Post-Gazette Editorial – 9/24/06

This page was last updated on October 1, 2006.

Backslide / Is this shopping plaza really necessary?; Editorial; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; September 24, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“There’s a mountain of trouble on Route 65, and not all of it has to do with angry, rerouted commuters.

“When tons of rock, soil and retail plans came tumbling down Tuesday on Ohio River Boulevard in Kilbuck, closing four lanes of highway and three railroad tracks, it was enough to get everyone’s attention. The aim of the project, a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter, had generated a corps of opponents years ago.

“From Ambridge to Sewickley to Bellevue, some shoppers and merchants expressed concern about what a nearby Wal-Mart Supercenter would do to small-town retail on Merchant Street, Beaver Street and Lincoln Avenue. Although the grass-roots organization Communities First! tried to rally opposition to the mega shopping plaza planned for the site of abandoned Dixmont State Hospital, it stirred some people’s consumer politics but failed to catch fire with others’. In the end, the 207-acre development got its permits and approvals -- and work commenced in a big way early this year.

“It’s possible that whatever engineering miscalculation sent 500,000 cubic feet of dirt and boulders onto a major traffic artery last week would still have occurred if ASC Development Inc. and Chevy Chase Construction were building homes or a hospital or a church. But the fact that heaven and earth were being moved to build a Wal-Mart will only add to the litany of offenses that some consumers already heap on America’s giant retailer.

“If the hilltop plateau were being carved to build, say, a Whole Foods store and adjacent plaza, some of the opponents might think differently about the project. It should also be noted that other nearby mountaintops have been leveled recently -- for Home Depot and Giant Eagle near Camp Horne Road, and for Target and Sam’s Club above Mount Nebo Road -- without a costly landslide. In other words, big-box retailers do not automatically equal environmental catastrophe.”

[RWC] Perhaps the editorial author needs a reminder this is Southwestern Pennsylvania, not Houston, TX. You have three choices when building here. You build on top of a hill, on the side of a hill, or at the bottom of a hill (usually next to a flood-prone creek).

“But there are questions to ponder while motorists stew in traffic on alternate routes. The big one is not ‘Why Wal-Mart?’ but ‘Is this shopping plaza really necessary?’ Allegheny County, like the rest of Pennsylvania, has no regional planning mechanism that can control the shape and location of big commercial developments.

“When any large retailer wants to go into business, it must merely meet the test of local planning and zoning, plus state traffic and environmental requirements. With 130 cities, boroughs and townships in Allegheny County, if one little burgh won’t give you a yes, another one certainly will. Hence, Kilbuck Township’s decision to seek and permit River Pointe Plaza has consequences far beyond its borders.

“Even under the best of circumstances, a major new plaza threatens traditional commercial districts and, in a region with static population, competes for the same dollars that have sustained longtime businesses. Under a worse scenario, like a landslide during construction that severs car and train routes, its impact can reverberate across several states.

“Some will say this is just the dog-eat-dog nature of retailing. That’s true to an extent, but in the meantime it gobbles up green space, turns out the lights on Main Street and, sometimes, as on Route 65, dumps unforeseen and expensive consequences. This is not to say that big shopping developments shouldn’t be built -- it is to say, however, that projects with big impact deserve to be planned and approved by a level of government, perhaps the county, that is mindful of the greater community.

“County-based planning of large commercial centers may not prevent landslides on major throughways, but it would limit the unchecked and irrational placement of stores and plazas and malls. It’s time that Pennsylvania counties had such rock-solid planning authority.”

[RWC] “Unchecked and irrational placement of stores and plazas and mall?” Irrational by whose definition? People risk their own capital based on their view of the local market. That’s what a free market is all about.

“It’s time that Pennsylvania counties had such rock-solid planning authority?” You’ll note the editorial didn’t provide any examples of this proposal working anywhere. Indeed, Pittsburgh is a poster-boy for failed planning. Let’s remember the David Lawrence Convention Center, Heinz Field, PNC Park, Lord & Taylor, Lazarus, and on and on. Regarding the Convention Center, we’re now told it can’t be successful without a $100 million taxpayer-subsidized hotel built next door. The economic development resulting from the ball fields has been essentially non-existent. Remember the three North Side restaurants the Stadium & Exhibition Authority (SEA) helped build with $1 million from taxpayers? Even with that subsidy, the SEA had to cut the rent paid by the restaurants by more than 50% in 2004. Lazarus closed after barely five years and Lord & Taylor closed in 2004. In both cases, tens of millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted

This is yet another attack on property rights. Remember, the PG supported the U.S. Supreme Court Kelo ruling that use of eminent domain was OK even if the only reason was to transfer the property to another private owner in order to increase tax revenue.

Let’s also not forget the PG’s assault (here, here, and here) on property rights via support for smoking bans on private property.

This editorial is also further support for central government economic planning.

Who on Earth wants a group of politicians and political appointees to tell them how to use their property?

As a conservative, I’m admittedly torn when it comes to zoning and local planning commissions. While I don’t like the idea of government telling someone how their land can be used, I also recognize the problems that can arise when you can plop down any kind and size of business anywhere you want.

While I can live with local commissions, going to the county and higher levels is definitely a bad idea.