Upset About Wal-Mart

Topics: | | Community Impact | Site Fights & Local Ordinances | Ask Al

Donna in Alaska asks Al,

There is a Wal-Mart coming to my home town of Juneau, Alaska. I am extremely upset about this, as are many. How can we stop it or at the very least get them to play fair by treating the employees well?

Walmart moved to Ketchikan, AK. Since that Ketchikan is not the same place. The business in the downtown area of Ketchikan existed for over 30 years. Well, because of Wal-Mart all of those locally owned businesses are now closed. The downtown area is literally dead. I refuse to let this happen to my home what do we do?

Donna,

First, learn from what other communities have been through in their battles against Wal-Mart.

Go to Battle-Mart, click on “Battle Plan”, and then open “Battlemart 101” to review the basic strategies for organizing against a Wal-Mart.

You need to immediately form a citizens group of friends and neighbors, get a copy of any land use plan that Wal-Mart has submitted, along with the Juneau zoning code and Master Plan. Read these three documents, then contact a land use attorney to sit down and talk about legal issues you can raise in the zoning hearings.

Organize an aggressive letter-writing campaign, and flood your local newspapers with letters about why Juneau does not need this Wal-Mart.

For further backgroud, call 1-877 DUNK WAL and order a copy of “Slam Dunking Wal-Mart: How You Can Stop Superstore Sprawl In Your Hometown.”

Many local people will tell you this is a ‘done deal’ and that the odds are against you. But remember: if you choose not to fight, you have 100% chance of losing.

Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, March 15, 2007