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GLOVERSVILLE
Wal-Mart courting support for new store
Opposition group also forming in response to plans
BY JIM MCGUIRE Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Jim McGuire at 725-8412 or jmcguire@dailygazette.net.

   As Wal-Mart pursues approval for construction of its planned 187,000-square-foot supercenter on the town of Johnstown line, the company is not being passive in the face of opposition.
   Residents in the Gloversville area have received a number of postcards in recent months touting the community benefits generated by a new store and the latest card invites supporters to a light dinner and meeting at 6 p.m. June 28 at the Holiday Inn.
   The card informs residents, “A Wal-Mart supporters group is forming in the Gloversville/ Johnstown area.” Residents are invited to share the refreshments and discussion “and learn how you can support the proposal.”
   Wal-Mart officials could not be reached Tuesday for comment on the dinner meeting.
   The public relations effort is scheduled just as Robert Bordieri, a Randall resident, is organizing an opposition group.
   Bordieri, who works in the Gloversville area and opposes the project for what he views as its adverse environmental impact and threat to existing businesses, said he and four or five others held their first meeting Thursday at the Gloversville Public Library.
   Like Wal-Mart, Bordieri said he is looking for additional supporters. He said the group is in what he called the “letter-tothe-editor stage” but will soon begin scheduling public meetings.
   He said he has not given up hope of stopping the project.
   Perhaps the project’s most outspoken advocate, Mayor Tim Hughes, said he plans to attend the Holiday Inn gathering and encourages Wal-Mart’s effort to organize project support.
   “I’ll bet they have quite a turnout,” Hughes said of the meeting. “There’s a lot of support for [the project].”
   Hughes said he is surprised there is any opposition because “it’s going to be great for the area.”
   The city of Gloversville is estimating the proposed South Kingsboro Avenue store will generate over $1 million annually in sales tax revenue and property taxes.
   Hughes said company officials have recently informed him they expect to complete their state environmental quality review by the end of the year, keeping the project on a timetable for groundbreaking next spring and a Christmas 2008 opening.
   Fulton County Senior Planner Sean Geraghty, consultant to the city Planning Board and lead agency on the project, said he was unaware of the June 28 meeting but had been asked by Wal-Mart consultants whether he thought such a meeting would be a good idea for the company. Geraghty said he did not offer an opinion but said he assumes Wal-Mart officials have an established public relations approach to store openings.
   “They’ve done this a number of times. … They know what works and what doesn’t work,” he said.