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A tale of two cities?

Several months ago, the Winston-Salem City Council put the brakes on a Wal-Mart in the Old Town section of the city. Concerns about the impact of the Wal-Mart Supercenter on other businesses, as well as neighboring communities, raised troubling questions.

Flash forward to the present. Greensboro says yes to Wal-Mart in the old Carolina Circle Mall, an area that desperately needs the development. Fair enough. As our editorial noted last year, east Greensboro is underserved by the retail community. (An ongoing comment thread on this blog wrestles with that nagging reality.)

Writes Michael Christopher in that thread that began (no kiddin') on the lack of diversity on NPR: "How about turning on ourselves? When was the last time any white liberal Greensboro resident ventured into East GSO and had a comfortable dinner with his wife and kids? Or, how many bloggers wax poetic about the multi-cultural diversity of the Wendover Wal-mart as opposed to the monochrome Elm Street Empire Room? Our nostalgia for a revitalized downtown may be as much a rejection of the reality of our diverse world as it is an affirmation of the architectural beauty of those buildings."

Michael makes a valid point.

Try to find decent places to eat or shop in east Greensboro. Try to find a movie theater.

But the idea to ante up $300,000 in incentives for a center that would house the Wal-Mart and other shops seems inappropriate and ill-considered.

Such incentives traditionally haven't covered lower-paying retail jobs. Wal-Mart is an especially odd choice given the fears that it not only pays meager wages but could stifle other retail growth.

This just doesn't feel right.