative planning, and the persistent, positive support of Cudahy residents, the plan for Cudahy Station has been given new life.

On June 10th a new plan will be presented to the Cudahy Plan Commission that addresses the concerns that have been raised. A great deal of time and thought has gone into its development, and we are appreciative for the opportunity to present again and answer questions.

The success we’ve had at Wal-Mart is very real – and it’s not only because we save people money, but because we help them live better. We do this in many ways, through jobs, opportunities, community involvement and of course, low prices that help stretch hard-earned dollars in today’s economy. We want to do that in Cudahy.

Please join us for the meeting on June 10th at 6:50pm at the Cudahy Municipal Building to see the new elements in the plan, and help us bring them to life in Cudahy.

Lisa B. Nelson
Senior Manager, Public Affairs
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc

Now maybe I’m just nitpicking, but do the phrases “top-notch development” and “national discount retailer” go together? Perhaps the folks in Cudahy will buy into the notion that a discount retailer is “top-notch” development for a site in Cudahy’s downtown area, but to me, the two don’t seem congruent. Now granted, I don’t have a background in urban planning or development, but when I think of “top-notch development,” my first thought isn’t of Wal-Mart.

While she doesn’t come out and say it directly, that’s the impression I get from reading a recent blog entry by State Senator Mary Lazich. Now while one can’t be completely sure if Senator Lazich wrote that blog entry - or if it was written by Kevin Fischer, her loyal aide - it’s curious that Senator Lazich would opine that Wal-Mart should run our health care system, considering the problems Wal-Mart has in running its own health care plan. Here’s just a few points about how well Wal-Mart has administered health care coverage for its employees:

• Wal-Mart reported in January 2006 that its health insurance only covers 43% of their 1.39 million employees, leaving over 775,000 employees without health insurance coverage.
• Wal-Mart doesn’t even cover as high a percentage of its employees as other large companies. On average for 2005, large companies (200 or more workers) cover approximately 66% of their employees, while Wal-Mart only covers 43%.
• Since the average full-time Wal-Mart employee earned $17,114 in 2005, he or she would have to spend between 7 and 25 percent of his or her income just to cover the premiums and medical deductibles, if electing for single coverage.
• Between 2000-2005, the cost of premiums rose 169 percent for single coverage and 117 percent for family coverage.

Now maybe I’m crazy, but that doesn’t sound like a health care plan I’d want to be a part of, nor does it sound like a health care plan that’s well administered. Then again, considering the generosity Wal-Mart has shown to Senator Lazich, I suppose I shouldn’t be all that surprised that she thinks Wal-Mart has done a great job of insuring its employees. If I were her, I wouldn’t want to anger my corporate benefactors either.

H/T to Greg over at Metro Milwaukee Today.

I’ve spent a little time talking about the effort to recall Cudahy Mayor Ryan McCue, and some folks within the Cheddarsphere have been very vocal in their support of the effort to recall McCue, but I can’t stop wondering about something:

Are these same folks who are so intent on recalling Ryan McCue perfectly okay with spending taxpayer dollars to fund a special election, should the recall prove successful? In these times when local municipalities are finding their budgets stretched thin, do Cudahy’s taxpayers really want to see their money being spent on a special election because a group of citizens engaged in a recall effort that strikes me as being an incredibly petty and spiteful response to one of their elected officials casting a vote they don’t agree with?

After all, that’s really what this recall election is all about; a vote cast by Ryan McCue. This recall isn’t about inappropriate or objectionable behavior, nor is it about illegal or corrupt behavior by an elected official; it’s about a group of folks getting their collective undies in a bunch because they want a Wal-Mart in Cudahy, and they think everyone should agree with them. I only hope this vocal minority - and that’s exactly what they seem to be - get put in their place, and I hope Ryan McCue remains as Cudahy’s Mayor for the remainder of his original term.

Things are getting interesting in Cudahy. Not only have some citizens who support putting a Wal-Mart in Cudahy’s “city center” started a recall of Mayor Ryan McCue, but now comes a report by Randy Hollenbeck of The Way I See It that the ever-popular Citizens For Responsible Government have gotten involved. I would have thought that that folks from CRG would have crawled back under their collective rocks after their Franklin group - which was founded by Orville Seymer - was accused of violating state campaign finance laws.

Here’s my favorite excerpt from the Milwaukee JournalSentinel’s article:

The group [Franklin CRG] made what turned out to be false or exaggerated claims against opponents in fliers, claiming in one case that the candidate knew a sex-offender home was being planned for Franklin and that the candidate did nothing to fight a landfill expansion whose height would “exceed the Empire State Building.”

Apparently CRG has gone fishing in Cudahy, filing an open records request for a list of all City of Cudahy officials who have access to a city-issued credit card, as well as copies of credit card statements for said credit cards. I’m wondering what CRG - who coincidentally are assisting with the recall effort against Mayor McCue - are hoping to find in the city’s credit card records, because this seems to me to be nothing more than a fishing expedition by a group known for engaging in witch hunts. In any case, I’ve included a copy of the open records request below.

Greg Kowalski over at Metro Milwaukee Today has much, much more on this situation.

…but Cudahy Mayor Ryan McCue is having none of it. Shortly after casting a vote against Wal-Mart, McCue became the subject of a recall effort spearheaded by two Cudahy citizens who support putting a Wal-Mart right in the heart of Cudahy.

Randy Hollenbeck of The Way I See It, a local Cudahy blog, has taken up the issue of putting a Wal-Mart in Cudahy, and among the arguments he uses to justify putting a Wal-Mart in Cudahy is as follows (emphasis mine):

Wal-Mart doesn’t affect Cudahy’s image, just like have Pick N’ Save does not. What it does do is increase the standard of living. Look up what standard living means if in doubt.

While Randy Hollenbeck would like folks to believe having a Wal-Mart in Cudahy will increase the standard of living, the opposite is true. In fact, Wal-Mart has helped employees file for public asssistance, a fact which seems to fly in the face of Randy’s argument. Now sure, I suppose some will argue, “But Zach, you linked to the AFL-CIO…that proves that this is all about unions hating Wal-Mart.” Now sure, I linked to an article on the AFL-CIO website, but here’s proof that Wal-Mart assisted employees in seeking out and applying for public assistance.

And let’s not forget that almost two thousand Wal-Mart employees here in Wisconsin receive BadgerCare, at a cost of almost 1.8 million dollars to Wisconsin taxpayers. Now while Randy Hollenbeck might not mind paying his tax dollars to foot a health insurance bill that Wal-Mart and its billions of dollars in profits should be picking up, I’m not into corporate handouts. But getting back to my main point, the fact that almost two thousand Wal-Mart employees in Wisconsin need BadgerCare just underscores my point that Wal-Mart does little to raise the standard of living, as Randy Hollenbeck asserts.

Putting aside Randy Hollenbeck’s argument about Wal-Mart raising the standard of living in Cudahy, I believe this is an issue of folks in Cudahy settling for a Wal-Mart when they could raise their expectations much, much higher. Why not seek out a development that enhances Cudahy’s reputation, instead of settling for the eleventh Wal-Mart within a twenty mile radius?