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If you were to go to a store and steal something (not that I am suggesting you should) you might expect to be stopped, detained, maybe arrested and charged with a crime. What you probably wouldn’t expect is physical harm. Well, leave it to Walmart to break expectations. A man is suing Walmart for excessive force after four employees wrestled him to the ground for which he suffered a dislocated shoulder. Of course the man was shoplifting, which is illegal, but doesn’t four employees smashing you to the ground sound a little extreme when simply stopping the man probably would have sufficed?

The worst part of this story, though, is that this is hardly new. Walmart has a history of using brutal methods to stop shoplifters, or those they think are shoplifting. The result has been some pretty serious injuries and even, in a few cases, death.

Here is a piece of the article from the local TV station:

A Port Arthur man is suing Wal-Mart for injuries he received after he was caught shoplifting. It happened March 13th at the Wal-Mart on Twin City Highway in Port Arthur and it was all caught on tape. Jessica Holloway reports, attorneys say the shoplifter is suing because store employees went too far.

Surveillance video was taken from inside Wal-Mart in Port Arthur. It appears that four employees wrestle Michael Harris to the ground. Harris is suing Wal-mart and two employees for dislocating his shoulder. It’s what happened before, caught on tape, that led up to this point.

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What’s worse than finding a frozen frog in your food?

Finding half a frog.

That’s right, when Chastity Erbaugh came home to cook for her children, she was shocked to find part of a dead frog in the bag of frozen green beans she just purchased at Wal-Mart. After reporting the incident, Erbaugh’s local TV station, KLTV, notified local health officials who in turn submitted a report to the FDA regarding Wal-Mart’s health and food code violation.

After getting over the initial surprise, she said she got mad—mad at Wal-Mart, where she bought the retailer’s Great Value brand microwave in the bag green beans. She said no one called her even days after she reported the problem and calls to the corporate customer help line left her scratching her head. After the last call, Erbaugh said Wal-Mart said it would make up the whole episode by offering a coupon worth the value of the green beans that could only be redeemed for another Great Value product. Total value: $1.

One dollar? No apology? Now, that’s the Wal-Mart we all know and love.

It also sounds like neglecting food quality control has lost Wal-Mart at least one customer:

Erbaugh said she’s done with frozen vegetables and shopping at Wal-Mart for now—even though it is a closer and cheaper option than the other grocery stores in the area. She said she’ll drive right past the Wal-Mart to do her shopping until the mammoth company makes her feel like a valued customer after years of spending some $400 per grocery shopping trip there.

“I’m not going back – not anytime soon,” she said.

On the bright side, at least Erbaugh’s children have a good excuse never to eat green beans again. I wish I thought of that one as a kid…

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We talked to you earlier this week about the complaint that Texas grocer HEB made against a misleading Wal-Mart ad that claimed the company saved families $700 dollars. On Tuesday, the Ad Division of the Better Business Bureau recommended that Wal-Mart pull the ad - and today we read that Wal-Mart has given in.

(**By the way, what happened to Wal-Mart claiming that it saved families $2,500 a year? Now they won’t even say $700?)

But what caught our eye this time wasn’t Wal-Mart’s dishonest ad. It was the 100+ comments on the story from the San Antonio News-Express (published at Chron.com) - and the anti-Wal-Mart fervor from readers deep in the heart of Texas.

It’s just an everyday reminder that strong feelings against Wal-Mart aren’t confined to big cities on the coasts.

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Workers at a North Miami Beach Wal-Mart Supercenter are hoping to make their store one of the first Wal-Marts in the United States to unionize. The Miami Herald is reporting that workers have gathered signed pro-union cards from 150 of the store’s 476 employees.

If a majority of workers were to vote to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union, Wal-Mart would have to negotiate a contract setting pay, work rules, complaint procedures, health insurance and other benefits for the workers.

The Miami store is the most impressive example of card-signing activity, the movement occurring despite the fact that the Employee Free Choice Act movement remains in neutral in Washington. It isn’t the only unionizing target, however, as the UFCW admitted the North Miami Beach store is only one of about 100 Wal-Mart stores it is working to organize in 17 states, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

Meghan Scott, a Food and Commercial Workers spokesman in Washington, said the union increased its organizing efforts after the election of President Barack Obama and the reintroduction this year of federal legislation that would make it easier for workers to gain union representation. “We’ve seen a pretty significant uptick in calls from Wal-Mart workers across the country,” Scott said. “The workers just seem to be emboldened in a way that they have not been in the last few years.”

The Miami store is a continuation of a trend that began earlier this month, when the Wall Street Journal reported on organizing efforts in Texas and Illinois.

‘’If we vote and we get it [union certification], they can’t do nothing but go along with it,’’ (Miami employee) Cheryl Guzman said. ``That’s my hope and prayer.’’

Read more after the jump:

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If there was ever a example of why we need the Employee Free Choice Act, its the saga of Wal-Mart workers in Jacksonville, Texas.

In February 2000, workers at a Wal-Mart meat department in Jacksonville, TX voted to form a union by 7-3 margin. Instead of honoring the vote and opening negotiations with UFCW, Wal-Mart took the standard company option: it closed all in-store butcher departments in favor of pre-packaged meats. If Wal-Mart’s union-busting reputation was ever in question, this case erased any doubt years ago.

Unfortunately for the workers, the National Labor Relations Board upheld Wal-Mart’s decision to close the department. Occupational Health and Safety Magazine wrote on the NLRB decision: “Because of the conversion, the meat department had become an inappropriate bargaining unit, meaning Wal-Mart had no general duty to bargain with the UFCW.”

Upon appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, UFCW was faced with a test they simply could not pass. The legally appropriate ‘community-of-interest test’ allowed a unanimous three-judge appellate panel to uphold Wal-Mart’s right to eliminate butcher departments since they had no particularly special skills; citing the incident as analogous to a typical closing, effectively cutting butchers out of the picture for good. Although Wal-Mart could avoid recognizing the union, it still had to “negotiate over effects of the new meat program on the workers.” Well these negotiations took nine years. Now only one of the original 12 employees still works at the store. One employee died during the delay and the others moved on to other jobs. “Nine years is a long time,” said UFCW spokesman Johnny Rodriguez. 

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We’ll continue to update this story as we find out more info. The following press release was sent earlier today by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union:

TYLER, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--“Yesterday, after nearly a decade of legal maneuverings and circumventions of federal law, Wal-Mart was finally forced to the bargaining table in Jacksonville, Texas. More than nine years ago, workers in the meat department in the Jacksonville Wal-Mart voted to be represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 540. What Wal-Mart proceeded to put these workers through was both unlawful and unconscionable.

“In one of the company’s most audacious displays of hubris, Wal-Mart first ignored the workers, refusing to bargain with them or provide information to their union. Only after the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against Wal-Mart did the company try to move the goalposts by claiming that workers in the meat department had lost their right to representation because the skilled meatcutting jobs had been replaced by a prepackaged meat program. Eight years and several legal battles later, Wal-Mart ran out of excuses when the United States Court of Appeals forced the company to bargain with these workers.

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It’s official - Armageddon will soon be upon us.

Democrats and Republicans are...gasp...working together to keep Wal-Mart from building near a Civil War battlefield in Virginia. Representative Ted Poe of Texas and Representative Peter Welch of Vermont [NOT pictured] have teamed up to oppose the Wal-Mart battlefield plan.

Two congressmen on opposite ends of the political spectrum--a liberal Democrat from Vermont and a conservative Republican from Texas--are speaking out against plans for a Wal-Mart store at Virginia’s Wilderness battlefield. U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., just joined Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, in writing Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke to oppose the company’s plan for a 139,000-square-foot Supercenter at what was a key Civil War crossroads.

According to history professors anywhere and everywhere, the 1st Vermont Brigade fought bravely in the Battle of the Wilderness, losing 1,232 men in one day. That fact combined with Wal-Mart’s general unpleasantness prompted the Vermont Legislature to get involved in the Virginia battle earlier this month, and urge relocation of the planned supercenter store. And now Congressis lending a voice.

“While we may represent different political parties and states on opposing sides of the Civil War, we stand united in our support of respecting hallowed ground such as The Wilderness battlefield,” Welch and Poe wrote the retail giant’s president.

To join the fight yourself, simply click here and signup.

Congressmen oppose Wal-Mart in Orange [The Free-Lance Star]

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A pair of stories - infant formula in Texas and continuing tax issues in Connecticut.

First, from Texas. Texas Wal-Marts are asking customers to check the dates on any infant formula sold within the state, after the office of the Attorney General learned that the retail giant had been selling expired product. There doesn’t appear to be a lawsuit on the horizon...the AG’s office simply asked Wal-Mart to remove the expired formula from shelves, inform customers, and make restitution. That most likely means refunds, but state penalties are not out of the question either.

The second story comes from Connecticut, where the neverending double taxation story has gotten life breathed back into it yet again. Here is our most recent post on the subject. And this, from the Hartford Courant:

Sue Drobinski of New Britain says that despite Wal-Mart entering into an agreement to follow state laws on taxes involving even exchanges, its employees in New Britain are not following the law.

I sent her email to state Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr. this morning, who has responded that his legal department will contact Wal-Mart to bring up this and other similar complaints.

Read on for more on both stories…

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When we hear about Wal-Mart being in the ‘top-five’ of something, we usually assume it’s in CEO salary, quarterly earnings, highest number of lawsuits pending against them or worst places ever to buy bassinets.  Today it’s among the worst corporations on worker’s right to organize. The International Labor Rights Forum [ILRF] released a report today called: “Working for Scrooge: 5 Worst Companies for the Right to Associate,” and guess who made the list?  We weren’t surprised either.  Wal-Mart has a very real history of anti-union propaganda and bigotry. 

The report cites several of the more highly-publicized anti union stories such as Jonquiere, Quebec where a tire and lube shop was shut down after workers successfully unionized it and Jacksonville, Texas, where the meat department of a retail outlet successfully unionized and Wal-Mart responded by shutting down the meat department in every Wal-Mart, nation-wide.  Will the newly-unionized Saskatchewan outlet meet the same fate?  We sure hope not…

Other finalists included: Dole, Del-Monte, Russell Athletic, and Nestle.  The union-busting must be stopped.  Write your local representative and tell them to support the Employee Free Choice Act today! 

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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 begins with a new study from the group Good Jobs First, which reveals that cash-strapped states are forgoing a total of roughly $1 billion annually in tax revenue because of little-noticed laws that permit retailers to keep a slice of the sales taxes they collect for the government. In fact, the study finds thirteen states do not cap the amount that a retailer can receive as vendor compensation for collecting sales tax, resulting in millions of lost tax dollars.

A large focus this week is also on Wal-Mart’s announcement that Lee Scott will step down as CEO in February 2009, to be replaced by Michael Duke, Wal-Mart’s Vice Chairman of its International Division. In addition to the CEO change, you’ll find stories on the battle over the Employee Free Choice Act, how Wal-Mart will deal with the Obama Administration from a labor perspective, and related news on Wal-Mart’s labor battles in Canada.

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 has founded a new consumer group in New England geared towards fighting Wal-Mart opponents, and has purchased its own wind-energy supply based out of Odessa, Texas

Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials [November 21, 2008]

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According to Good Jobs First and The Wall Street Journal, a large chunk of sales tax revenue gets redirected to retailers like Wal-Mart, a company that pockets an estimated $70 million a year in sales tax revenues.

At least that is the finding of a report released today by Good Jobs First, a nonprofit research group here in Washington:

Most of us don’t realize that in a majority of states with a sales tax, a portion of the money actually goes into the pocket of the retailer under programs set up by state and local governments. In this first-ever comprehensive national analysis of the subject, Good Jobs First finds that the public sector is losing more than $1 billion a year through these sales-tax diversions. A large share of revenue gets redirected to giant retailers such as Wal-Mart, a company we estimate pockets more than $70 million a year in sales tax revenues.

The state laws discussed in the report allow retailers to keep a portion of sales-tax revenue to offset the cost of collecting the funds in the first place, a reasonable enough excuse (especially since state governments are so flush with cash at the present). But does anyone really, and I mean REALLY, believe that Wal-Mart spends $60 million a year collecting sales tax? In this age of computer everything and electronic money transfers, I have a hard time believing it costs more than a fraction of that.

As it stands, many states have calculated a vendor compensation rate, which can be applied to a percentage of sales tax revenue to determine how much a retailer gets to keep for its trouble. As the WSJ reports, Good Jobs First has identified 13 states that impose no ceiling on the total amount retailers can keep. In states such as Illinois, Texas, Pennsylvania and Colorado that vendor compensation rate can be applied to the full amount of sales tax a company collects, resulting in substantial returns for companies like Wal-Mart. Good Jobs First has estimated the givebacks in these states - Illinois ($126 million), Texas ($90 million), Pennsylvania ($72 million), and Colorado ($69 million). Jesse Drucker at the WSJ kindly puts some perspective on those numbers - for example, the $90 million Texas gives away by not capping vendor compensation would cover the $82 million price-tag needed to fund that state’s primary pre-kindergarten program.

For what its worth, the Illinois Revenue Department was quoted as saying the state has tried to cap the compensation program, but relentless lobbying by the retail industry has so far kept legislators from making changes.

Skimming the Sales Tax: How Wal-Mart and Other Big Retailers (Legally) Keep a Cut of the Taxes We Pay on Everyday Purchases [Good Jobs First, November 2008]

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A Missouri City (Texas) woman convicted of a sex crime is out to prove that she has rights after being fired from her job at Wal-Mart.

Rebecca Vlasek, she of the inspiring mug shot, has filed suit claiming discrimination against our little Wal-Mart. Why you ask? Well, I’ll tell you.

Picture it: Brenham, Texas...1999. A sultry high school teacher pleads guilty to felony sexual assault of a minor. The charge: having a relationship with a 14-year-old female student. The result: 10 years on probation and the thrill of getting to register as an official pervert within the state of Texas. You can check out her rap sheet here and here.

So why is Vlasek complaining now? Well Wal-Mart, it turns out, discovered some time ago that it has quite a few sexual offenders working within its friendly confines. And, as it also turns out, every so often one of these offenders decides to, how shall we say, engage in some recidivism? Like this, and this...AND this........AANNNND this.

The result is that Wal-Mart, since adopting a new criminal background check policy, has fired approximately 800 employees who are registered sex offenders. Vlasek (pictured more recently), however, isn’t complaining about those that were fired...no, she’s complaining about the 25 or more (male, she claims) employee offenders Wal-Mart ISN’T firing. That’s right - according to her complaint, Vlasek is alleging that she has received disparate treatment because of her gender. We’ll see whether the court buys the arguments that Vlasek was fired not just because she “had relations” with a 14-year-old girl but because she is a woman...AND that Wal-Mart retained those other 25 or so offenders specifically because they’re men, and not for some other reason.

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The past couple weeks have seen plenty of stories describing ways in which Wal-Mart has mobilized to aid the Gulf Coast in preparation and relief efforts during hurricane season.

It seems, however, that even though the corporation was making efforts to lessen the blow of the storm, they still haven’t lost sight of the bottom-line.  In a story posted yesterday in The Examiner, Wal-Mart was accused of price-gouging gasoline at one of their stations along an evacuation route in Southeast Texas. The Wal-Mart/Murphy USA located on U.S. 69 in Lumberton raised their price of gasoline a total of 12 cents in the day leading up to the evacuation for Hurricane Gustav, then another 10 cents when the evacuation was announced. 

These prices were NOT consistent with other gas-stations in the area and following the storm, prices dropped again to reflect market prices. And despite a gas station manager claiming that prices went up because of a “gas price rise”, the cost of oil per barrel dropped over each of the three days. 

Evacuation Gas Game [The Examiner (Texas)]:

In the days and hours leading to the potential call for a mandatory evacuation for Southeast Texas residents the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) blasted across its electronic billboard alert system that a hurricane was coming and residents needed to fill up their tanks with gasoline.

According to a local wholesale fuel provider, most everyone heeded TxDOT’s advice, but The Examiner also kept close watch on one gasoline retailer located along the main evacuation route from Southeast Texas.

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Well, first it was the tomato that was the culprit. Then tomatoes were deemed clean, and safe to eat again. Then, in a twist of culinary fate, a new villain in the salmonella outbreak showed its face - a spicy little number possibly originating at a farm down in Mexico. The jalepeno pepper. And now the tiny pepper has turned its capsaicin-spewing fury on Wal-Mart.

Actually, the complaint at issue was filed on behalf of Delores, Colorado resident Brian Grubbs against Wal-Mart and an unknown supplier, referred to in the complaint as “John Doe”. According to the lawsuit, the Grubbs family purchased jalapeño peppers from the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Cortez, Colorado in late June. Grubbs and his family proceeded to eat them over the next week. According to the Rocky Mountain News:

Samples showed he was positive for salmonella Saintpaul, and later the jalapeño peppers back at his house that he hadn’t yet eaten also tested positive for that strain of salmonella, the suit said.

“Consumers believe that retailers like Wal-Mart know the quality and safety of products they sell,” Marler said. “Retailers benefit from that trust, and must be held accountable for the products they sell.”

Salmonella is, of course, no fun at all - Salmonellosis illnesses from the Saintpaul strain began showing up in Texas and New Mexico in late April, and in early June the CDC linked those illnesses to raw tomatoes and issued consumer warnings. Those warnings were, of course, completely wrong - the list of possible culprits was first widened before eventually being narrowed to raw jalapeno and serrano peppers.

On July 30, the FDA confirmed the presence of salmonella Saintpaul at a farm in Mexico, both in irrigation water and on produce. The investigation is continuing.

Man sickened by jalapeños files first salmonella lawsuit [Rocky Mountain News]

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Lawyers: Legal impediment to Wal-Mart will be removed [Corpus Christi Caller Times (Texas)]

A lawsuit that delayed a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter at Parkdale Plaza will be dropped, opposing attorneys said Thursday.

The Wal-Mart would be the centerpiece of a major renewal for Parkdale Plaza, once the city’s premier shopping destination but for years a deteriorating eyesore. Neighboring Sutherlands, a tenant of the Parkdale owners, filed suit claiming Wal-Mart would be too direct a competitor.

Attorneys for Parkdale Plaza and Sutherlands had been scheduled to meet Thursday in a non-jury trial in the 148th District Court about the issue, but both parties did not show up, telling court officials that a file order of non-suit would be filed on behalf of Sutherlands.

The non-suit filing means the lawsuit and all claims in it is stopped, according to Parkdale Plaza attorney Van Huseman.

“Final resolution of this dispute will be deferred until, and if, Wal-Mart buys the property from my client,” Huseman said.

He declined to comment further.

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On February 19, 2008, Sprawl- Busters reported that Wal-Mart had been hit with a double whammy in Corpus Christi, Texas. One planned supercenter was dead, and a second was mired in a landlord-tenant lawsuit.

The dead project was on the southside of the city, in the Timbergate neighborhood. According to the Caller-Times newspaper, Wal-Mart got a waiver approved by the city’s Planning Commission in November 2007, after resubmitting their plans for a rezoning. In March, 2007, Wal-Mart squeaked by the Planning Commission on a 5-3 vote in favor of the project. But in June, Wal-Mart withdrew their rezoning application for South Staples Street just one day before it was scheduled to come before the City Council.

Normally, if an application is pulled, the proponent has to wait a full year before resubmitting. But in this case, Wal-Mart asked that their cooling off period be cut in half. Wal-Mart wanted the city to change the land from its current designation of R-1B, or single family, to B-1, a neighborhood business district. To apply for the B-1 zone, Wal-Mart had to eliminate a tire and lube center from the mix. City staff admitted that granting a waiver was a “rare occurrence.” But when the Planning Commission met, they voted unanimously to approve a “rare” waiver for Wal-Mart, allowing the company to proceed with their rezoning application.

Corpus Christi planning staff said at the time that the retailer had not given them enough information to make a decision. “We need time to review and recommend and we’re frankly not convinced (the latest information from Wal-Mart is) adequate, but it’s at least a step in the right direction,” the city’s planning director told the Caller Times. But by February, 2008,
plans for the Southside Supercenter had fallen apart, because the landowners announced that they were selling the property to the H.E.B. grocery chain.

In the meantime, the second Wal-Mart project at the Parkdale Plaza, a 203,000 s.f. supercenter, ran into a landlord-tenant dispute. Dueling lawsuits were filed by the Parkdale Plaza owners and their tenants, the Sutherlands, a home improvement chain store in 13 states in the south, Midwest and Gulf Coast. The Sutherlands were sued for allowing their parking lot to deteriorate and become pitted. The Parkdale Plaza owners were sued by Sutherlands for violating an agreement not to allow a direct competitor to the home improvement store into the Plaza.

Sutherlands said their lease prevents the landlord from allowing another prospective tenant to be “permitted to sell building materials and/or home improvement supplies and services.” Sutherlands wanted Wal-Mart to show that its product mix would not affect Sutherlands’ business and current lease. The Parkdale Plaza owners said the Sutherlands lawsuit is freezing progress on the Wal-Mart Supercenter and that Sutherlands needs to maintain its parking lot, or the company could face a termination of their lease.

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Incentives for Parkdale considered [Corpus Christi Caller-Times (Texas)]

Parkdale Plaza developers and city officials are discussing the possibility of issuing tax incentives for the plaza, which likely would be anchored by a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

A lawsuit stalling the project, however, is pending between the plaza’s owners and Sutherlands.

“The city is considering a review of the economic impact of development in that area to determine if incentives may be offered,” said Oscar Martinez, an assistant city manager. “Those could take the form of tax abatements, 4A funds (economic development sales tax funds) or an agreement to split the increase in taxes from new development.”

Martinez said an economic impact study is the first step to see what benefits a development brings and whether a development would match criteria outlined in the city’s tax incentives policies. The city drafted a policy for retail tax incentives in June 2007 that addresses several types of tax incentives.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sally Aiello said a lease with Parkdale Plaza owners has not been secured, and while there have been some positive talks about moving forward with the project, she could not comment any further.

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Size of Northcross Wal-Mart drastically reduced as company reexamines plans for new stores [Austin Business Journal]

Wal-Mart plans to cut the size of its controversial store at Northcross Mall almost in half.

The retail giant already had city approval to build a 192,000-square-foot store on the site at Burnet Road and Anderson Lane. But now Wal-Mart says it will reduce the store’s footprint to 99,000 square feet as part of a nationwide reevaluation of its new stores.

The planned store will now be just one story instead of two and will have surface parking in lieu of a garage. Groceries will remain part of the merchandise mix but a garden center and auto shop will be eliminated in the new plan, a spokesperson says. The design aesthetic of the building will remain largely intact. Construction has not yet begun on the store since developer Lincoln Property Co. has been concentrating its attention on another portion of the site.

Since the plan was unveiled in late 2006, Lincoln Property Co., the group redeveloping the aging mall, and Wal-Mart have drawn fire from area residents who said the store would create tremendous traffic problems in the area among other issues. Several lawsuits were filed but none was successful in stopping the development.

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Parkdale Wal-Mart hearing is set [Corpus Christi Caller-Times (Texas)]

A hearing on a lawsuit that has delayed Wal-Mart’s plan for a Supercenter at Parkdale Plaza is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the 148th District Court.

Clarifications on the lease agreement between Parkdale Plaza’s owners and Sutherlands are sought in the lawsuit. The Supercenter was supposed to have a grand opening early this year.

Sutherlands officials have said their lease prevents the landlord from allowing another prospective tenant to be “permitted to sell building materials and/or home improvement supplies and services.”

Sutherlands attorney Jim Robichaux of Corpus Christi could not be reached for comment Monday. Previously he said the lease needs to be clearly defined and Wal-Mart needs to show its proposed business model and how that would not affect Sutherlands’ business and lease.

Van Huseman, an attorney representing the Parkdale Plaza owners, said the hearing was procedural and would determine who would get depositions first and other information related to the lawsuit. The trial date has not been set, he said.

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Wal-Mart has already been shut down twice in Corpus Christi, but evidently thinks the third time will be a charm and is currently mulling over possible locations on the south side of town.

In addition to the traffic, crime, and environmental concerns, and the strain it would put on local businesses, Wal-Mart has announced that if it opens a new supercenter on the southside of Corpus Christi, the “old” Wal-Mart store on South Padre Island Drive will be shut down. Building a new supercenter just to leave another one a dilapidated eyesore doesn’t seem to jive with the official land use vision of Corpus Christi: “To make Corpus Christi one of the most livable communities in America. To create a vibrant, progressive, clean city that rejoices in its diversity...and provide an abundance of economic development opportunities while paying special attention to our unique environment.”

For some good background, Al Norman runs down the the Corpus Christi site fight here, here and here .

And if anyone’s wondering what a Texas town might look like without a Wal-Mart, check out how Burkburnett is doing. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it?

TAKE ACTION NOW

If you live in the area, email the Mayor and City Council Members and tell them that Corpus Christi doesn’t need another Wal-Mart.