Dear Editor,

There are numerous rumors swirling around Powhatan about a Wal Mart coming to the land in front of Luck Stone and my county supervisor, Carson Tucker, was evasive when I asked him direct questions about it at the end of last year. He didn’t confirm, but he didn’t deny, either. The absence of a denial spoke volumes! The origins of these rumors are very credible and originate from various sources who will be directly affected by this deal. In fact, one state employee who works for VDOT said, “It’s a done deal. I’ve seen the plans.”

As a small business owner, I am very concerned that if a Wal Mart does come to Powhatan, it will be the end of many small, locally-owned businesses in the county, including mine. It is an indisputable fact that when Wal Mart moves in, small businesses who sell similar goods and who cannot compete on price, close down. In the past year or so we’ve already lost Heaven Scents florist, Maidens Market, Virginia Pantry, Becky’s Tea Cafe, the coffee shop at South Creek, Going Postal, ReMax, and now Moss House. New ones have opened, but in fewer numbers than those that have closed. I’m sure there are other closures I don’t know about or remember. Thousands of square feet of retail space remain vacant and people continue to work and shop outside of the county.

Wal Mart is also notorious for paying low wages that are barely liveable and hiring parttime people to avoid providing benefits; or, they make benefits too expensive for their workers to purchase even though their profits are large enough to allow them to treat their workers very well. They buy their products from sweat shops in third world countries that expoloit their workers. Statistics are readily available on the internet for anyone who may be interested. Does the lure of local tax revenue to pay for schools override morals and ethics? If so, it makes me sad. Surely there are more socially-responsible businesses that could be attracted to Powhatan.

The county’s reluctance to be forthcoming about this issue is disturbing. If indeed the county is wooing Wal Mart with monetary or tax incentives of any kind (breaks on real estate or local sales taxes, offers to pay for access roads, etc.), then it is the citizens’ right to know about them in order to voice their opinions. To operate surreptitiously in a vacuum and not be accountable to the people who pay county salaries is inexcusable. If there is absolutely no truth to these rumors, it is their job to squelch them right away.

I have had great respect for my county government up until now, but I am feeling that there’s an entire contra-government at work here of which average citizens have no knowledge. I would have hoped that our government could have tried to preserve the small town look and feel of Powhatan by designing campaigns to motivate us to shop locally and support our home-grown businesses. The money that may be spent on attracting a Wal Mart could be used to turn Powhatan into a destination shopping site like Occaquan or providing improvements that would help businesses already struggling to stay afloat.

It is also up the people who live in Powhatan to make a greater effort to spend their salaries in the county. Only by doing so will we keep our own unique shops where service and quality trump cheap goods and prices.

Regards,

Debbie Markel
Powhatan