Storm Clouds Over Starbucks, Corporate Image Takes Big Hit!

With its corporate image tanking, Starbucks longtime CEO Howard Schultz appeared before the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee March 29 to answer questions from Chairman Bernie Sanders about the company’s union-busting record. 

“What this hearing is about is whether workers have the constitutional right to form a union,” Sanders said. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed more than 80 complaints against Starbucks for labor law violations.

A survey from YouGov found Starbucks customers’ positive feelings about the company suffered a 15% drop in the last month alone. This comes at a time when public support for labor unions is at its highest level, 71%, in almost 60 years, according to Gallup’s 2022 Work and Education poll. 

Charges of Environmental Racism Continue in NR

In New Rochelle, construction of the highly contested Starbucks drive-thru continues at the corner of Huguenot Street and Echo Ave., just under the windows of Peter Bracey Houses and Fountain Place residents. Bracey Houses is New Rochelle’s last public housing development.

Amidst charges of environmental racism, the Mayor and City Council unanimously approved a zoning change to allow for the drive-thru in 2021. Asked about this decision in a recent candidates forum, City Council member Yadira Ramos-Herbert, who is seeking to replace Noam Bramson as the next Mayor, reiterated her support for the drive-thru saying Starbucks would be a “strong corporate partner.”  

“If Starbucks really cared about the community, they would not put a drive-thru next to public housing. It is shameful that elected officials in New Rochelle would support this kind of environmental racism,” said Edgar Romney, secretary-treasurer of Workers United SEIU, in an interview with New RoAR News. Workers United is the union Starbucks workers all over the country are joining. “Starbucks is very disingenuous in dealing with the public. They claim to be a good corporate citizen but the reality is very different. That’s why workers in over 300 stores have signed up and want a union,” Romney added.

New Rochelle’s history of environmental racism has remained in the news. In a recent USA Today article, “As New Rochelle grew, Black residents wondered what they were breathing. NY’s air quality data will offer clues,” reporter Eduardo Cuevas highlighted the city’s decision to place a Starbucks drive-thru adjacent to the Bracey Houses, despite restrictions in other parts of the city that prohibit drive-thru restaurants near residential housing, as an example of the city’s environmentally racist practices.

When the Mayor and City Council voted in June 2021 to allow for the drive-thru, there was no air quality analysis done, though the plan requires Starbucks to have air monitoring once it’s built. It isn’t immediately clear what pollutants they’d measure.

Questions Raised Over Legality of Drive-Thru Curb Cuts

Meanwhile, questions resurfaced regarding whether the curb cuts approved by the New Rochelle Planning Board meet New York State requirements for Huguenot Street, a state road.

In a March 2022 letter to NYS Department of Transportation Commissioner, Marie Therese Dominguez, opponents of the drive-thru cited several State requirements for driveway design that were not met in the plans for the site (see details below), and argued that  “All applications for permits for the construction of curb cuts for a driveway at 80 Huguenot Street, New Rochelle, NY 10801 as part of a proposed Starbucks coffee shop drive-thru must be denied.” “Pedestrian, vehicular and public safety is in jeopardy,” the letter said, “if the proposed Starbucks drive-thru with additional curb cuts is allowed.”

It continued, “This proposed Starbucks drive-thru is opposed by local residents who are protected by the New Rochelle Municipal Housing Authority, which has 100 families residing directly adjacent to the property (see attached resolution); the Ecology and Natural Resources Advisory Committee of the City of New Rochelle (see attached statement); New Rochelle Against Racism (see attached statement); the Westchester County Planning Board (see attached letters of May 24 and July 19); and Westchester County Legislator Damon Maher (see attached statement).”

As of this writing, Commissioner Dominguez has not responded to the charges. Last week, the letter and supportive documents were sent to the DOT’s Regional Traffic and Safety Group via email, which sent an automated response promising that “ NYSDOT will investigate the concern(s) you have raised.” 

Key Points of the letter to Commissioner Dominguez

The failure of the City of New Rochelle to follow the State’s policy are as follows:

• No extenuating circumstances have been published to provide for the additional curb cut(s). According to section 5A.4.1.3 of the NYSDOT Driveway Design Policy, one driveway is normally permitted for minor commercial properties. Additional driveways may be permitted if there are extenuating circumstances and sufficient frontage. The current landowner or Starbucks has not identified any extenuating circumstances. The property’s recent use as a chain restaurant with a single access point indicates that the existing driveway location on Echo Ave. is sufficient.

• The proposed driveway is inadequate with a width of 44’ at the curb line and an approximate distance of 75’ from the Echo Ave. travel lane (based on using scaled dimensions from the attached site plan). Note 1E on Figure 5A-3 of the NYSDOT Driveway Design Policy provides guidance for determining the minimum allowable distance between the edge of a driveway and the adjacent intersection. The policy requires a minimum distance of twice the driveway width plus 15’ or, if practicable, a minimum of 100’. The proposed Starbucks site plan does not meet these standards.

• There are no detectable warning devices as required at stop-controlled commercial driveways under Section 5A.4.6 of the NYSDOT policy. These elements are missing from the design.