St. Paul City Council rejects Walgreens store in Highland Park ...

Overturning planning commission and zoning committee decisions, the St. Paul City Council on Wednesday unanimously sided with an appeal by a union and shot down a controversial proposed Walgreens drugstore on Ford Parkway in the Highland Park neighborhood.

[what a farce]

I would like to know who
in the payne phalen neighborhood
views the cvs and the walgreens(right across the street from each other!)
located on maryland, as a positive
thing? Inevitably one of these stores
will close(for whatever reason) and
the neighborhood is left with an ugly
vacant building.

[Clueless]

I had to read that article 3 times before I could
believe what I was reading. A business, ANY business, gets told it cant't open because, let me
get this straight, doesn't meet "city policies
encouraging pedestrian-friendly development". So,
what about that store is hindering pedestrians? In a neighborhood where every sqare INCH of space is
one business or another? It isn't pedestrian-friendly??????? Beam me up Scotty, I am surrounded.

I wish I could have been at that press conference;
I would love to see Pat Harris say that with a straight face.

All kidding aside, though, when a union representing 35 people, some of them part-time if
I'm not mistaken, can run city gov't to that degree
..........man, oh man.
Does it even matter any more if Walgreens is good
for that neighborhood or not? It only matters if
they tow the union line.

Welcome, everyone, to South St. Paul.

[Karen]

These clowns along with the mayor are a complete joke when it comes to business.

[Just Saying]

So it's going to be illegal to parachute from your own roof? What happened to property rights? How about the individual right to climb and jump from your own home? Lantry is a dictator. Let's overthrow her butt now. I'm just saying.

[Whiz]

Politicians protecting their base. What a joke.

[Cindy Stainker]

what a farce wrote:

I would like to know who
in the payne phalen neighborhood
views the cvs and the walgreens(right across the street from each other!)
located on maryland, as a positive
thing? Inevitably one of these stores
will close(for whatever reason) and
the neighborhood is left with an ugly
vacant building.

Some people use both stores, but I agree with you on this one. I think Mr Bostrom, our city council person thought it was a positve thing. That's just like having gas stations across the street from each other. The one did sell out so that Wallgreens could be put in. On the other corner was a smaller pharmacy, it closed and merged with CVS. I agree we need business in the city, but pitting one against the other is not the way to keep them.

[anonymous]

This is only round one. Walgreens is not going to simply go away. They've spent too much money on that property already.

[lowertown resident]

This is the same council that said sorry to hundreds of L owertown residents whom opposed turning 20 acres of prime developable land into a non-property tax paying train garage. And that was 1.5 blocks away from several billion dollars in rail investments, it could've made everyone forget about LGA fights that will continue to be the primary St. Paul story, but they fight Walgreens?????? Has anyone on the council taken a course on urban development/finance???

[Just Sayin]

How DARE Walgreens offer an alternative to the ovepriced and run down grimy Snyders. The union is right, Walgreens is a monopoly, there's nobody else in town... oh except CVS (x3), Pro, Corner, Lunds, Fairview, Snyders, Cub, Target... The burned out gas station at Ford and Finn is MUCH more attractive than a new building full of jobs.

[Wahtl Armenius]

So the city will get sued in a law suit they know they are going to lose. Why not spend a couple hundred thousand to cover your a$$es. Harris for Senate! Move over Stinkey.

[Bye]

Will the last business, employer or other contributor to the tax base leaving the city of Saint Paul please turn out the light?

[BeholdentoSpecia lInterest]

This is the same body that overroad the neighborhood, district council, city planning and board of zoning appeals to approve PPL's plan to create even more subsidized low income housing in an area already bloated with it on West 7th. Why even bother studying an issue, having guidelines and gathering input? We should just ask the city council what we should think and save a lot of time and aggravation. That's what you get with a one-party town. Time to consider voting out some of this special-interest-controlled DFL reprsentation before it's too late. Start with Coleman in November.

[Not as delusional as you]

Cool, they banned another store, another tax provider. All of St Paul's residential taxes just went up another tic.

[Tom Holton]

CONGRATULATIONS!'

The illustrious city council managed to kill business, kill jobs, and the free market all in the name of a couple zoning regulations they say.

So what if there are already a few pharmacies in the area, COMPETITION is key to a free market. This is a clear case scenario where government protects monopolies.

[Mad Viking]

Why is Saint Paul operating a park outside of the city in Lillydale in Dakota County? As a lifelong Saint Paul resident and taxpayer I, for one, think the investment should be in facilities located within the city.

[highland guy]

Great. The party store and Snyders are both eye-sores - glass and steel boring buildings right on top of the sidewalk, while everything else in the village has nice stone work.

Now I and my neighbors can look forward to looking at the burnt-out, crumbling abandoned gas station because some UNION thinks there are enough pharmacies in the area. That argument falls flat on it's face.

There are also:
*two butcher shops,
*three cell phone stores,
*two fitness centers,
*two book stores + a library,
*three coffee shops,
*two real estate offices,
*four banks
*two doctor's clinics (if one counts planned parenthood, then there's three)
*two Asian restaurants across the street from one another (i'm a vina guy myself).

I mean, why would a consumer want choices? According to these union idiots and their idiot council (bought & paid for every 4 years), we don't deserve choices. I'm very disappointed in Harris. I thought he was pro-business, but i guess he's pro-union more.

I used to go into that Snyder's once in a while, but I guess it's high time to stop going there or to any Union place with my money.
Welcome to what will be renamed the Union of Socialist Stpaul Republics (USSR) where the subjects will soon have one of everything the city council decides is allowable.

[Sideshow Bob]

highland guy wrote:

Great. The party store and Snyders are both eye-sores - glass and steel boring buildings right on top of the sidewalk, while everything else in the village has nice stone work.
Now I and my neighbors can look forward to looking at the burnt-out, crumbling abandoned gas station because some UNION thinks there are enough pharmacies in the area. That argument falls flat on it's face.
There are also:
*two butcher shops,
*three cell phone stores,
*two fitness centers,
*two book stores + a library,
*three coffee shops,
*two real estate offices,
*four banks
*two doctor's clinics (if one counts planned parenthood, then there's three)
*two Asian restaurants across the street from one another (i'm a vina guy myself).
I mean, why would a consumer want choices? According to these union idiots and their idiot council (bought & paid for every 4 years), we don't deserve choices. I'm very disappointed in Harris. I thought he was pro-business, but i guess he's pro-union more.
I used to go into that Snyder's once in a while, but I guess it's high time to stop going there or to any Union place with my money.
Welcome to what will be renamed the Union of Socialist Stpaul Republics (USSR) where the subjects will soon have one of everything the city council decides is allowable.

Union protectionism won't keep Snyders in business when Walmart has $4 prescriptions, Cub has lower prices, etc. Snyders will have to change its business model if it wants to compete.

As for the union employees that temporarily shut down the new Walgreens, they can't shut out development everywhere. St Paul, by pandering to this special interest group, is hastening its own demise in a Detroit like fashion. How long until all major chains get the hint and just move out to the suburbs, and make St Paul residents drive to the suburbs to shop for reasonable prices? It won't be too much longer with poor council decisions like this.

[Sideshow Bob]

highland guy wrote:

Welcome to what will be renamed the Union of Socialist Stpaul Republics (USSR) where the subjects will soon have one of everything the city council decides is allowable.

Snyders is going the way of the dinosaur......here is a recent article...
Snyder's Drug Stores Mulls Sale Of Some Stores
02/4/2009
Snyder's Drug Stores, Inc. announced on February 4, 2009 that it will either close or sell 19 of its 47 corporate stores in Minnesota by mid-March 2009. Dave Schwartz, President of the firm said that the company regrets the effect of the sale plans on the customers and employees, but said that the closings are necessary in this economy. Snyder's officials said that the stores to be shut down or sold are underperforming.
Walgreens is part of a growth sector..........
Retailers in the drug store category have been among the few retail chains opening hundreds of new stores throughout this recession. The "Big Three" -- Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid -- should account for about 800 new store openings during fiscal 2009, and they plan for continued growth in 2010 and beyond (find specific expansion initiatives and site criteria of each at the end of this article).
WALGREENS
On October 1, Walgreens (NYSE:WAG )(NASDAQ:WAG ) celebrated the grand opening of its 7,000th U.S. store. On average, this retailer has expanded at a rate of 400 stores annually, as it was a 3,000-store chain a decade ago. In its fourth quarter report on Sept. 29, Walgreens said it opened 554 net new drugstores over the past year.
These new stores account for 70 stores Walgreens acquired during the year, including 29 Drug Fair stores in central and western New Jersey and eight Rite Aid locations in San Francisco and eastern Idaho -- the retailer also continues to strategically acquire local and regional drug store operators in smaller markets.
In the coming year (its fiscal 2010), Walgreens is planning organic store growth of 4.5% to 5%, or about 315 to 350 new stores -- this rate of growth is more aggressive than the company's first quarter stated goal of 4% to 4.5% growth. Beginning in 2011, Walgreens plans to pull back to 2.5% to 3% store growth annually, which in 2011 would equate to about 183 to 220 new stores.
Walgreens seeks the "best corners" in America, which it describes as 75,000 square feet of land that can accommodate parking for 70+ cars and a 14,560-square-foot freestanding building with a pharmacy drive thru. The location would be at a signalized intersection of two main streets with significant traffic counts in a trade area of at least 20,000 people. While this is its preferred site criteria, the company will also consider being an anchor to a strip center or co-anchor to a grocery-anchored center and opening in central business districts.
Yeah, St Paul city council, hitch your wagon to an underperforming chain and shut out the growth. I can see Thune and Harris with their eyes closed, fingers in their ears, chanting some nonsense about "pedestrian unfriendliness"........

[Peter]

Sideshow Bob wrote:

<quoted text>Union protectionism won't keep Snyders in business when Walmart has $4 prescriptions, Cub has lower prices, etc. Snyders will have to change its business model if it wants to compete.
As for the union employees that temporarily shut down the new Walgreens, they can't shut out development everywhere. St Paul, by pandering to this special interest group, is hastening its own demise in a Detroit like fashion. How long until all major chains get the hint and just move out to the suburbs, and make St Paul residents drive to the suburbs to shop for reasonable prices? It won't be too much longer with poor council decisions like this.

And in virtually the same breath as they dismiss a chance for development, they beg for LGA.

[It was a simple fix]

Unions will be the death of St Paul.

Morons would be the kindest words to use for the city council.