The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Hyattsville, Maryland:
Free Money (to Build a Supermarket)

Apr 11, 2016

A Safeway supermarket is opening near Prince George’s Plaza in Hyattsville, Maryland outside Washington, D.C. But the juiciest produce has already been sold. The developer which built the store and is leasing it to Safeway got 3.5 million dollars in government subsidies for the project, including two million dollars from the Prince George’s County Economic Development Initiative, more than 1.1 million dollars in a PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) and a $400,000 credit from the city of Hyattsville.

The “developer”, ECHO Realty, owns 190 commercial properties in at least seven states, including 161 Giant Eagle supermarkets in Pennsylvania, plus some Harris-Teeter and Publix supermarkets.

Apparently county and city officials all over the country couldn’t pass up opportunities to take money needed for local services like schools, in order to throw it at one wealthy developer!