Ventura, CA. Another City Tries To Stop Wal-Mart

Another city opposes Wal-Mart [KEYT 3 - Santa Barbara]

Residents in Ventura are rallying to stop the potential construction of a Wal-Mart Super Center, which would replace a Super K-Mart.
Wal-Mart also has plans to build in Atascadero and the major company is trying to get the community on board there as well.

The rally in Ventura starts at 7pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church.
Residents in the community believe a Wal-Mart super center on Victoria Avenue would have a disastrous effect on traffic and small local businesses.

Those attending the meeting will learn about the impact of a Wal-Mart super center opening in the county.

Posted by Corey Himrod on Thursday, September 27 | 0 comments | Permalink

Poway, CA. New Wal-Mart Could Close Popular Farmers Market

Wal-Mart looking to expand its Poway store [North County Times]

POWAY—A popular farmers market-type store is closing its doors so a nearby Wal-Mart store can expand—possibly into a Supercenter, which sells produce and groceries in addition to retail merchandise.

News of the change is not sitting well with a group of residents who are already voicing their unhappiness after learning that the Plowboys Market at 13430 Midland Road will close so Wal-Mart can increase the size of its store at 13425 Community Road. The two businesses are back-to-back, bordered by Hilleary Place along their north sides.

Signs advising customers that Saturday will be Plowboys’ last business day recently went up inside the store, which sells fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers and plants.

Store employees referred questions about the closing to the company’s San Diego office, where officials did not immediately return phone calls.

City officials, however, said they met Tuesday with three Wal-Mart representatives who told them the Bentonville, Ark.-based discount retailer had purchased the Plowboys property.

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Posted by Corey Himrod on Thursday, September 27 | 0 comments | Permalink

Onatrio, Calif. Fingers Pointing

Appeal hearing heated [Daily Bulletin (Calif.)

The City Council presided over an appeal hearing Monday night in which accusations flew from both sides on the Wal-Mart issue and all four council members in attendance were called upon to recuse themselves.

A decision on the controversial project is expected Oct. 9, when the hearing will be continued.

The source of debate is a Wal-Mart Supercenter slated for Mountain Avenue and Fifth Street. The Planning Commission gave it the green light in August.

John Logue appealed the decision on behalf of Ontario Mountain Village Association, which consists of homeowners in the northwest area of the city who oppose the development.

Before Monday’s hearing, some of those residents wore buttons denouncing the project and held signs in front of the Ontario Convention Center reading: “Save Our Children” and “No Supercenter.”

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, September 26 | 0 comments | Permalink

Chico, CA - Wal-Mart Plans Have Slowed, But Store Still In Works

Wal-Mart plans still in the works [Chico Enterprise Record]

Those wanting to weigh in on two proposed Wal-Mart supercenters will need to wait a few more months.

Senior city planner Zach Thomas said the planning processes for both proposed Wal-Marts are not quite at the same point. The supercenter proposed for north Chico is further behind in the process than the Wal-Mart expansion proposed in south Chico, he said.

The current estimate sees the south Wal-Mart going before the Chico Planning Commission at the earliest in November. The north Wal-Mart is estimated to go before the commission at the earliest in December.

Thomas stressed both time estimates are not firm.

Wal-Mart proposes to expand its Forest Avenue store from 125,889 square feet to 223,445 square feet. It also hopes to build a new supercenter at Highway 99 and Garner Lane with retail, grocery and a garden center.

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Posted by Corey Himrod on Tuesday, September 25 | 0 comments | Permalink

Ontario, Calif. Council Meets on Wal-Mart Issue

Wal-Mart issue tops council agenda [Daily Bulletin (Calif.)]

A special meeting has been called tonight for the City Council to vote on a Planning Commission approval of a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter.

It will take place at 6 p.m. at the Ontario Convention Center’s Ballrooms A and B located 2000 Convention Center Way.

The meeting was called because the decision made by the Planning Commission in August was appealed, said Ontario Councilman Jason Anderson. The City Council will make the final decision concerning the Wal-Mart.

Tonight’s meeting will review the decision made by the Planning Commission. It will also review the subsequent environmental impact report and all of the records in and around that, including staff reports and input by the citizens, Anderson said.

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, September 25 | 0 comments | Permalink

Ontario, Calif. “Panel Ignores Opponents”

Panel ignores opponents of Wal-Mart [Daily Bulletin (Calif.)]

The Ontario Planning Commission ignored the concerns of hundreds of residents who opposed approval of the Wal-Mart Supercenter at Fifth Street and Mountain Avenue, and I am very worried that our City Council members have already made up their minds to ignore us, too.
Some of the issues raised at the Planning Commission meeting were:

1. My wife and both asked the city to define general merchandise in order to find out if Wal-Mart planned to sell weapons, ammunition and alcohol directly across the street from a park. Apparently the planning commissioners didn’t care about this, because we never had a response. However, they have a concern about the number of video games Wal-Mart will have and whether or not they will placed in the doorway.

Didn’t they think access to guns was a legitimate concern?

2. A school board member presented a resolution unanimously approved by the Ontario-Monclair School District opposing a project of this magnitude due to the Supplemental Environmental Impact Report findings related to health and safety issues. No one even acknowledged or responded to them at all.

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, September 25 | 0 comments | Permalink

Combined Reports For Everyone!

You’d think, of all companies, one that bills itself as “the place for one stop shopping” would champion the merits of placing everything under one roof.

Yet, when word of “combined reporting” makes its way down to a Bentonville boardroom, its enough to make a Wal-Mart executive reach for a $4 generic vicadin. Combined reporting is a tax policy that treats parent companies and its subsidiaries as one corporation for state income tax purposes - profits are combined, and then a share of that income is taxed by a state based on a formula calculating the corporation’s level of activity within that state.

Lawmakers in Wisconsin and Maryland are the latest to jump on the combined reporting bandwagon. Apparently in Wisconsin, $90 million is on the table should the state decide to reform its tax law and adopt combined reporting. Its a tough question for a state strapped for cash, and whose revenue department has already gone after WalMartopia for more than $17.7 million in back corporate income taxes, interest and penalties for 1998, 1999 and 2000.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Ninety million dollars is how much officials estimate could gush into state coffers annually if Wisconsin institutes combined reporting on corporate income tax returns. That’s about a 10% increase in corporate tax collections - a tempting prospect for some legislators at a time when Madison is striving for every nickel.

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley had proposed the measure in his state as well, according to the Baltimore Sun:

The O’Malley administration estimates that by moving to “combined reporting,” the state would receive an additional $25 million per year in revenue, with three-fourths available for operating expenses and the remainder reserved for the Transportation Trust Fund. Some legislators believe that the annual fiscal impact could be much greater, perhaps $100 million or more.

Opponents of the measure counter that it will stifle growth, and that businesses facing higher taxes will simply shift jobs and investment to other states. Personally, I can’t wait to watch business after business pack their bags and flee the evilness that is combined reporting in California, New York, Texas and Illinois...the sound of them flocking to Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina will be deafening. The number of combined reporting states is growing so fast - five states proposed the measure this year alone - it is this expert’s opinion that by 2010, every single corporation will be located in Oklahoma. Go Sooners.

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Posted by Corey Himrod on Monday, September 24 | 1 comments | Permalink

Bakersfield, CA. Half-Built Pair of Wal-Mart Supercenters Finally Restarted

Wal-Mart’s long, twisted journey in Bakersfield, California may soon be over. It wasn’t the way Wal-Mart wanted, and they have lost as much as one billion in sales and legal costs already---but the city of Bakersfield appears ready to approve not one—but two---new Wal-Mart supercenters. On June 12, 2005, Sprawl-Busters reported that a deal approved in court had left a Wal-Mart supercenter in Bakersfield half-built. The developer, Lee Jamieson, and the citizen’s group, Bakersfield Citizens for Local Control, agreed that nothing would happen on the site until June 1, 2006. The city approved the project back in February of 2003, but citizens challenged the way the process was conducted, took their case to the California 5th District Court of Appeals, and the court overturned the first city approval, saying the city had done a poor job of figuring out if building the project would harm the environment. At the same time, the court also overturned approval for a second Wal-Mart Supercenter project in Bakersfield, this one proposed by Castle & Cooke. For more than a year, these projects have lurked half-built on the site. But this week, two years after the court stalemate, the stores received the support of the City Planning Commission after a four-hour meeting. One of the supercenters is located at Panama Lane and Highway 99, and the other at Pacheco and Gosford roads. One Bakersfield City Planning Commissioner couldn’t contain his exuberanace over the prospect of two new supercenters. “You just mix together people with jobs with income buying up the real estate. I don’t think there’s a finer example of the American dream going on,” he was quoted as saying. But the “jobs” coming from two Wal-Mart supercenters are going to be drawn from existing, unionized grocery stores in Bakersfield, which translates into a loss of buying power, because the Wal-Mart pay less. The American Dream is, in fact, unraveling in Bakersfield. The City Council will meet on November 21st to consider the recommendations of the Planning Commission.