Workers have begun preliminary construction on the site of a future 130,000-square-foot Wal-Mart at 14 Lester Ave. in Johnson City.

Newman Development Group, LLC, the same company that built University Plaza and the Town Square Mall, is overseeing construction of the store, which is expected to open in 2009.

The only activity that has occurred on the construction site thus far has been clean-up and utility work, according to Johnson City Planning Director Dee Golazeski.

Johnson City Mayor Harry Lewis said the new Wal-Mart, in addition to a new Visions Federal Credit Union on the same lot, is expected to open next fall. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned to celebrate the opening.

Although a new Wal-Mart would provide additional local jobs, feelings about the construction of another store are mixed.

Golazeski said she has heard more positive feedback than negative.

“One elderly lady told me she was thrilled that she can now walk to a Wal-Mart store instead of taking an hour-and-a-half bus ride to the store in Vestal,” Golazeski added.

Lewis said that during a recent trip to the Wal-Mart in Vestal he was approached by six separate residents inquiring when the new Johnson City store was to open.

But some community members and area residents have voiced concerns about the store, as well as the construction leading up to its opening.

On the east side of the site, an eight-foot wall was built on the perimeter. Bill Huston, from the Coalition for Positive Revitalization of Johnson City, said there has been talk of this wall inadvertently acting as a dam that could cause flooding to the surrounding neighborhood.

Other critics of the plans say the negative impact would stretch beyond just physical effects.

Andrew Epstein, a senior majoring in history and sociology at Binghamton University who is also a member of the Coalition for Positive Revitalization for Johnson City, said that building a new Wal-Mart isn’t a solution for the working-class family financial crisis happening in America.

“Wal-Mart demands federal, state and municipal subsidies and tax breaks to bankroll their low-paying jobs, inadequate benefits and ecological devastation,” he said.

Epstein said that the money needed to build a new Wal-Mart should be spent elsewhere, such as on the construction of new community centers, health clinics or infrastructure that can provide sustainable jobs.

“We need a different model for development, one based on people’s needs and not short-term profit,” Epstein added.

Huston said that Wal-Mart knows how to play the capitalist game better than the rest, and that the “abstract rules of our economic system” were really at fault for the state of the market.

Robert Olcott, owner of Art Allure in Johnson City, said he sometimes has difficulty competing with Wal-Mart. His store specializes in custom framing of artwork.

“It costs cheaper for Wal-Mart to buy a picture frame produced from overseas labor than for me to buy a frame here,” Olcott said.

He added that Wal-Mart is trying to monopolize the area by constructing an additional store so close to the one in Vestal.

“The storefronts in this area are pushing to fill their stock with diverse and unique items that can’t be found at Wal-Mart in an effort to find a niche market,” Olcott said.