In most of North Carolina, a town would be glad to have a Costco store set up shop. Costco is seen as a responsible big box retailer by most people who don’t believe that local government should pick economic winners and losers.
However Carrboro, the blind beacon of absurdist anarchism, most definitely is not like the rest of North Carolina. In Carrboro, local government is based on rewarding your friends, enabling them to pursue new boundaries in business efficiency and customer service.
None other than Orange County State Senator Ellie Kinnaird has given up on trying to bring a Costco to Carrboro. Revealing a moment of lucidity, Ms. Kinnaird declared that “[Costco is] very well suited to the county. Bringing a big-box store like Costco would have created jobs for low-income community members.” In a capricious moment, Ms. Kinnaird showed concern for building the commercial tax base in a town copmaratively devoid of competitive commercial businesses that aren't tied into local government.
Never fear, the Carrboro rulers, the competition-strangling BOA asphyxiated any further efforts by Ms. Kinnaird. In her words, “I’m giving up. It’s a lost cause.”
Alderman Jacquie Gist, armed with two decades of blathering experience, but zero years of business experience, declared that Costco would hurt the small businesses in Carrboro. According to Ms. Gist, big box retailers like Costco “only have loyalty to themselves”. Ms. Gist failed to explain how Costco is different from local retailer Weaver Street Market (WSM). Apparently, the abandonment of Carrboro for administrative and production facilities in Hillsborough are the acts of a more loyal local business to Ms. Gist. But then Ms. Gist during the fall elections used big box retailer Staples for some of her campaign supplies, a dreaded big box retailer not located in Carrboro, but conveniently located for Carrboro hypocrites.
Ms. Gist further demonstrated her financial perspicacity by saying that Carrboro is doing better financially thant many places that have a Costco. The reason? “Big corporations are a part of the reason the economy is the way it is”.
Not to be left out of any bad decision, vehicular assault expert Alderman Dan Coleman publicly told Ms. Kinnaird to ”take her ideas about Costco to Chapel Hill”, as Ms. Kinnaird is moving to Chapel Hill. Such respect for the woman who launched Mr. Coleman's political career in Carrboro is to be expected from Carrboro's most infamous misogynist.
Ms. Gist was backed up in her peculiar wisdom of government-business nepotism by one of her pals. Mr. Jason Baker, WSM owner services and events coordinator, argues that Costco, with a far greater logistics efficiency than WSM, somehow leaves a larger carbon footprint per delivered good than WSM. Ever the visionary, albeit one freed from empirical confirmation, Mr. Baker says that money from local businesses is better for the community as a whole.
It all boils down to controlling people’s behavior. In Mr. Baker’s words, “We don’t need to tempt people with bad choices”. (See the DTH Costco Catastrophe Story.)
Furthermore, Mr. Baker, a UNC political science major and erstwhile political pollster, neglects to explain how Costco is a “bad choice”, considering that WSM employees don’t receive the same suite of benefits as Costco employees. The average WSM employee doesn’t receive:
1) a solid health care plan;
2) a dental care plan;
3) a pharmacy program;
4) a vision program;
5) a 401(k) plan;
6) a dependent care assistance plan;
7) a personal/family/work care program;
8) a voluntary short-term disability program;
9) a life insurance plan;
10) an employee stock purchase plan;
11) a health care reimbursement account;
12) a long term care insurance; and
13) a long term disability program.
The average Costco employee does receive each of these benefits.
Did Mr. Baker also forget to mention that Costco pays a higher average wage than WSM?
