Phoenix Mart - Fact or Fiction?

Phoenix Mart - Fact or Fiction?

Phoenix mart will hurt American manufacturers, it's much larger than originally stated and "international investors" will not be integrating into our communities. Stopping the project is impossible, but slowing it down and forcing elected representatives to be honest and more responsive to the needs of the people who already live, work and pay taxes here is where we need to redirect our energy. You can make a difference if you register to vote, educate yourself and attend public meetings where decisions are made.

Phoenix Mart is a global commerce center that is modeled after the Dragon Mart International City in Dubai, Dragon Mart Cancun and YiWu in China. Phoenix Mart is here due to an American federal law called, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). A large part of NAFTA is the EB-5 immigrant investor program. The EB-5 program allows wealthy people from other countries to invest in a commercial enterprise in America, a $1,000,000 investment is required for a foreign investor in a metropolitan area within the United States and $500,000 investment is required in a rural area in the United States. With the monetary investment, the foreign investor is required to start an American based company and create 10 jobs with that company, those jobs don't have to be American citizens, and in return the investor will receive conditional permanent resident status (USCIS.gov). Phoenix Mart project will start with approximately 1,000 "foreign investors" coming to the U.S. directly from China.

One of the biggest problems that we have surrounding this project is that officials from Phoenix Mart and locally elected officials have not been honest with us about the realities of the size and scope of the project and the fact that this project will hurt American manufacturing since most of the wholesalers at Phoenix Mart will be importing goods from other countries. Officials with Phoenix Mart and local government have told people in our communities that Phoenix Mart will benefit American manufacturers. The truth is, it's highly unfavorable for American companies. In an interview with The Arizona Daily Star Casa Grande Mayor Bob Jackson said, "The mart will be able to accommodate up to 1,800 vendors when built out". Jackson continued, "One-third will be from China; one-third from the U.S. and one-third from other countries". During the interview, Jackson also said, "While the mart will be open to shoppers, the target customer is retailers, you can walk into one shop that sells nothing but spatulas and buy one, but they're looking to sell 1,000 to a P.F. Chang's". Jackson went on to say, "Phoenix Mart is modeled after the Dragon Mart in Dubai, the bazaar-style operation originated in China and is the first of its kind in the U.S. That made it difficult to explain to residents and some who were reluctant to embrace the project" (Arizonadailystar). What Mayor Bob Jackson is not saying in the interview is that, although Phoenix Mart will be divided equally into thirds, America only has one third of the retail space so they are already disadvantaged when compared to the other two thirds of retail space that will be occupied by foreign owned companies. Fig. 1

Figure 1. Nakheel says work on doubling the size of Dragon Mart centre will start in 2012. Construction week. "Nakheel to double dragon mart, build two malls". ConstructionWeekOnline.com. ITP Business Publishing Ltd, 23 Aug 2011. Web. 2 Nov 2013.

Figure 1 shows Dragon