Houston Heights Walmart Controversy Reaches a Turning Point

HOUSTON - In a decisive move that may well end an ongoing fight by neighborhood groups in the Houston Heights to keep out a Wal-Mart store; the Houston City Council has passed an economic incentive package for the developer of the Walmart.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the more than $6 million dollar package would "--include landscaping, a bike trail, and widening, repaving and improving drainage on many of the streets that will surround the Walmart."

Ever since plans to build a Walmart on an abandoned industrial site bordered by Yale and Koehler Streets, an upscale Houston community that consists of expensive townhomes, restored Victorian era houses, small, expensive shops, and eclectic restaurants, community opposition to the store has been intense. A Facebook group called "Stop the Heights Wal-Mart!" has been created. Petitions have been circulated and signed. People have attended hearings to protest the advent of a Walmart store to the Heights area.

The stated reasons for opposing a Walmart in the Heights are similar to the ones stated in other anti Walmartfights. A Walmart would squeeze out local businesses by under pricing them. Walmart engages in unfair employment practices (i.e., using non union labor.) Walmart causes environmental degradation.

However, a recent article in the Houston Press, has a suggestion of darker motives on the part of some anti Walmart protesters.

"Heights resident Will Barrett grew up in the Heights and has witnessed the transition over the years. Barrett told Hair Balls that while he's no Walmart fan, it seems most of the opposition is based on a number of fallacies for some, some trendy bandwagoning for others, and for quite a few, a subtle bit of classism and even racism.

"Over the last decade, Barrett said, thousands of lower-income, working class people, many of which are minorities, have been priced out of the neighborhood -- a Walmart could be very beneficial to them, but it doesn't matter for those living in what he called the "$550,000 McMansions."

"'Honestly, it's hard to point the finger and shout 'racist' at an individual,' Barrett said. 'But I think you're a little delusional if you don't think there's at the very least a small racial and socioeconomic aspect to the Walmart resistance. You'll hear it said a lot 'Well, there's a Walmart going up at 45 and Crosstimbers, why can't 'they' shop over there?''"

"The remaining working class continues to get squeezed as the higher-end business continue to pop up, he said."

Walmart shoppers tend to be from a lower socio-economic class than the typical resident of the Heights, seeking bargains for the large variety of goods that the store has to offer. A lot of Walmart customers tend to be from ethnic minorities, African American and Hispanic. Being able to buy things at cheaper prices tends to benefit people with low incomes.

Also the jobs that a Walmart generates benefit the people who get them, providing them with an income. That is no little consideration in this era of economic malaise.

Are Heights opponents of the Heights Walmart motivated by class or racial considerations? One would suspect, not all of them and likely not even most. But there is a sort of arrogance displayed by affluent people who are bent on "preserving the character of the neighborhood" or oppose the "unfair practices" of Walmart or are even aghast by the possibility that the local crafts store might be forced to close when one thinks of the benefits the Walmart would bring to less well off people.

The Walmart is scheduled to open in 2013. That would seem to be plenty enough time for Heights businesses and people to adapt. One imagines that the effects will not be so dire at all and perhaps even, on the balance, beneficial. Shoppers attracted into the neighborhood by the Walmart might well also be enticed to patronize local stores and restaurants as well, if the owners of these businesses can be creative enough, perhaps by offering lower prices on some items. It could turn out to be a win/win situation.

Sources: City of Houston OKs Heights Walmart package, Bradley Olson, Houston Chronicle, September 22nd, 2010

Stop the Heights Walmart!, Facebook

Walmart Vs. The Heights: About What You'd Expect, Christopher Patronella, Jr., Houston Press, July 7th, 2010