SPEAKING OUT AGAINST A WAL-MART in MIAMI, FL
Miami has always been a city on the verge, and it’s never quite clear whether it will embrace greatness or mediocrity. Drive up Biscayne Boulevard, a street with the potential for beauty and dignity, and you can see both possibility and stupidity—whole blocks given over to fast-food franchises, sprawling corner gas stations and more. It somehow seems like a high-stakes game of Mother-May-I, with baby steps forward and a giant step back.
But no backward step is bigger than the one the city is confronting now, a Wal-Mart next to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, on parking lots still owned by The Miami Herald with a sale expected to be consummated next year. Of all the bad ideas ever proffered for downtown Miami, this is the worst.
And shockingly so in a time and a place where we have already invested more than $500 million (counting the Arsht Center and the preliminary work on Museum Park) in public funds to create a downtown cultural precinct.
SEEKING URBANITY
At a time and in a place where we should be seeking to create urbanity, a Wal-Mart—even the nicest superstore ever built—would mean instant squalor.
Big-box stores may be a fact of suburban and—in far too many places—small-town life; they may be a fact of economic life. But a big-box store does not belong on this prime urban site. For decades, the civic and cultural leadership of Miami has worked to create what is still an emerging downtown cultural precinct.
The public investment in the Arsht Center is nearing $500 million (and this is not small change by any way of accounting); another $200 million in public funds is aimed at new buildings for the Miami Art Museum and the Miami Science Museum with further significant investment in improving Museum Park. Four condominium towers in varying stages of completion look out over the future park, ultimately prime locations for lovers of the arts and sciences. What is missing from the equation is the urban context—the street-level amenities that would lead one to walk a few blocks to a restaurant and the theater or lunch and an exhibition—to wit, urbanism.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya on Monday, August 18 | 0 comments | Permalink
GROUP BANDS TOGETHER TO FIGHT WAL-MART IN CORDOVA, TN
Group Mobilizes to Fight Cordova Wal-Mart [Memphis Daily News (Tenn.)]
It’s an old story, and it generally follows the same set of events: Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, pursues a piece of real estate that catches its interest. Opponents of the retail giant gather their forces, develop an organized campaign and attempt to stop the development of a new store in its tracks.
Sometimes Wal-Mart loses. Many times it doesn’t. But there is always another piece of land on which to build another store.
In Cordova, that oft-repeated turn of events is roughly at the midway point. Several nonprofit and community activist groups have banded together under one name and for the purpose of presenting a united front in fighting a planned 151,908-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter coming to Cordova.
Taking a standThe new group calls itself Citizens for Sustainable Growth and is comprised of groups including the Grays Creek Association, Cordova Leadership Council and Parents and Friends of Macon Hall Elementary School. At the moment, the approval process for the sleek new Wal-Mart store, which will carry the retail chain’s new logo, is in a state of suspended animation.
And the new grassroots activist group is using that to its advantage.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya on Friday, August 15 | 0 comments | Permalink
Cordova, TN. Citizens File Appeal in Wal-Mart Superstore Case
Sprawl-Busters has been following the ups and downs of a proposed Wal-Mart supercenter in Cordova, Tennessee. On July 8, 2008, it was noted that Wal-Mart had shrunk the size of its proposed superstore, cut down the parking lot, and even offered to pay for road improvements---all to woo support in Cordova, Tennessee.
In January of 2008, Wal-Mart announced that it wanted to build a supercenter in Cordova---a community located on the northeast side of the City of Memphis with a population of roughly 53,000 people. When Wal-Mart’s plans became known in Cordova, a non-profit group, the Gray’s Creek Association (GCA), began putting up signs along a large area of unincorporated land that read: “Gray’s Creek Preservation Area.” The group pushed for smart growth development in Cordova---not Wal-Marts.
The area is already saturated with Wal-Marts. A total of 14 Wal-Mart stores are located within 20 miles of Cordova, including a Wal-Mart supercenter on Germantown Parkway just minutes away, and a supercenter in Bartlett 4 miles away. In fact, 8 of the 14 Wal-Marts within 20 miles of Cordova are supercenters. There is no conceivable market need for additional Wal-Marts. The location of Wal-Mart’s latest proposal along Macon and Houston Levee roads, is located on land within the Gray’s Creek Plan, a set of guidelines that Memphis and Shelby County adopted to preserve the area’s property values and to protect it from intense commercial growth.
The GCA has set its focus now on opposing Wal-Mart. “We are a pro-development group,” a leader of GCA told the Commercial Appeal newspaper. “But the haphazard way things have been handled in the past, case by case, has produced a hodgepodge of development both commercial and residential, and the public as a whole has lost confidence in knowing what will come into their neighborhoods.” Folks in Cordova had been hoping that Wal-Mart would build their store in the 1.2 million s.f. Mall of Memphis.
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Posted by Al Norman on Friday, August 15 | 0 comments | Permalink
WAL-MART LOOKS IN ON DOWNTOWN MIAMI, FL
Big-boxes, Wal-Mart continue to eye ‘underserved’ downtown Miami [Miami Today (Fla.)]
With more residents gravitating toward city centers to live closer to work, big-box retailers have begun eyeing urban areas in hopes they’ll find new customers in these downtown dwellers, experts say.
The dragging economy has led some to scale down expansion plans as shoppers pull back on spending, but Wal-Mart is in growth mode and gunning for a downtown Miami location.
The national big-box chain is considering the planned City Square retail project at 431-1451 N Bayshore Drive and 425 NE 13th St., according to Wal-Mart spokeswoman Michelle Azel Belaire and Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff.
But the store is keeping its options open, Ms. Azel Belaire said.
Wal-Mart has also looked into the Omni mall complex on Biscayne Boulevard, now under renovation and set to open in 2010 with 270,000 square feet of retail.
“Wal-Mart has contacted us, but we really don’t see it as a fit for our project,” said Aaron J. Butler, a leasing broker with Comras Co., which represents the retail portion of the Omni. He declined to say why.
Still, Wal-Mart’s efforts to secure space downtown are ongoing.
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Posted by Tony Calero on Thursday, August 14 | 0 comments | Permalink
MUTINY IN VENICE, FL?
Venice Wal-Mart project gets the critics on its side [Herald Tribune (Fla.)]
In a stunning reversal, neighborhood groups that for nearly a year fought Mike Miller’s 73-acre Wal-Mart Renaissance project on east Laurel Road showed up at Tuesday’s City Council meeting to urge its approval.
After four hours of nothing but positive comments from residents, business leaders, city staff and Council members, the Council did just that and approved the project unanimously.
Miller made a number of changes since Wal-Mart first proposed building a 200,000- square-foot store, which the Planning Commission denied last fall. The Council was scheduled to hear Miller’s appeal of that denial and another issue by neighboring residents of the Venetian Golf and River Club, but both sides announced they had reached an agreement before the Council took up the issue Tuesday.
After a brief recess so City Attorney Bob Anderson could review the agreement and figure out how the Council needed to consider the issue, the Council took up the Renaissance project.
Miller agreed to 10 stipulations that included widening Laurel Road from two to four lanes in front of the development. He also agreed to: add more landscape buffering and a higher berm so the retail store was less visible from Laurel Road; move a park closer to the project’s eastern border with Willow Chase subdivision; create a faux main street with varying roofing pitches and building colors that cloak the big-box store look; add more sidewalks throughout the project and work with an advisory group of residents as outparcels of the project come forward for council approval.
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Posted by Tony Calero on Wednesday, August 13 | 0 comments | Permalink
Venice, FL. Wal-Mart Developer Turns Defeat Into Victory With Cosmetic Changes
A Wal-Mart project called the “Renaissance” has had a dramatic renaissance of its own in a small Florida community. A Wal-Mart developer in Venice, Florida has charmed his way into the hearts and minds of local residents, and turned a certain defeat 9 months ago into victory. All he did was make a few cosmetic changes to his Wal-Mart superstore proposal and the natives were happy. By putting a new tuxedo on Frankenstein’s monster, the developer has gotten residents to agree to the big box.
On October 13, 2007 Sprawl-Busters reported that the idea of a Wal-Mart supercenter was not floating many boats in Venice, Florida. The city promotes its “beautiful beaches, a quaint downtown shopping area, and the old Florida scenery along the Myakka River…miles of white sand, sea shells and the prehistoric shark teeth.” Venice calls itself the “Sharks Tooth Capital of the world.” But another shark---this one retail---wanted to take a big bite out of Venice. The city has made a point of preserving the original character of Venice, creating the Historic Venice District and an Architectural Review Board to ensure that new construction or modification of existing buildings conform to the northern Italian Renaissance style of the city’s original architecture. The state also designated the community as a Florida Main Street City to “assure the city’s heritage will be preserved.”
But Venice is an island surrounded by sprawl. There are 7 Wal-Mart’s within 20 miles of Venice, 5 of them are supercenters, including a supercenter right in Venice. The Arkansas retailer presented plans for a supercenter on Laurel Road near the tony Venetian Golf & River Club. “Wal-Mart would destroy the community that can economically support quality shops,” Venetian residents told city officials. The proposed 200,000-s.f. Wal-Mart inside the 73-acre “Renaissance” development east of Interstate 75 came before Venice’s planning commission in November of 2007. According to the Herald Tribune, people in Venice want commercial development---they just don’t want Wal-Mart. “We really need commercial development, but we need the right kind of commercial development,” Venetian Golf & River Club resident John Moeckel told the newspaper. Moeckel organized a write-in campaign against Wal-Mart, in his capacity as chairman of the local community association. Residents were upset by the scale of the store, and the impact of traffic on their two lane roadway.
“They want boutiques, not big boxes,” the Sarasota Herald Tribune said, and claim city leaders promised an attractive mixed-use town center. The original plan was to build 20 acres of mixed-use commercial retail and office space, including a movie theater complex and restaurants, next to 50 acres with homes and condos with up to 731 units, creating a village.
But the developer pulled a classic bait-and-switch, cutting the housing units from 731 units to 200 units, killing off the central park, and replacing it with a retail center anchored by Wal-Mart.
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Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, August 13 | 0 comments | Permalink
NORTH LAUDERDALE, FL ASKS FOR A WAL-MART
North Lauderdale: City wants Wal-Mart to speed building of store [Sun Sentinel (Fla.)]
City officials want a Super Wal-Mart, even if they have to go to Arkansas to get it.
The city plans to send a letter to Wal-Mart requesting a meeting with the company at their corporate headquarters. At a City Commission meeting last month, Mayor Jack Brady and City Manager Richard Sala both were authorized to attend.
Plans for the store on the south side of McNab Road have been in the works for about two years. Wal-Mart was slated to be the anchor for a proposed 43-acre Town Center with 36,000 square feet of retail space.
The city originally wanted Wal-Mart to find other tenants to fill the center, but after project delays and the economic downturn, Brady said the city needs the center built as soon as possible.
“If it sounds like we’re begging, we are,” he said. “We need the money. It’ll generate tax dollars.”
Posted by Tony Calero on Monday, August 11 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update For Elected Officials
Check out this week’s issue of the Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials – a compilation of Wal-Mart news from across the country and beyond.
This week’s issue focuses again on Wal-Mart’s efforts to warn its managers across the country of a Democratic win in this November’s elections. The company has been holding mandatory meetings for its store managers and department supervisors (possibly in violation of state and federal election law), who are being warned that if Democrats win in November it could lead to potential store unionization. And speaking of unionization, read how Wal-Mart’s attempt to bust up unions in Canada has made it all the way to Canada’s Supreme Court, while on the other side of the globe all Wal-Mart stores in China will have labor contracts by September 2008.
In addition to the aforementioned stories, you’ll also find Bloomberg and the International Herald Tribune questioning whether a slowdown in Wal-mart sales could be a negative sign for the U.S. economy in the future. And on the environmental side of things, you’ll find the Christian Science Monitor among others discussing Wal-Mart’s opposition to carbon-offset guidelines, while the New York Times and Newsweek explain why concerns over keeping costs at low levels has lead Wal-Mart to drastically alter how its products are made and transported.
And finally, check out our “Stateside” and “Wal-Mart International” sections to find out what’s going on with Wal-Mart around the country and across the globe.
Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials
Posted by Corey Himrod on Monday, August 11 | 24 comments | Permalink
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