Lynchburg, VA. Metting to Discuss Proposed Wal-Mart

Meeting will show plans for proposed Wal-Mart [News and Advance (Va.)]

City officials and Wal-Mart representatives will hold an informal meeting July 31 to show plans for a Wal-Mart proposed for an Old Forest Road shopping center.

The meeting will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the cafeteria of Linkhorne Middle School at 2525 Linkhorne Drive.

There will no be formal presentation, said JoAnn Martin, Lynchburg’s director of communications and marketing.

“This just gives people an opportunity to come and look at the plans and ask any questions from Wal-Mart and city staff,” Martin said.

Wal-Mart is proposing a 176,000-square-foot store for the Forest Plaza West shopping center. Around it would be space for more retail stores, according to plans.

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, July 17 | 0 comments | Permalink

Mary Esther, FL. Wal-Mart Rezoning Gets Slam-Dunked

The city of Mary Esther (pop. 4,200) is located in Northwest Florida, in between Fort Walton Beach and Hurlburt Field. The city is only 61 years old, and sits on 2.5 square miles of land. But it was big enough to catch Wal-Mart’s attention, and since it became public that the giant retailer wanted to locate there, the city has not been the same. On Monday, July 9th, the controversy of a supercenter in Mary Esther came to a head, when the city’s Local Planning Agency (LPA) took up the matter of rezoning land to allow a Wal-Mart to be built along Wright Parkway on Highway 98---on a site that straddled Mary Esther and Fort Walton. Brenda Hall, who has been battling this proposal, prepared the following report for Sprawl-Busters:

“Our city was designed as a bedroom community and has just under 1,700 households. We do have a vibrant commercial district situated in the city’s center. There is a larger Wal-Mart located just 2.3 miles away and Wal-Mart abandoned a store located just 1.2 miles from the proposed site about 7 years ago. That store was in a commercial district adjoining our city limits and our commercial district. Wal-Mart approached our city manager about the possibility of citing a new ‘super-store’ on a 10.6 acre piece of property that straddles both Mary Esther (residential zoning) and Ft. Walton Beach (commercial zoning). City officials allowed Wal-Mart to use city chambers to present their proposal to groups of residents.Quietly Wal-Mart held the first meeting with only a few residents on Kingston Court, who backed up to the property. The second citizen meeting was designed to be a ‘Sound’ side meeting, but by that time, the word had leaked, and the meeting was packed with opposition. We began a petition drive designed to fight not only this proposal, but any that did not fit the current zoning of the parcel. We attended that meeting in force and let the council know that the greater part of the citizens were opposed.

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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, July 17 | 0 comments | Permalink

Tucson, AZ. Wal-Mart Backs Down On Lawsuit Over Ballot Signatures

Wal-Mart’s tough, John-Wayne-shoot-out in Tucson is over---for now. Sprawl-Busters reported on July 6th that Wal-Mart was threatening to take the city of Tucson to court---because the city refused to validate thousands of referendum signatures to challenge the Tucson big box store law. When Wal-Mart turned in its signatures, the city clerk rejected them on legal grounds. The city asserted that state law prohibits ballot initiatives from targeting zoning ordinances because it circumvents the zoning process, including public hearings required by state law. After legal toughtalk last week, Wal-Mart yesterday ended the gunfight. The retailer objects to the city’s law that limits stores larger than 100,000 s.f. to no more than 10% of square footage to non-taxable items, like groceries. Wal-Mart had hired a consultant to pay signature gatherers, collected names, and was ready to take their case to the voters next November. But yesterday, their legal guns were back in the holster.

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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, July 17 | 0 comments | Permalink

Independent America: Life Without the Big Box

In 2005, two reporters set out to drive across America in search of Mom-and-Pop stores. Unlike those who have gone before them, this dynamic duo avoided Wal-Marts, chain hotels and side-of-the-road fast food joints in hopes of gaining a better understanding of how Small Town America is reacting to changing economic situations, and what people are doing about it.

From YouTube:

Visit http://www.independentamerica.net/ for more, and be sure to catch the movie on the Sundance Channel on July 30th.

Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, July 16 | 0 comments | Permalink

Gulf Restoration Network on Cypress Mulch

Wal-Mart gained a lot of press after Hurricane Katrina for helping victims of the disaster but it seems that Wal-Mart’s commitment to the area was short-lived. The Gulf Restoration Network, a “network of environmental, social justice, and citizens’ groups and individuals committed to restoring the Gulf of Mexico to an ecologically and biologically sustainable condition,” recently released this video exposing the fact that Wal-Mart and others use old growth cypress forests for mulch. Those trees, the video points out, are not only crucial to the local ecosystem but also help protect the Gulf Coast from disasters like Katrina.

Despite the fact that CEO Lee Scott admits “Environmental loss threatens the health of the natural systems we depend on,” the company continues to sell mulch from old-growth forests. Visit http://healthygulf.org to take action. 

Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, July 16 | 2 comments | Permalink

San Diego, CA. Big Box Ordinance Lost On One Councilor’s Vote

Residents in San Diego, California will not be protected from big box stores after all. On June 5, 2007, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart was threatening a voter referendum on a big box ban in San Diego, because of their unhappiness with a size cap on retail stores passed by the city council. A series of city council votes, stretching back to last November, had prompted Wal-Mart to threaten city officials that if the size cap ordinance passed, the retailer would gather signatures to try to repeal the measure using the ballot. In November, 2006, the city council took its first major step towards imposing a cap on the size of retail buildings when it voted 5-3 to ban retail stores of more than 90,000 s.f. that use 10% of their interior space to sell groceries or other merchandise that is not subject to sales tax. This ordinance is modeled on similar ordinances in California--most notably Turlock--where Wal-Mart has failed repeatedly to challenge the law in the courts. The Mayor of San Diego, Jerry Sanders, told reporters at the time that he would veto the new cap if it went through its required second vote in January. The second reading of the ordinance was delayed from the original January date, so that the public could have time to comment. San Diego’s ordinance was seen as a pre-emptive strike, since the city currently has no Wal-Mart supercenter.

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Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, July 11 | 0 comments | Permalink

Cayce, SC. City Wants “Better Class” of Big Box Stores

The city of Cayce, South Carolina, which lies along the Congaree River, includes the site of one of the earliest European settlements in what was then known as the “back country.” Cayce also contains the site of Fort Granby, where several important Revolutionary War battles were fought. Today, Cayce is the home of more than 12,100 people. “Linked to the interstate system at multiple points,” according to the city’s website, “and adjacent to the international airport, Cayce offers quick access to jobs, shopping, entertainment and the world.” Because of Cayce’s convenient location, city officials were worried that big box stores would eventually come there too. According to The Sun News, Cayce has voted to take some very small steps to regulate big boxes. Cayce has amended city zoning aimed at retailers such as Wal-Mart superstores, Target, Kohl’s, Sam’s Club and others. “We are not trying to restrict them from coming into the city,” said the city’s planning and development director. “We are trying to get a better class of development.” The City Council recently voted unanimously to add additional regulations on retail stores with more than 90,000 s.f. and any group of buildings exceeding 175,000 s.f. The ordinance gives the community more say over project aesthetics, like landscaping and lighting. The city’s planning commission spent months discussing the impact future retail development could have on residential and commercial areas. A Wal-Mart spokesman told The Sun News that the retailer is designing stores to fit in with the surrounding community. “We are following along with what already exists in communities.

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Posted by Al Norman on Monday, July 09 | 0 comments | Permalink

Nashville, NC. Town Builds A Welfare Road To Wal-Mart

Imagine a world where taxpayers in every small town build new roads to every business that wants one. That’s the world Wal-Mart inhabits—a world where public subsidies literally carry people to their front door. The tiny town of Nashville, North Carolina is only 3 square miles, and has a population of just 4,501 residents. It has 38 retail stores, including 5 grocery stores, 3 general merchandise stores, and 10 gas stations. The town calls itself the “original” Nashville. It’s the county seat of Nash County. It’s also the site of a new Wal-Mart supercenter. The road to that Wal-Mart supercenter is being built with public welfare. The world’s richest retailer just can’t get enough of that good,old corporate welfare.

Somehow Wal-Mart convinces local officials that unless they put out the cash to build a road, or lay down water and sewer pipes, that the giant retailer just won’t be able to locate in their city or town. Officials fall over themselves to put Wal-Mart on the dole, giving the corporation millions of dollars in tax supported infrastructure. These subsidies, which are not offered to smaller merchants, help Wal-Mart bury the competition. According to the Rocky Mount Telegram, town officials in Nashville are building a 5 lane road “to provide access to Wal-Mart” on Eastern Avenue. The supercenter will be located next to the State Employees’ Credit Union near the Nashville Commons Shopping Center. Town Manager Preston Mitchell said the new road will be named EastPointe Avenue. Land preparation for the project began about a month ago. Mitchell told the newspaper that Wal-Mart will retain local sales tax in the Nashville economy, as opposed to it being spent outside the area. The supercenter will be 153,430 s.f. and include a garden center. The store is expected to be finished by April of 2008. It takes about nine months to finish a supercenter once building starts, Mitchell said.

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Posted by Al Norman on Monday, July 09 | 0 comments | Permalink

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