It was bad enough that District elected officials, particularly Mayor Vincent C. Gray, stood by as Walmart announced its intention to dump six stores into neighborhood commercial corridors, creating an environment ripe for the retail behemoth to bully small businesses. The executive exacerbated that short-sighted economic development strategy by signing the “Community Partnership Initiative.” Despite the peacocking by Gray and others after the agreement was signed, the District is receiving mostly crumbs. What’s more, the initiative lacks measurable goals and is wholly unenforceable.
“It is a voluntary agreement and one in which Walmart is participating without any legal requirement for them to do so,” said Jose Sousa, spokesman for Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Victor Hoskins, whose office negotiated the agreement.
“DPMED will work with cluster agencies to ensure the provisions of the initiative are being met and will work with Walmart to ensure that results of this partnership are attained,” Sousa told me.
Gray has said the retailer would bring 1,800 jobs to the District. Last week, he offered that “expectations [are] that Walmart will fill a majority of available positions with D.C. residents.”
No where in the agreement signed by Henry Jordan, senior vice president for the East division, is there any mention that the “majority” of those retail or the 600 construction jobs expected over the next five to seven years will be set aside for District residents. Walmart only said it will “work with local community groups and others … to source candidates who are interested, qualified and eligible for positions” in its stores.
During the construction phrase, Walmart has agreed that at least 35 percent of contractors or subcontractors will be certified local small businesses. But earlier this year, Gray launched a program to ensure 51 percent of new hires on construction sites are District residents.
Walmart has committed to providing $21 million in charitable donations over the next seven years, an average of $3 million a year. That’s a pittance. District residents spent $41 million in its stores outside the city in 2010, alone.
The District is a cash-cow. Walmart knows that. It’s not opening six stores as part of some philanthropic mission.
Unfortunately, it appears the mayor and Hoskins didn’t pay attention to spreadsheet data. Perhaps they were driven by desperation — a desire for something tangible on the economic development side that Gray could claim as an accomplishment to bolster his political standing.
Sales totals like those produced by District residents in 2010 could have been used by Gray and Hoskins to more strategically influence Walmart’s role in the city’s economy, including the location and size of stores and the products to be sold. Instead of leveraging that documented purchasing power, the mayor and his team cast the District as a beggar, willing to accept anything.
It’s not too late to repair the damage. The D.C. Council could push Walmart to deliver a specific number of jobs while ensuring greater protections for small businesses, which are vital to the vibrancy of any neighborhood commercial corridor.
jonetta rose barras can be reached at [email protected]
Jonetta Rose Barras’s column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
