OPEN LETTER TO COUNTY EXECUTIVE LEGGETT - PART 3

Dear Mr. Leggett:

This is the third part of an open letter by which I hoped to engage you, and citizens of our County, in a meaningful dialogue about some of the issues raised by the controversy over Costco's proposal to place a mega gas station in the southwest quadrant of Westfield's Wheaton Plaza.  In Part 1, I indicated my displeasure about your deliberate attempt to conflate citizen objections to the gas station with non-existent citizen objections to the Costco Warehouse Store - a store which was built some time ago (but has not yet opened) and to which (to my knowledge) citizens have never objected.  In Part 2, I was forced to return to this point because of the content of your reply to Part 1.

Given that you have not responded to Part 2, I now move on to some comments about statements you have made as to the value of the store.  Please understand me before you read further:  I am NOT speaking for citizens who oppose(d) the store; so far as I know, there are none.  I am addressing the flaws (or misleading assertions) that fill your letters to the various citizens who contacted you about the gas station.  My overall point is that, although your assertions about the store have NOTHING to do with the matter of the gas station, you ought at least to be clear and informative in your comments about the store.

I choose to comment on three points that you appear to believe you have made:

a.  You state: "My proposal to invest in bringing Costco to fill the now four-year-long hole left at Westfield Mall when Hecht’s went out of business is first and foremost about jobs.  The initiative would produce 475 permanent jobs."

First, to be clear: YOU did not invest.  Rather you invested OUR money in this ill-justified scheme.  Moreover you provide no evidence for your assertions.  How do you know that 475 permanent jobs will be created?  Surely you are not simply counting how many people will be employed by Costco.  Anyone who has thought about this matter recognizes that a significant portion of the patronage of the Costco store will come at the expense of other businesses in the area.  How many jobs will be LOST due to the impact of Costco's gains on those other businesses?  And even if the opening of Costco will magically create a real increase in the county workforce of some 475 persons, what will that mean for the County taxbase?  My calculations, based on numbers provided by your Department of Economic Development, suggest that it will take the county at least a decade to recover (in increased tax revenues) the $4 million that you and the Council gave to Westfield in support of the Costco expansion.  Given that your own figures indicate that SMALL businesses are the main generator of jobs in the county, how much better-off might we be if that $4 million had been used in an aggressive program that reached out to small businesses and encouraged them to expand (or even start up)?

 b.  You state: "Additionally, the County would receive property taxes, income taxes, and impact fees – and the State of Maryland would receive sales tax – from the Costco operation."

Again, you provide no numbers to back up this assertion.  What property taxes will be generated - or increased?  As to sales taxes, if sales at the Costco store are sales that are drawn away from other area merchants, how does this lead to a net gain in sales tax?  If the people who shop at Costco (recall they must be members) do so instead of shopping at one of the other Costco stores in our region (be it in Gaithersburg or in Beltsville), how is this a net gain for our region, or the State?

c.  You state: "The investment by the County in a successful company such as Costco would create jobs, strengthen Wheaton revitalization, and provide individuals and small businesses with increased consumer choices."

Your repeat assertion about job creation is just as weak as that in item "a" above.  As to Wheaton Revitalization, how does a big-box store like Costco address the revitalization of the Wheaton Urban District, whose vitality is based on the numerous small businesses that will be hurt by Costco?

Do you really believe that members who come to Costco/Wesfield to stock up on large quantities of "cheaper" goods will then patronize the small businesses of Wheaton?  On what facts do you base such an assertion?  And exactly how will the opening of Costco create "increased consumer choices" that strengthen our local economy?  If you have factual data to support this assertion, you owe it to our citizens to provide such facts.

To quote one citizen who read your assertion about Wheaton Revitalization:  "After Bethesda and Silver Spring, Wheaton is the County's third Urban Arts & Entertainment District, which strives to be transit-oriented and environmentally sustainable. While the County lobbied to get Silver Spring NOAA, Discovery Channel, AFI, Silver Theater, The Fillmore Concert Hall, and other national landmarks, the County's idea for Wheaton is to jam a busy warehouse (with the busiest gas station in the County) next to single-family residences and the other components of a small neighborhood."

I reiterate my request that you respond to the concerns of citizens who write you about the Costco gas station and cease with your deliberate attempts to obscure the issue at hand by responding (without any facts) to questions that concerned citizens are NOT asking.

Mark R. Adelman

Kensington Heights

PS:  Because of where my home is located in Kensington Heights, the proposed Costco gas station would have almost no impact on me personally; but it will have adverse impacts on many of my neighbors.  I was one of the people who campaigned for you and expected you to work for the good of our County: shame on me!