Wal-Mart Makes Presence Known in Brooklyn

Mayor Michael Bloomberg Tuesday chose the Brownsville Recreation Center here to announce a $5 million pledge to the Summer Youth Employment Program from Walmart.

A spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office told the Eagle that the Brownsville location was chosen because it is one of the sites for the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP).

Interestingly, the recreation center is near East New York, where the retail giant was reported last year to be scoping out a site in the planned Gateway II mall.

The idea of a Walmart coming to New York has proven to be controversial, to say the least. Mayor Bloomberg, however, has said that “the city has no business telling a company whether or not it can come to New York,” the mayor’s spokesperson said Tuesday.

Also at Tueasday’s press conference were Youth and Community Development Commissioner Jeanne Mullgrav; Michelle Galliard, senior director for the Walmart Foundation; Borough President Marty Markowitz; City Council Minority Leader James Oddo; Councilman Peter Koo; and Councilman Eric Ulrich.

Oddo, Koo and Ulrich are all Republicans; many of Brooklyn’s Democratic politicians, such as City Councilmembers Letitia James, Jumaane Williams and Charles Barron, have declared their opposition to Walmart setting up shop in the city.

Will Mitigate Cuts in Spending

Politics aside, Walmart’s pledge will expand the program by up to 3,400 jobs and help mitigate cuts in state and federal funding.

“Walmart’s generous donation creates the most job slots the Summer Youth Employment Program has ever raised with private money,” said Bloomberg. “This timely investment in our city’s youth comes at a moment when many young people are struggling to find employment and will give thousands the opportunity to take that critical first step toward their career goals.”

“Young Brooklynites, particularly those in Central Brooklyn, are ready, willing and able to get the job done — all they need is the opportunity,” said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

“When we help youth find jobs through programs like the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program and Summer H.E.A.T, which my office organizes, we make an important investment in our kids by improving their self-esteem, teaching them the value of hard work and giving them real skills for when they enter the adult workforce. So kudos to Walmart for not just improving the lives of thousands of kids today — but helping them realize their dreams tomorrow,” said the borough president.

SYEP has provided summer jobs to hundreds of thousands of New York City residents, ages 14 to 24, since its launch in the early 1960s. Participants, who earn minimum wage, are placed at camps, parks, government agencies, local non-profits, hospitals, senior centers, daycare centers and small businesses throughout the city. Approximately 40 percent of SYEP participants work in summer camps and daycare centers, vastly expanding the capacity of these programs to serve New York City’s working families.

Battle over Walmart

Last year, labor spokespersons like Pat Purcell, assistant to the president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500, protested that Walmart has a history of undercutting local small businesses as well as paying low wages and quashing efforts to form a union. Purcell said another chain store, like a Century 21, would be a better fit for the community.

Some local Brooklyn business groups last year also came out against Walmart. In Bay Ridge, Chuck Otey of the Merchants of Third Avenue, representing more than 400 stores, said that “a nearby Walmart would suck the vital economic life blood out of our small businesses, especially hardware and other dry goods stores.”

However, a poll released by Walmart itself last December maintained that 76 percent of Brooklyn residents want a Walmart in the borough. “Walmart enjoys deep and widespread support throughout the five boroughs,” said pollster Douglas Schoen.

And at an anti-Walmart demonstration outside of City Hall covered by this reporter, an anti-Walmart group led by Councilman Charles Barron (D-East New York), who accused the chain of exploiting its workers and paying low wages, was countered by a smaller pro-Walmart group of East New York residents.

These residents said, basically, that the distressed, low-income area needs jobs of any kind, and only after jobs are produced should questions about wages and benefits be discussed.

Politics aside, Walmart has the Number One corporate charity in the U.S.