Hartford Citizens for Responsible Government

[admin]

Well, "The Corner Niche", on the corner of Sumner and Main, is now going out of business, and even the Pole Dancer couldn't keep doors open. I think we are close to having more vacant buildings in downtown Hartford than occupied ones.

Q: Did the Wal-Mart opening affect the ability of these businesses to stay open?
A: We will likely never know because city leaders didn't think an economic impact study was necessary.


Admin

[hatman]

In all their "wisdom", the Hartford Common Council thought that an Economic Impact Study on the opening of Wal-Mart was unnecessary.

Council members claimed that "they" said that the opening of the K-Mart shopping center would also lead to economic ruin in Hartford, and it didn't happen. Therefore, the claims were also bogus that one of the other two grocery stores would close.

Instead, we now lose Allison's Sentry, a locally owned and operated retail franchise (meaning any profit $ stay here in Hartford, and get spent here in Hartford), and a landmark in our community.

By the way, did anyone notice that the Dollar Store is gone too? And that the downtown area is practically a ghost town? So now we are going to build a new library, which could have been housed easily in all of those vacant stores...

Of course, both may be a result of the economy, and not Walmart. But I guess we'll never know, will we?

Thank you for letting me vent.

[admin]

Thank you for your view on the Sentry closing.

It is a sad day for Hartford. I suppose the council had already planned on the closing, and therefore felt that the economic impact study was a waste of taxpayer money.

And now rumor has it that one of those same council members that doesn't care enough about the economic impact of a mis-placed big box store is planning a run for mayor.

I guess we can plan on seeing more empty store fronts before we see full ones.

As always, thank you for your input.

Admin