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The Common Good
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| “The strongest democracies
flourish from frequent and lively debate, but they endure when people
of every background and belief find a way to set aside smaller
differences in service of a greater purpose.” – Barak Obama |
by Lynne Lekakis, Facilities
Committee
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That has been the
experience of the Facilities committee. We have been working closely
with our architecture firm and their engineering team, our construction
manager, the staff and Collective Management Team (CMT), our financial
consultant, an equipment and merchandising consultant from Cooperative
Development Services, a deli consultant, and you. We have been charged
with making the vision a reality. We hold it out there for our
shareholders, our customers, and for the extended community we serve
and share. We don’t always agree, and we certainly engage in lively
debates, but we try never to forget that we are all in this for our
common good.
In hundreds of meetings, public and private, we have discussed what is
important to us as owners and how we can maintain those things during a
change: our moral and retail "code," the community feeling we
experience at the Co-op, sustainable financial business decisions, and
the more practical: fitting enough merchandise and shoppers in the
store to achieve the sales we need, encouraging the efficient and free
flow of people and goods, receiving and storing goods, equipment size
and efficiency, storage, seating, privacy, maximizing shared space, and
on and on.
For the better part of three years, we searched for a suitable parcel
of at least 2 acres on or near the Central Avenue corridor, in the
"middle" of Albany, which was identified as the heart of our market in
studies we commissioned. 100 Watervliet was the only site that met our
core requirements. In October of 2007, the membership voted to purchase
the property. The Facilities committee began studying how it could best
be used. In June of 2008, the membership voted to raze the building.
Although we highly value reuse, after studying the matter, it became
apparent that trying to renovate the existing building and address
other access issues wouldn’t be prudent. The Facilities committee moved
forward with adapting the space to our best use. We are happy that the
membership overwhelmingly approved the design that came from the next
year of work and conversation.
Some of the key features of the site that the design embraces are its
connection to a neighborhood, and the neighborhood’s need for more
green space. We want to invite people to come in and learn what we are
all about. As there are many residences and active businesses adjacent
and in easy walking distance, the building was sited so that people
walking from their homes or offices would gradually come to a two story
building; not bump up against a large box store or a huge parking lot.
They’d experience first a one-story building with trellises and
cafés facing that sidewalk, which eventually becomes a two-story
building that is inviting and open. As they walk around the side of the
building, they come right to the front door, which will have a piazza
feel and also be welcoming. (Sounds a little different than being stuck
behind the Family Dollar dumpsters for 12 years, doesn’t it?) We sited
the building this way for this reason, though we could have achieved
more parking with the building at the west end of the site.
Those who walk the two and a half blocks from Central Avenue, the bus
route with the highest ridership, will be greeted by a welcoming
façade consisting of a green wall and native plantings. We are
in talks with CDTA about trying to get additional bus service to that
area, and we’ll continue looking into it. The number 2 bus stops near
the entrance to the new store. Bicycle racks will be prominent and
safe, as we know cyclists will also be a part of our transportation
picture.
We want to be an asset to the neighborhood. We want to continue to be a
destination. We have planned for community space that is accessible
when the store is open or closed, for a teaching kitchen so we can
instruct people about how to cook whole foods, outside spaces to take
advantage of our warm weather months, and a larger deli and
café. We have situated our loading docks away from the
residents, though our major large deliveries happen early in the
morning. We have provided a smaller loading dock for smaller vendors
and more flexibility in receiving goods of all sizes and shapes.
We also want to be good employers and good planners, providing a
loading dock so that our employees don’t have to unload trucks by hand
and so that we will have flexibility in the future if/when we open
stores in areas where large trucks couldn’t go. Providing office areas
for staff, and a break room so that they can have a moment off the
floor and away from people during their work day is really pretty
basic. One of our strengths is customer service and one of the means to
continuing to achieve that end is providing a break room for staff.
Member workers will also have an administrative area, so efficiency
will increase as one won’t have to wander around the store looking for
someone who is absent before they settle down to do their paper or
computer work.
Someone suggested at the last membership meeting that it is as though
we are coming out, in a way. We’ve been off the beaten path, wedged
between other businesses, not at all front-and-center. In this new
location, we will be seen by people passing by on Watervliet Avenue
Extension, by those on I-90, and giving directions from Central Avenue
or Everett Road will be simple and not require advertising for another
business in the description.
It is a change. It is different. It is scary. It seems big. In the
realm of supermarkets, it is still small, and that’s the way we want
it. Thanks for your support of this design, which indeed achieves many
of our goals. We look forward to figuring out how to make it
affordable, but we have good folks on our team and we know that when
next we speak, we’ll be outlining a financing plan.
We need you to support the new building financially as well as
emotionally, by way of a loan. Many of our shareholders have stepped up
so far, but we need to raise more capital from our owners. If you can
help, just call or stop in, check the brochure on our website, or
simply send a check. At a time like this in our country, it will be
very satisfying to watch your money doing good work in your own
community.
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