City council puts off big box ban
City Big-Box Ban Put On Hold; Labor Peace Issue Dead
Balking at the $490,000 cost of a special election, the City Council put off putting a ban “big-box superstores” on the Feb. 5 ballot for a month, hoping Log Beach City College would help cut election costs with an election of its own.
However, voters will not be making any decisions about unionizing downtown hotels. The council essentially voted to rescind that item.
That was the result of several votes at Tuesday night’s council meeting. After a motion to put the big-box issue on the ballot failed, the council voted unanimously to return to the issue on Nov. 6.
It also voted unanimously to seek to rescind the “labor peace” agreement it had previously approved.
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Posted by Andrew Yonki on Friday, October 12 | 0 comments | Permalink
Twin Falls, ID. Wal-Mart Execs Balk on Redesign
Wal-Mart execs balk on Twin Falls redesign [Twin Falls (Idaho) Times-News]
Touting its energy efficient standards, Wal-Mart officials talk increasingly about improving the environment.
Sometimes, they forget to talk to each other.
On Sept. 24, Paul Smith, a local attorney representing Wal-Mart, told the Twin Falls City Council that construction for the store scheduled to be built along Pole Line Road would be delayed by three months as the company redesigned the store to make it more energy efficient.
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Posted by Andrew Yonki on Thursday, October 11 | 0 comments | Permalink
Ontario Hearings Continued, Again
Wal-Mart hearings to continue [Daily Bulletin (Calif.)]
The City Council heard testimony Tuesday night from residents regarding a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter and continued hearings on the matter to an undetermined date.
Mayor Paul Leon announced the continuation, which resulted from miscommunication between the city and the Daily Bulletin regarding the size of the latest public-notice advertisement.The city must meet legal requirements to notify the public before concluding hearings and making a decision.
At the Sept. 24 council hearing, Planning Director Jerry Blum gave the city’s argument in favor of the supercenter and fewer than half of the 63 residents who wished to speak were able to.
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Posted by Andrew Yonki on Thursday, October 11 | 0 comments | Permalink
Long Beach, CA. Big Box Ban Still Up In The Air
The City Council voted Tuesday not to spend $510,000 to put two controversial measures on the Feb. 5 presidential primary ballot, but will reconsider one of them next month.
The council voted 5-4 against a motion by Vice Mayor Bonnie Lowenthal to have voters decide whether the city should ban big-box superstores that sell groceries.
The council then voted unanimously to consider again on Nov. 6 putting the issue on the Feb. 5 ballot after city staff members research how much it would cost if combined with a possible bond measure by Long Beach City College.
The council also voted unanimously against creating a ballot measure that would require a Labor Peace Agreement at hotels on city-owned property, which likely would force the creation of unions in exchange for no-strike guarantees.
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Wednesday, October 10 | 0 comments | Permalink
Sunrise, CA. Sunset Falling On Third Sunrise Store
Wal-Mart scraps plans for third store in Sunrise [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Wal-Mart has scrapped plans to build a third store in the heart of the city.
In a letter to the city last week, Wal-Mart withdrew its application to build a 24-hour store at the southwest corner of Oakland Park Boulevard and Pine Island Road, but did not provide a reason, said Mark Lubelski, director of the Planning and Development Department.
Broward Circuit Judge John A. Frusciante, one of several family members who hoped to sell the 18-acre property to Wal-Mart after the city approved the store’s plans, blamed Sunrise’s protracted building review process for Wal-Mart’s pullout.
“It’s very disappointing,” Frusciante said in a telephone interview. “The city did not act on the plans Wal-Mart submitted in a timely manner.”
But Lubelski said Wal-Mart’s plans could not be approved before the store addressed traffic and land development issues.
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Wednesday, October 10 | 0 comments | Permalink
Just How Big is Wal-Mart?
Bigger than the island of Manhattan.
From Good Magazine.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, October 10 | 21 comments | Permalink
Rolling Back Property Tax Payments
A new report from Good Jobs First exposes one of Wal-Mart’s most deceptive cost-cutting policies: consistent attempts to pay low taxes on its properties. By denying local communities their rightful dues, Wal-Mart sucks money away from public schools, local services and civic development. From GJF’s release:
The first-ever investigation of Wal-Mart’s local property tax records finds that the retail giant systematically seeks to minimize its payment of taxes that support public schools and other vital government services. That is the key finding of Rolling Back Property Tax Payments, a report released today by Good Jobs First, a non-profit, nonpartisan research center in Washington, DC. The full text is at http://www.goodjobsfirst.org.
“Wal-Mart, a company with $350 billion in annual revenues and $11 billion in profits, drains vitally needed funds from communities by regularly challenging the valuation put on its properties by public officials,” said Philip Mattera, research director of Good Jobs First and principal author of the report. “When the company succeeds in one of these challenges, it diminishes the funds available to pay for education, police and fire protection, and other essential services provided by local governments.”
Based on a large national sample of Wal-Mart stores and a review of all of its distribution centers open as of the beginning of 2005, Good Jobs First concludes that Wal-Mart has filed assessment challenges at more than one-third of its facilities around the country. At many facilities there have been appeals in multiple years. Overall, Good Jobs First estimates that the company has filed more than 2,100 property tax challenges nationwide.
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Posted by Media Team on Wednesday, October 10 | 6 comments | Permalink
Morgan Hill, CA. Wal-Mart Eyes California Town
Wal-Mart to open new store [Morgan Hill Times]
Morgan Hill - A big-box giant with rock bottom prices and a flare for attracting impassioned opposition is coming to Morgan Hill.
Wal-Mart plans to open a new store at 170 Cochrane Plaza by the fourth quarter of 2008, just 12 miles north of its Supercenter in Gilroy. Though a third the size of the Gilroy store, the future Morgan Hill location will also offer groceries in addition to the traditional menu of discount items.
Wal-Mart purchased the Morgan Hill site Sept. 21 for an unspecified amount and is spending $4- to $8-million to renovate the approximately 80,000 square-foot building, according to the company’s regional spokesman Kevin Loscotoff. In July, Target moved from that location on the west side of U.S. 101 to a new, 125,000-square-foot store on the opposite side of the highway.
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Posted by Andrew Yonki on Tuesday, October 09 | 0 comments | Permalink
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