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| Photo: Albany Business Review |
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Colarusso opponents like to point out that the corporation sued the City of Hudson, to which Colarusso supporters counter that the City started it by suing Colarusso. (Actually, the City of Hudson sued the Greenport Planning Board, but Colarusso was a co-respondent.) In comparison, Stewart's is held up as the good corporate neighbor. But it seems Stewart's good neighborliness only goes so far.
Here in Hudson, we acquiesced and amended our zoning to accommodate Stewart's desire to expand and exploit the growing "food-on-the-go" market. The Village of Voorheesville, however, stood up to Stewart's, and Stewart's is retaliating. First, they closed the existing Stewart's in the village. Now the Albany Business Review reports, Stewart's is suing Voorheesville for changing its zoning to prevent Stewart's from demolishing an iconic tavern and building a new gas station and convenience store, on a site that backs up on Vly Creek: "Stewart's sues village of Voorheesville for blocking convenience store."
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK
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Stewart's used the same tactic on Hudson, and since no one running things has enough backbone to stand up to them, they got their way. They said if we wouldn't allow them to expand, they would close the store here. I don't like those tactics at all.
ReplyDeleteTrue, in this case, closure would have been preferable with the redundant convenience stores. It'd never be missed. The residents wouldn't have glaring lighting and extra traffic in an already busy intersection.
DeleteGood Morning Cheviot Views. Would you have been able to provide comparable jobs with comparable benefits to the employees? Would you also be providing (day and night) free rides out and back to Aldi's and ShopRite to the people who depend on Stewart's, year round? And finally, would be writing a comparable tax check to the County?
ReplyDeleteSusan
Susan, yes, these are quality of life considerations. This particular intersection is still somewhat residential. Sure, there's a benefit of convenience but unhealthy drawbacks of vehicular congestion, extra exhaust pollution, noise, lights. Stewart's has quite a bit of personnel turnover. I don't know how pay and benefits compare to similar employment, but revolving turnover says a lot about the employer. Stewart's is not famous for nutritional food. I doubt the expansion will mitigate this issue. Likely, there'll be more of the usual offerings at ever higher cost. The prices are high for what you get. Better choices at the nearby groceries. Household items like a small bottle of bleach is offered at prohibitive mark ups.
DeleteResidents with transportation challenges, are surely in a vulnerable position anywhere in the city. I do hope they work together in the community to address this problem. Pooling resources is just one starting off point. For taxes generated, there is the flip side of the city services set aside for this property, such as policing this busy intersection and fire protection costs. I am not privy to the costs here but there's always benefit and cost analysis to everything. I'm guessing Stewart's profits are concentrated on gas, Lotto, tobacco, beer, some milk and ice cream. Every visit, that's what I notice. Food stuff has a tiny profit margin if any.
Enjoy your new Stewart's, hope it works out for you.
And we can hope that their one flavor of vegan ice cream will not be buried under a mountain of plastic wrapped processed meat.
ReplyDelete