City Council Pathmark Plan Vetoed
City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani vetoed a plan drafted by the City Council which would have allowed Pathmark Stores, based here, to build a supermarket in Queens.
Giuliani opposed a clause in the plan that would have required Pathmark's developer to pay $400,000 over 20 years to other neighborhood food stores as well as community groups.
Giuliani said the clause sets a poor precedent and discourages other companies from doing business in the city. He noted that the area "is underserved by large food stores, and [the Pathmark store] would have a beneficial effect on retail activity in the vicinity."
Although the City Council had originally disapproved of Pathmark's proposal to build a 64,500 square-foot store in the Springfield Gardens section of the borough, it OK'd the plan provided the developer agreed to the clause.
The ball is now back in the court of the City Council's, which will likely attempt to override the mayor's veto when it meets this week.
NAWGA Recasts Annual Convention
FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- The National-American Wholesale Grocers' Association here has recast its annual convention as an "annual business conference" to better reflect the nature of the meeting, John R. Block, NAWGA president, said. Rather than a gathering of wholesalers and their suppliers meeting in general sessions or participating in floor exhibits, NAWGA's annual convention consists primarily of one-on-one business meetings between peers, with wholesale buyer-merchandisers meeting with supplier representatives in Vendex (vendor exchange) and top-level executives holding strategic meetings with each other. Although NAWGA and the National Grocers Association have expressed an interest in combining their annual conventions, NAWGA is locked into hotel contracts in 1996 and 1997 that would be expensive to break, Block told SN. Unless NAWGA decides to break the latter agreement, the soonest the two groups could hold a joint convention would be 1998, Block said.
CGC Chairman Lauded for Efforts
COMMERCE, Calif. -- William R. MacAloney, chairman of Certified Grocers of California here, recently was recognized by the Los Angeles City Council for his accomplishments in the food industry and his contributions to the community.
MacAloney and his company, Mac-Ber, Anaheim, Calif., which operates four Jax Markets, have been involved in numerous community programs, including the City of Hope, annual food programs for the needy and educational programs and scholarships.
He is also president of the Food Industry Insurance Association and on the boards of the Food Marketing Institute, the California Grocers Association and the Western Association of Food Chains.
