The Planning Commission has approved Wal-Mart for Bedford, Ohio.
I would like to offer some things for thought.
Overview: Wal-mart will bring thousands of people to Bedford to save a few pennies on things that are already available elsewhere. This letter offers reasons why the current Wal-Mart stores in the area are sufficient to meet our needs, and a description of an alternate development idea for the former Ames parcel. There is also a link at the end to contact Wal-Mart with your views.
Wal-Mart sells items at a discount that are currently available at hundreds of smaller stores in the area, at slightly higher prices than those at the Wal-Mart. They can offer the discounts because they are a big company with a lot of purchasing power to negotiate the best prices. Thousands of people shop Wal-Mart every day. We do have a Wal-Mart in Macedonia, 6 minutes away on 271, and a Wal-Mart is being built in downtown Cleveland which will bring the total to eight or nine for the area, I believe. We already have plenty of Wal-Mart stores.
Where will the customers come from to patronize this proposed store in Bedford?
Bedford, Bedford Heights, Garfield Heights, Valley View, Maple Heights, Warrensville Heights, Moreland Hills, North Randall, Highland Hills ... perhaps more.
All of these places already have access to Wal-Marts. Having another one in Bedford will mean that everyday items will be purchased from the Bedford superstore rather than locally in their own communities. (I am sure the other Wal-Marts will not lose too many customers or they would not be proposing another store for here.) The community businesses of all of these municipalities will, however, lose customers and retail establishments as their residents decide to try out the new store in Bedford.
Wal-Mart may be a shot in the arm for Bedford in the short term, but in the long-term, it will contribute to the degradation of the area as a whole.
Why?
Because diversity is the reason for any area to thrive.
A natural forest, left alone, will recycle itself over and over, providing food and shelter for many species of animals because it has so many species of plants, big and small, filling different niche ecosystems. A variety of species means no insect or animal can take over to decimate the entire forest. There is a balance, a vitality, in diversity.
I believe in the Golden Rule, "Do Onto Others ..."
Building a Wal-Mart in Bedford is not being neighborly, and is not looking to the future health of the region. There just are not enough people in the area to support more large-scale retail. Yes, it will fill that long-abandoned property where Ames used to be, but sometime in the future there will be other abandoned properties to take the place of this abandoned property, so what will we have gained? A potential candidate for future abandonment is right across the street, in fact, where we currently have the Target and Tops.
Giant Eagle will go, too, and the Home Depot may just fade away, as will many other area retail stores. Why? Because people will flock there to save a few dollars, even though Wal-Mart itself does not offer a diversity in products. They buy in bulk, that which is the most popular. People will think they can buy the special items they like elsewhere, after doing major shopping at Wal-Mart. The 'elsewheres,' however, cannot survive by selling only the things that Wal-Mart does not carry.
Small stores are already closing in Bedford. A Wal-Mart will not help more to open. All a Wal-Mart will do is give us fewer shopping choices in the long run, and will bring those thousands of people to Bedford every day to save a few cents on toilet paper, and a few dollars on a recliner. Let me repeat that. Thousands of people every day. To one store. Such a store proposed for our historic small-town "Bedford Falls" Bedford.
Those thousands of people are all going to be lined up at the exit ramps trying to get on and off. They will be lined up at all of our traffic lights trying to get through the intersections. Currently we rarely have to wait through more than one light change to get through downtown Bedford, and that can be a long wait as it is, with the convergence of 5 streets. Waiting at traffic lights for two or three changes will be the norm if Wal-Mart comes to town. A side-effect will be an increase in air pollution.
What is the answer? That property does need to be developed. What could we have that would not take customers away from our neighbors?
How could we develop it according to "The Golden Rule"?
We could offer something that no one else has. Something to draw hundreds of people to Bedford to spend a LOT of money over an extended period of time, rather than thousands of people for a couple of hours to save a few dollars on things they could purchase elsewhere.
A great solution would be: A resort, with condos, hotel and retreat center, indoor tropical garden and small retail establishments. The tropical paradise inside the enclosed interior courtyard would have brick paths through lush vegetation, over foot bridges, past ponds with colorful ducks, streams with 8" goldfish, and waterfalls surrounded by blooming orchids and bromeliads.
Picture the cold of winter, and wanting to escape to such a tropical paradise. The entire region ... all of Northeast Ohio would be drawn to Bedford for an evening or a weekend of relaxing in a tropical paradise, without the hassle of airport waiting and flying. Retreats and small conferences could happen right here, with access to an all-year tropical garden.
Small ground-level restaurants could have 'outdoor' eating areas within this tropical paradise even as there is a foot of snow on the ground. The section with condos could have balconies into the covered paradise. Hotel rooms would feature economy rooms with views to the outside and luxury rooms with balconies on the inside. A ballroom with dividers would have multiple uses. The structure would be no more than six stories, with most parking underground. The land around the resort could be landscaped with trees and gardens and boast a hiking path, rather than the acres and acres of paved surface-parking required for a superstore. If the small ground floor retail businesses jutted out a bit from the six-story structure, their roof spaces could be seasonal patios or enclosed as mini-conservatories for a second-level business, a high-end condo, or the hotel /retreat center.
I have been a guest at the Gaylord Resort and Conference Center in Nashville Tennessee and have experienced the wonder of such an indoor tropical paradise. (http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylordopryland/) While this facility is probably much bigger than what would be viable in the region, I think the smaller version with condos, hotel space and retreat center could very easily be supported by the area.
Conclusion: Please consider the long-term vitality of the area as a whole and look for something unique to re-develop that property, such as a resort, that will be of great benefit to the region by increasing the population of the area. An increased population would mean area retail businesses will have enough patrons to support them all.
I have numerous photos that I took while at the Gaylord Resort. Click Here to see those pictures.
Another way to increase the population of Bedford would be to make it a friendly place zoning-wise, for owners of small businesses to live in the same building as their business. This will draw people to the area for the small-town atmosphere of not needing a car to conduct daily life, and help reduce dependence on gas and also reduce pollution. Perhaps this idea could be incorporated in the development of the former Ames property instead of the proposed for Wal-Mart. It could be of benefit in other sections of the City as well, to increase the desirability of living and working in Bedford.
Bedford could be the reason the area as a whole begins to increase in population, thus helping to turn around the current rust-belt exodus. A Wal-Mart will not help to convince people from moving away from NorthEast Ohio. A resort/condo combination with indoor tropical paradise might be just what is needed to increase the population and jump-start the entire regional economy.
Please write to Wal-Mart.
by email: http://www.walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/navigate.do?catg=221
by mail: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611.
Say that when you want to shop Wal-Mart you find the store in (your area) to be close enough, and do not want another to be built in Bedford.
Please send this to people you know who would like to see this area thrive with the diversity of many shopping choices and the lure of being a great place to live.
Sincerely,
Kristen S. Boyesen
64 Wandle Ave
Bedford, OH 44146
216-577-9874
