Site Fight Of The Week: Brooklyn, CT
Some site fights bubble and brew for years before erupting. Others seem to just appear overnight, and explode spontaneously. The controversy in Brooklyn is definitely one of the latter.
Brooklyn is a small town of 7,900 in Northeast Connecticut - the “quiet corner” of the state. Residents were stunned on October 22nd when they were informed on WINY radio that a Wal-Mart supercenter was coming to town, and further shocked when First Selectman Robert Engle told residents that the 158,000 square foot project on Route 6 was a ‘done deal.’ Unfortunately, Wal-Mart and Mr. Engle forgot to ask town residents what they thought.
Residents all over Brooklyn were shocked, and have been speaking out about the project and flooding city meetings over the issue.
Local resident Jeff Arends told the Norwich Bulletin:
“I was devastated when I heard that Wal-Mart wanted to come to Brooklyn. I think Wal-Mart is going to destroy our small businesses. It’s just going to drive a stake into them.”
A reader from Brooklyn wrote in to us:
It is has recently been divulged that town officials have quietly been making plans to accommodate the construction of a 24 hour Wal-Mart Super Center on Route 6 in our little agricultural town. Residents were shocked to hear this news as there has been very little public information about such a radical change to our neighborhood. We feel that this project – a 150,000 to 200,000 square foot building is out of portion to the size of Brooklyn with its 7,800 residents. We’ve formed a grassroots group called Brooklyn For Sensible Growth.
Check out the group’s website here - it seems very well organized.
Wal-Mart just formally submitted its application to build a store, but the city still must fully approve it - and there’s still time for residents to speak out against it.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Send an email to First Selectman Robert Engle and Sherry Soucy - Chairwoman of the Inland Wetlands Commission, which holds a meeting over the Wal-Mart project on December 9th.
Posted by Eric Bull on Friday, November 14 | 3 comments | Permalink
General Grant and General Lee Join Sides In New Wal-Mart Watch Video
Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee don’t agree very often. But they do agree that Wal-Mart has no place at a Civil War battlefield.
Wal-Mart is currently in the process of applying for a permit to build a 141,487-square-foot supercenter on the land adjacent to the battlefield in Orange County, Virginia, a site already served by four Wal-Mart stores within a 20-mile radius. There is already firm opposition from local community groups, as well as a host of national groups including the Civil War Preservation Trust, the National Historic Preservation and the National Parks Conservation Association.
The Civil War Preservation Trust is leading the charge against Wal-Mart, and they’ve made a great website full of info on the fight.
Posted by Eric Bull on Wednesday, October 22 | 14 comments | Permalink
Site Fight Of The Week: Cordova, TN
It’s not every day that opposition rises up to stop a Wal-Mart project in the South, but that’s exactly what we’re seeing in Cordova, Tennessee.
For months, local residents have been voicing concern over the proposed Grey’s Creek project, primarily over traffic concerns, but others as well - including the safety of over a thousand children who walk past the intersection to and from school, and the likelihood that local businesses - including other Wal-Mart stores - will shut down.
The Memphis/Cordova area is about as saturated with Wal-Marts as it gets. There are already 14 Wal-Marts within 20 miles of Cordova, including two supercenters only minutes away.
Brian Stephens, a lawyer representing the local citizens group “Citizens for Sustainable Growth” sums it up well:
“Our main points of opposition here are that there’s just a real lack of infrastructure…if we continue to have urban sprawl go farther and farther out (into the county), that means less money for the rest of the city...The plans for the building look great, but it’s going to potentially shut down one of the other Wal-Marts in the vicinity...We’ve already got two Supercenters nearby. And Wal-Mart has a history of when they open up a new Wal-Mart in an existing market, they shut down one of the other Wal-Marts. And we don’t want another empty big box retailer in Cordova or on Stage Road.”
The Shelby County Commission will take a look at the issue on Monday before it goes before the Memphis City Council on Tuesday. Two ‘no’ votes could be the nail in the coffin for the Wal-Mart project, ending the debate once and for all.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Email the Mayor, City Council and County Commission - and tell the to vote ‘no’ on a Wal-Mart in the Grey’s Creek area.
Posted by Eric Bull on Friday, September 19 | 1 comments | Permalink
Site Fight Of The Week: Charlotte, NC
The Faison & Associates Developers not only think that eight Wal-Marts isn’t enough for Charlotte, it thinks that city taxpayers should subsidize the city’s ninth Wal-Mart with a $500,000 handout.
The Charlotte Business Journal tells us how the developers are planning to bring in $25 million in private investment money, but somehow can’t possibly come up with the last half million without a grant from the city to clean up the construction site and pay for a road to their store.
Wal-Mart’s dependence on corporate welfare is nothing new. This is yet another example of Wal-Mart and its developers dangling sales tax revenues and economic “growth” in front of city officials and demanding handouts in return.
In 2004, Good Jobs First published a report entitled “Shopping for Subsidies” which estimates that Wal-Mart had then benefited “from more than $1 billion in economic development subsidies from state and local governments across the United States.” The number has surely gone up since then.
And that’s not all. On top of taking government handouts, Wal-Mart has continually done all it can to avoid paying its fair share of taxes- whether it’s continually challenging its property tax assessments, setting up complicated REITS schemes, or setting up sham offices overseas.
And North Carolinians know Wal-Mart’s tax avoidance strategies all too well. It was only 3 years ago that the state declared Wal-Mart’s REITS scheme illegal and ordered the company to pay $33 million in back taxes.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Write a letter to the Mayor and City Council of Charlotte and strongly urge that they say NO to Wal-Mart and Faison Developers, and insist that if a Wal-Mart must be built, it must be done without taxpayer money.
Posted by Eric Bull on Friday, September 05 | 14 comments | Permalink
Site Fight Of The Week: Lodi, CA
Lodi, California, is probably known by most people for its Zinfandel and a Creedence Clearwater Revival song. But its quickly earning a reputation for one of the nation’s longest Wal-Mart site fights. After six years of back-and-forth debate and on-and-off plans, Wal-Mart is pushing forward again in Lodi.
From the Stockton Record:
Aaron Rios, a spokesman for the retailer, said the worsening economy forced executives to re-evaluate the Lodi project. “After conducting a careful and thorough review we believe that this is a financially viable project and we are looking forward to obtaining the necessary approvals from the city’s Planning Commission and City Council,” Rios said in a statement.
Lodi already has a Wal-Mart, which the company has said is doing fine. The Record also tells us that there are already 20 Wal-Marts within 44 miles of downtown Stockton, which is several miles south of Lodi. Residents are fighting to keep the 21st out of downtown Lodi.
Outside of the normal concerns that Wal-Mart will force out local businesses and bring only low-wage, low-benefit jobs, one of the primary concerns, just like it has been elsewhere in Central California - is environmental. Residents have been extremely concerned with the amount of noise, crime, traffic and air and water pollution that a new Wal-Mart supercenter will bring.
Al Norman tells how the Lodi city government has not yet made public its draft of the environmental report, and is asking readers to email the Mayor and urge that it be released immediately so that citizens can review it and have their voices heard before the planning commission make its final decision next month.
(Al Norman also has a great archive of posts on the Lodi site fight, going back to 2004.)
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Email the Lodi Mayor, City Council and Planning Commission - and urge them to release the draft of the environmental report, and to end the Wal-Mart debate once and for all with a “no” vote next month.
Posted by Eric Bull on Thursday, August 28 | 2 comments | Permalink
Site Fight of the Week: Granite City, IL.
The town of Granite City, Illinois, takes great pride in putting people first. Now its residents are putting people before corporations by rallying against a proposed measure that would allow Wal-Mart to expand.
Recently, the Granite City Planning and Zoning Commission granted Wal-Mart’s request to rezone agricultural land for commercial use. Now, the world’s largest corporation will take the measure to the City Council on August 19th. If it passes, Wal-Mart will be allowed to expand its current store on to agricultural land. To add insult to injury, Granite City taxpayers will help subsidize Wal-Mart’s expansion because the project is located in a Tax Increment Financing District.
Wal-Mart hurts communities in many different ways. One Collinsville, Illinois resident wrote to the Press-Record, saying:
“We had a nice, quiet little store before the supercenter took over. Many, many life-time associates—I am talking 20 plus years—have been cut to part time… We are tired and our spirit is broken, don’t do this to your town. Glen Carbon said no, you can too!”
Granite City’s local businesses will feel the brunt of the expansion, as Wal-Mart edges in on their market share. Citizen action group Granite City First explains Wal-Mart would not provide increased sales tax revenue for the town, but rather would simply transfer existing sales away from local businesses. This is hardly compatible with Granite City’s plan for a revitalized downtown.
Granite City does not need unchecked growth; it needs sustainable development. Help make sure Wal-Mart isn’t allowed to super-size its store in Granite City. Use our simple email tool to write a letter to Mayor Hagnauer and the Granite City Council and tell them to stand up to Wal-Mart:
http://action.walmartwatch.com/granitecity
Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton once wrote, “If a community does not want us there, we will go somewhere else.” On May 8, Granite City First delivered 3,000 letters to City Hall from community members protesting Wal-Mart’s expansion. There can be no clearer sign of a community’s opposition. In communities across America, residents have stood up to Wal-Mart and won. Now it’s Granite City’s turn.
Posted by Media Team on Wednesday, August 13 | 1 comments | Permalink
Site Fight Of The Week: Guelph, Ontario
At Wal-Mart Watch, we’ve typically focused on Wal-Mart site fights in the United States. But we want our friends north of the border to know we haven’t failed to notice their good work fighting Wal-Marts across Canada. Fighting Wal-Mart’s devastating effects is an equally important task in communities all across the World.
And no site fight in North America may be more infamous than Guelph, Ontario. For over 10 years Wal-Mart fought tooth-and-nail against residents to build a controversial superstore directly adjacent to the Ignatius Jesuit Center, which for years had been offering quiet and spiritual retreats to followers.
At long last, Wal-Mart got its way a built a 125,000 foot store. Now they want to make it bigger. The retail giant is trying to super-size its current store at Woodlawn Street and Woolwich Road with an extra 65,000 square feet—turning it into a massive supercenter that sells groceries. The plans also call for 195,000 square feet of additional retail space for other stores.
The expansion would look to put local grocery stores out of business and further endager other local merchants. As local resident Regg Struyk wrote in a letter to the Guelph Mercury:
Several family-owned businesses have closed since the big box came to town. Wal-Mart is hiring their employees at minimum wage and offering them cool aprons. What has been refreshing about Guelph is that it advocates good business, not just business.
Guelph Mayor Karen Farbridge keeps a regular blog. When you search it for “Wal-Mart,” you get this message: “Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn’t here.” There are thousands of Guelph residents who could only wish that were true.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Help make sure Wal-Mart isn’t allowed to super-size its store in Guelph. Write a letter to the Mayor Farbridge and the City Council and tell them to stand up to Wal-Mart.
P.S.:Check out Wal-Mart Watch’s recently updated Canada page, a comprehensive source for Wal-Mart information in Canada. And we’re always trying to get the message about the truth about Wal-Mart out to new people, so if you know anyone would be interested, send it to a friend!
Posted by Eric Bull on Friday, July 25 | 0 comments | Permalink
Site Fight Of The Week: A Dark Day In Moon, PA
As Wal-Mart site fights go, there aren’t too many stories more troubling than that of Moon, Pa.
On July 3rd, the Beaver County Times reported that after an exhausting 6-hour meeting the Moon Township commission voted against a Wal-Mart proposal, 3-2. Only three days later on the 7th, the Times reported that the commission was reconsidering the issue. At least two of the commissioners who voted “no” were surprised when they were notified that a “special meeting” was to be held on the 10th to reconsider the issue. Lo and behold, two commissioners switched their votes and gave Wal-Mart a 4-1 green light.
And it doesn’t end there. One of the commissioners who switched his vote is Mike Hopper, who was recently injured in a car accident, has been not been present at any of the recent Wal-Mart city meetings, and has failed to respond by phone or email to any residents.
So what happened? Wal-Mart’s legal team. Clearly, Wal-Mart’s lawyers threatened to sue and sent a major scare into Moon Township’s lawyers – who convinced the commissioners that the Township, and possibly them commissioners personally, would be sued unless they reversed their votes. So they waved the white flag, and surrendered to Wal-Mart.
The result: despite widespread public opposition, and a town commission that voted against the project, Wal-Mart looks to move forward in Moon.
Says the Beaver County Times:
“According to Hopper, board solicitor Michael Santicola told him between the board’s July 2 and July 10 meetings that the township and supervisors individually could potentially be on the hook “for the property itself, which Wal-Mart bought for $7 million; for their engineering costs and fees; and even for the potential loss of sales.”
Unfortunately, Moon is not alone. There has been a startling trend in recent years of Wal-Mart filing and/or threatening to file SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) lawsuits against public groups that oppose Wal-Mart – with the express purpose of stamping out the opposition and/or scaring officials into turning their votes around.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Eric Bull on Thursday, July 17 | 54 comments | Permalink
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