Who says miracles can’t happen?
We saw one in the South Bronx on Thursday, where Community Board 1 bowed to common sense by voting to let FreshDirect open up shop in an empty rail yard just across the river from Manhattan.
We say miracle for two reasons. First, it could have gone the other way. Just look at Washington, where the City Council passed a bill aimed at pushing out Walmart even as it is building three stores.
Second, the community board’s sensible stand came amid frenzied opposition. The online grocer’s opponents had tried suing, but their case was tossed in June. So at another board meeting earlier this month, they created chaos, forcing the board to tank the meeting.
They tried to do the same thing Thursday night. This time the board was ready, voting 25 to 3 to approve FreshDirect’s entry — over a chorus of hoots and hollers. That margin is a good reminder that the groups making the most noise often do so because they don’t have the backing of the people.
Now, we would have preferred FreshDirect make its move to The Bronx without the special tax breaks it was offered. But that’s how the city does business these days. So long as it does, it’s hard to take individual businesses to task for accepting the same deals others get.
The larger story is the recognition that communities will never thrive without business. FreshDirect expects to create a thousand jobs over the next decade in the job-hungry Bronx. Its average hourly pay is $12.35, well above New York’s minimum wage. And it offers customers discounts for selecting “green” delivery times that require fewer truck trips.
Good business all around.