The Gloucester Premium Outlets - A Random Survey

[Disclosure: This blog is written from my perspective as both a candidate for a seat on Gloucester Township Council and as a concerned citizen of Gloucester Township with questions and concerns about reckless spending and business as usual in Gloucester Township.]

I was at the Blackwood Farmer’s Market again this past Saturday, 17 August 2013, out talking with the residents of Gloucester Township. I was fortunate enough to bump into our “local Assemblywoman/GT mayor’s personal secretary” there. I took the time to engage Ms. Mosquera in conversation. Given that she is the mayor’s personal secretary (I guess when she’s not wearing her Assemblywoman’s hat), I thought that she probably had seen the emails I had sent to both of Dave Mayer’s township supplied email addresses. She thought she remembered seeing them but could not answer as to why the mayor had not responded other than to tell me he’s a busy guy. She informed me I could visit him in his office anytime, unfortunately I have a little thing called a full-time job that usually requires me to be up in Moorestown, NJ, from 8-to-5 and thus precludes me from getting to the municipal building during the week; actually, make that Monday through Thursday since GT doesn’t have Friday hours.

So, Ms. Mosquera promised she would bring my concerns about Mr. Mayer seemingly neglecting a taxpaying constituent’s emails to his attention. Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky.

Ultimately the topic turned to what’s really hot in Gloucester Township, the Gloucester Premium Outlets. I expressed my concern for what used to be the business district in center city Blackwood that is now almost fully populated by Available, For Rent, and For Sale signs. Some people want to try to revitalize the Blackwood business district and keep the problem from spreading to the Blackwood-Clementon Road area, as well, and I expressed my concern that the Outlets might possibly exacerbate the problem. Ms. Mosquera expressed her confidence that the Outlets would help the Blackwood and B-C Road business districts, including the mom & pop stores there, by sending more customers their way.

Consider that the Gloucester Premium Outlets will have easy off-on access from the Route 42-North-South Freeway in both directions. Anybody getting off the Freeway from either direction can get right back on afterwards going in either direction with no hassle. Additionally, given the 100 proposed stores, it’s safe to assume that there will be at least a half dozen restaurants from fast-food to higher-end dining fare at the Outlets to satisfy the dining needs of the shoppers.

So, will those visiting the Premium Outlets, feeling somewhat unfulfilled by their shopping experience, decide to travel into downtown Blackwood, whether by need or by curiosity, and thus become a boon to local businesses? Or will shoppers find what they need at the Outlets, including any level of dining they desire, and get right back on the Freeway without venturing into town?

Ms. Mosquera assures me that the local Blackwood business community cannot help but profit from this project so I decided to take it to the people.

I have lived in the center of Blackwood for twenty years and so I have spent some time recently walking the Blackwood Estates to inform my neighbors of my candidacy for Township Council. After speaking with Ms. Mosquera and leaving the Farmer’s Market on Saturday, I decided to visit some more of my neighbors. I spent about three hours walking up and down a few streets in Blackwood Estates and was able to conduct a very informal and unscientific survey of the people who live right in Blackwood. What I asked of each respondent was for an opinion as to whether they thought the Gloucester Premium Outlets, as it was being pitched to us, would serve as a catalyst to draw people into the Blackwood business district. In other words, will shoppers at the Outlets, upon leaving, get back on Route 42 or will they decide to drive into Blackwood to investigate and shop the local stores?

I was able to speak to 17 individuals. 16 respondents said NO, they did not think shoppers would come into Blackwood mainly because they could not think of any reason why they would need or want to. Most of these 16, in fact, were against the locating of such a project at the site under consideration. One respondent was Undecided but leaned towards agreeing with her neighbors. Nobody I spoke to in this random survey thought that the Premium Outlets would serve as a teaser to make shoppers want to continue on to investigate the Blackwood shopping scene.

Now, Ms. Mosquera accused me of being negative when I expressed my concerns to her but I would like to inform Ms. Mosquera that the people I talked to in Blackwood Estates, right around the corner from the proposed Outlets, are the negative ones. They don’t want it. In fact, there was quite a bit of concern from some of my neighbors as to how they could even afford to keep living in Gloucester Township given the taxes and other expenses.

I, personally, am pro-business but it has to be business that makes sense and adds to the community. One question that needs to be answered definitively by the mayor is whether he is going to suggest a tax abatement to the project as was stated in print. While the Outlets might provide 700 jobs, as the mayor has stated, I would ask what kind of jobs they would be. Could any of us get a job there and afford to live here? My understanding of such a venture is that most of the jobs will be low-end retail. Given the problems employers are being faced with concerning the cost of health care and the mandates of ObamaCare, I would guess that many of these 700 jobs will be part time so as to avoid added health care costs.

The fact is that Mr. David Mayer, upon assuming the office of Mayor of Gloucester Township, promised transparency in his administration but the final approvals from the Planning Board were given to the Gloucester Premium Outlets last month and there are many in Blackwood that still don’t know anything about it.

Come on out on November 5th and vote for a change by voting for the Gloucester Township FIRST mayoral/council team of Brown, DiBartolo, Kline and Pauli.

Visit us at: http://www.gloucestertownshipfirst.com