Just How Big is Wal-Mart?

Bigger than the island of Manhattan.

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.

Read the rest of this story ...

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.

Read the rest of this story ...

Posted by Andrew Yonki on Tuesday, October 09 | 0 comments | Permalink

Ontario, CA. Op-Ed Calls Wal-Mart a “Charade”

Op-Ed: Wal-Mart charade [Daily Bulletin (Calif.)]

This citizen attended the entire Planning Commission public hearing charade in August, ending about midnight. I wanted to see the extremes they would go to convince us how wonderful Wal-Mart would be for the residents adjacent to this already decided project.

The land at Fifth Street and Mountain Avenue already had been sold to Wal-Mart, so I’m not sure why the hearing for a done deal was even necessary.

This probably happened because our nonfiduciary Councilman Alan Wapner was a consultant to Wal-Mart. This reveals lots of integrity on the part of Wal-Mart and Wapner.

Money does talk, folks, and that is what Wal-Mart has and what Wapner wants, so it was a great match.

Read the rest of this story ...

Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, October 09 | 0 comments | Permalink

Ontario, CA. City Loyalty Should Be To Ontario, Not Wal-Mart

City Council’s loyalty should be to Ontario, not Wal-Mart [Ontario Daily Bulletin]

Our city is for sale.

This is the message the Ontario Planning Commission sent on Aug. 30 when, in a special meeting in regarding the proposed construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter at Mountain Avenue and Fifth Street, the commission unanimously voted to go ahead with the project, despite the abundant problems inherent in the project, including several highlighted by its own Environmental Impact Report.

According to the EIR, “traffic, noise and air quality impacts from vehicle trips and emissions associated with the proposed project would remain significant and unavoidable, even after mitigation ...”

And yet, the city chose to adopt a Statement of Overriding Considerations.

Read the rest of this story ...

Posted by Corey Himrod on Monday, October 08 | 0 comments | Permalink

Tesco Agile in Expansion

Wal-Mart’s largest British competitor, Tesco, is opening its first State-side stores in California this month. The UK retailer is breaking in to the US market with small, convenience-store-sized markets that won’t compete head-to-head with Wal-Mart’s supercenters...but this is just the beginning. Tesco’s extensive market research in the US implies that the retailer intends to give Wal-Mart a run for its money.

Tesco thinks small to be big in America [The Independent (UK)]

It was without a hint of irony that Tesco, the giant supermarket chain, announced plans to conquer the US by opening stores that would trade on their small and friendly credentials.

The chain, which will cost £1.25bn to roll out, will consist of 50 fresh&easy Neighborhood Market stores by the end of next February. The investment is key to Tesco’s hopes to launch a successful challenge to the likes of Safeway and Wal-Mart in their own backyard.

The UK group last week reported bumper interim results, with an 18 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £1.29bn in the six months to August and a 9 per cent increase in sales underpinned by the company’s growing international business.

Read the rest of this story ...

Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, October 08 | 0 comments | Permalink

Vancouver, WA. “We kicked their ass,” Says Victorious Wal-Mart Opponent

On January 30, 2007, Sprawl-Busters reported that a hearing officer in Vancouver, Washington had ruled in favor of a Wal-Mart supercenter, but the neighbors appealed that ruling to the County Commissioners. The opponents charged that the project developer had not provided sufficient evidence to support its case, and that the stormwater and traffic plans were inaccurate. The three County Commissioners agreed with the neighbors, and in April of 2007 they sent the case back to a hearing officer. The retailer already has two supercenters in Vancouver literally minutes from the proposed site in the Salmon Creek area of Vancouver. This week, the Clark County Commissioners dunked Wal-Mart’s plans in the creek. According to the Columbian newspaper, all three County Commissioners found plenty to not like in Wal-Mart’s superstore saturation plan. The issues in dispute included storm water runoff, traffic safety, and even the credentials of the engineers hired by Wal-Mart. A Wal-Mart spokeswoman complained to the local newspaper that the company smelled “an anti-Wal-Mart bias” in the county ruling---and that the company might appeal the decision to Clark County Superior Court. Wal-Mart noted that their plan had been approved by county planners, and by a county hearing officer. But the project, now in its second year of review, has never garnered the support of neighbors.

Opponents did not mince their words when the county gave the superstore thumbs down. “We kicked their asses!” Bridget Schwarz, a leader in the Fairgrounds Neighborhood Association, was quoted as elling the Columbian. One Commissioner was critical of Wal-Mart’s plan to pump stormwater through a neighboring set of condominiums. She also described Wal-Mart’s traffic plan as “just absolutely unsafe.” After the 3-0 vote to reject their plan, a Wal-Mart spokesman said the company was “extremely disappointed” and, claimed that the ruling was against the name on the building, not the plan itself. “It’s just when Wal-Mart’s name was tossed into the mix that it became a controversy,” she said. But the attorney for the Fairgrounds Neighborhood Association praised the action by the Commissioners. “They stood up for the community. It’s obvious that they looked at this from a very technical point of view.”

Read the rest of this story ...

Posted by Al Norman on Monday, October 08 | 0 comments | Permalink

Portland, OR. Wal-Mart Pulls Project Off The Table—For Now

On June 19, 2007, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart was getting a wet reception in Portland, Oregon, where a Canadian developer has tried to sneak the giant retailer in under its raincoat. Sprawl-Busters received in June the following report from the frontlines in Oregon from the group Save Madison South: “A quiet neighborhood in Northeast Portland, Oregon got a rude wake up call in fall 2006 when a developer announced plans for a 240,000 s.f. development including a 180,000 to 190,000 s.f. big store for a former gravelpit/landfill/golf driving range site directly across from one of the city’s high schools. Residents immediately became alarmed at this initial proposal, as it far exceeded the current zoning of 60,000 s.f. and would thrust a retail environment as far back as five blocks into residential streets and add 900 parking spaces.” The project is located on 25 acres of land that is zoned for light industrial, not commercial. Two days ago, the Oregonian newspaper revealed that Wal-Mart’s developer in Portland, Toronto-based SmartCentres, had pulled its plans for the supercenter on 82nd Avenue and Siskiyou Street---but plans to return with something more acceptable to the city and the neighborhood. “Our intention is to resubmit in the near future after having considered all of the environmental—figuratively speaking—concerns,” said a spokesman for SmartCentres, a shopping mall developer based in Toronto. The neighbors, along with city and state officials, told SmartCentres they were concerned that thousands of additional car trips would exacerbate existing traffic problems on 82nd. Street. The landowner has indicated that he has received dozens of calls from “adult-oriented businesses” interested in the property.” So the choice, as the landowner apparently sees it, is between Wal-Mart and a porno shop. “I want to associate with something I’m proud of,” the landowner said, not specifying which land use he found preferable. “We aren’t opposed to him making money,” opposition group leader Dawn Tryon told the Oregonian, “but it has to be the right fit in the neighborhood.”