Celebrations over the opening of a Walmart Neighborhood Market Wed. Jan. 14 displayed the school’s extended support of the surrounding community and appreciation for the advancement of the area. Acting only as a grocery store, the new market services food and a convenient gas station.
This new establishment will serve as a replacement to the once lone-standing store in the area, CVS, and will only mean more issues for the school.
First of all, hard lockdowns will become more common as now two stores are available for criminal activity. CVS has been robbed before, and now the more appealing selection of Walmart can only draw more attraction to theft and armed robberies. Also, the location of the Walmart puts the school campus as a direct line for an escape route for fleeing offenders.
Speaking on the note of location, Walmart’s easy accessibility gives students more opportunities to skip class. The appeal of walking through a Walmart for several hours may not be as attractive to most, but the average student will prefer that over a math or science test. Truancy will increase as there is some other place to go than CVS.
Traffic getting out of the school is already disastrous, now throw in all of the people entering and leaving the Walmart parking lot and gas station. The constant ebb and flow of letting people into and out of the Walmart, into different driving lanes, and turning onto different roads complicates an already complicated system in such a compact area as MacArthur View. With the new added traffic and increased number of people in the area, students’ and parents’ commutes to and from school will only drastically increase.
Sure the location of the grocery store will benefit the area, and sure the school should support the surrounding community, but, thinking from the school’s perspective, future problems will surely outweigh future benefits. It’s also not like there was a huge lack of available stores in the area. There’s CVS, HEB in Alamo Heights (which, despite common belief, is not that far taking VIA bus routes into account), and a Dollar General on Nacogdoches available for the local neighborhoods. An agreement can be made that the car-less citizens in the area will benefit, but the majority will suffer increased frustration and stress because of new problems.
There’s nothing to do about the new Walmart. It cannot be torn down or picked up and moved. It is here to stay and will be something for the school to adapt to. The only solution to this problem is to be more prepared for heightened criminal activity, increased truancy, and worse traffic.
