CALIFORNIA SITE FIGHT: CITIZENS MOVE TO BLOCK SUPER WAL-MART
Wal-Mart can’t be stopped; but Super Wal-Mart might be [Ventura County Reporter (Calif.)]
A decision last week by the Ventura City Council to place an initiative restricting big box chain stores on November 2009 ballots, rather than adopt an ordinance for it, was not an unexpected move, according to opponents sworn to halt a Wal-Mart coming to the city’s Victoria Avenue business corridor.
Members of the Stop Wal-Mart Coalition, CAUSE and Livable Ventura, three activist groups who have lobbied vigorously to prevent the chain retailer from implementing its proposed plans to take up the empty store space once occupied by a K-Mart, say they are happy the future of Wal-Mart will come at the hands of voters, but had hoped an immediate action by the council would be taken at the Nov. 24 session.
“We expected them to take the action that they did. We support putting it to the voters,” said Das Williams, a member of Livable Ventura.
“We’re a little bit concerned,” he continued. “We believe it would have been better to adopt it now to provide some certainty to the people of Ventura.”
Concern and certainty are two words that could be utilized in defining the Wal-Mart scenario since local public outcry arose in the past few years. The anti-Wal-Mart community has railed against the retailer’s questionable business practices, effects the store could have on traffic along Victoria, and the potential for usurping revenues from its competitors.
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: | Community Impact | Economic/Small Business | Traffic/Sprawl | legislation | Organizing | Zoning Regulations | | | |
Posted by Luke West on Thursday, December 04, 2008 | Permalink
CALIFORNIA SITE FIGHT: CITY TO LIMIT SIZE OF NEW WAL-MART STORE
City approves scaled-down Wal-Mart [The Record (Calif.)]
The City Council on Tuesday authorized construction of a Wal-Mart in Weston Ranch, the retail giant having greatly reduced the store’s planned size to comply with Stockton’s big-box ban.
The Wal-Mart is to anchor a planned shopping center near Interstate 5 and French Camp Road. It could open in late 2010, Wal-Mart spokesman Aaron Rios said.
Stockton officials and south side residents at City Hall on Tuesday called the store’s approval a success for south Stockton. Residents no longer will have to drive miles north to shop, they said.
“It’s about time we have our own shopping center,” said Benni Mabini, 67, a Weston Ranch resident and a greeter at the Hammer Lane Wal-Mart in north Stockton.
South side Councilwoman Rebecca Nabors said south Stockton has long been underserved, but “this is a beginning.”
Also see: Stockton,CA. Wal-Mart Slashes Superstore to 99,000 S.F. [Battlemart Blog]
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: | Community Impact | Zoning Regulations | | |
Posted by Luke West on Thursday, December 04, 2008 | Permalink
NEW YORK SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART MUST PASS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REVIEW
http://www.thesunnews.net/news.php3?idkey=1703” title="Final environmental impact statement to be submitted for Wal-Mart in Evans [The Sun (Hamburg, N.Y.)]">Final environmental impact statement to be submitted for Wal-Mart in Evans [The Sun (Hamburg, N.Y.)]
The Final Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Wal-Mart in the Town of Evans is expected to be submitted to town officials next week.
Wal-Mart, who is looking to tear down the former Grandview Drive-In on Route 5 near Lake Street, wants to build a 133,000-square-foot “Supercenter.”
The impact statement must address all the concerns raised by the Evans Planning Board and its planning consultants when the Draft Environmental Impact Statement was presented to them.
A draft of the statement was first submitted in September 2007 but was withdrawn for modifications in November and the scheduled public hearing was canceled. A revised draft was then submitted and accepted in January, which was followed by a public hearing held in February.
Verbal and written comments submitted about the draft were then turned over to Wal-Mart.
The impact statement will be presented to the Planning Board at 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 8 at Lake Shore High School. According to town officials, the meeting will be brief and no public discussion will be held. In addition, no action will be taken on the project and no final decision will be made on the site plan until the environmental review process is finished.
Topics: | Community Impact | Economic/Small Business | | |
Posted by Luke West on Thursday, December 04, 2008 | Permalink
NEW JERSEY SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART WILL NOT PAY FOR LOCAL TRAIL IN LAWRENCE
Lawrence resolves Wal-Mart trail issue [Times of Trenton (N.J.)]
In an unusual vote, the township planning board agreed it would have approved plans for a Wal-Mart on Spruce Street even without the retailer paying for the cost of a trail.
The vote Monday was needed after Superior Court Judge Linda R. Feinberg remanded the case back to the planning board in June to resolve that one issue, said Richard S. Krawczun, township manager.
All four board members present approved the decision. Mark Holmes was absent.
A group of residents called “Let’s Stop Wal-Mart” filed a lawsuit in February against the township, property owners Cahill and Coleman, and Wal-Mart to block the store that had been proposed for the 23.5-acre plot. Although Wal-Mart withdrew its proposal, the lawsuit remains pending be cause the township and the property owner had opposed a plaintiff’s motion to dismiss it, said R. William Potter, the lawyer for the plaintiffs.
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: | Community Impact | legislation | | |
Posted by Luke West on Thursday, December 04, 2008 | Permalink
CONNECTICUT SITE FIGHT: HEARING ON BROOKLYN WAL-MART NEXT MONTH
Hearing on Brooklyn Wal-Mart tentatively set for next month [Norwich Bulletin (Conn.)]
Brooklyn, Conn. —
The Brooklyn Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday accepted an application for a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Board members said they expect two to three public hearings on the application to build a 158,000-square-foot Supercenter on Route 6 at Brickyard Road.
Chairman Thomas Doherty said Wal-Mart will meet with the consultants from the commission and the Northeast Connecticut Council of Governments before the first public hearing is set, tentatively for Jan. 21.
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: | Community Impact | legislation | Zoning Regulations | | |
Posted by Luke West on Thursday, December 04, 2008 | Permalink
Stockton,CA. Wal-Mart Slashes Superstore to 99,000 S.F.
Once again, Wal-Mart has been cut down to size. Roughly a year ago, on December 1, 2007, Sprawl-Busters reported that a local citizen’s group in Stockton, California had taken on the world’s largest retailer---and blocked a Wal-Mart superstore. After three years of battles, the citizen’s group had their moment in court this time last year. The Stockton Citizens for Sensible Planning beat Wal-Mart twice in court. On August 21, 2007, Sprawl-Busters reported that the City Council in Stockton, California had joined a growing number of communities in capping the size of certain big box retail stores. By a vote of 6-1, the City Council voted to prohibit stores that exceed 100,000 square feet and which contain full-size grocery stores. The ordinance exempts discount stores like Costco or Sam’s Club.
There is one Wal-Mart superstore already in Stockton on East Hammer Lane, which will not be affected, because it is already open for business and pre-dated the size limit. But the Wal-Mart had a second superstore planed for the north side of Stockton, that was filed before the cap took effect. When the city granted approval, the Stockton Citizens for Sensible Planning hired a lawyer and took the city to court. The citizens won in Superior Court on grounds that the city’s staff person had made procedural errors. Wal-Mart then appealed the Superior Court decision. Three months after Wal-Mart’s appeal, the courts stopped Wal-Mart’s growth plans in Stockton. In a 2-1 decision, the Appeals Court upheld a San Joaquin County Superior Court ruling that the city of Stockton failed to follow state law in approving the development on a portion of Spanos Park West, being built by the Spanos Construction Co. After the environmental review for the project had been done, Spanos told the city it wanted to build a 207,000 s.f. Wal-Mart store on land that was zoned to be used for high-density residential development.
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: | | Community Impact | Site Fights & Local Ordinances | Traffic/Sprawl | Lawsuits | legislation | Organizing | Zoning Regulations | | |
Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, December 04, 2008 | Permalink
Cities cope with store closings, blight
Falling sales-tax revenues. An onslaught of vacant storefronts. When your state economy is based on growth, and the national economy goes in the tank, these are the dangers. According to yesterday’s Arizona Republic:
By late next year, more than 75 stores are expected to close, resulting in a loss of nearly 2,000 Arizona retail jobs. The turnover likely will offer shoppers bargains at various going-out-of-business sales and could eventually inspire an influx of newer, trendier stores. But the closures also have city officials scrambling to cover revenue shortfalls and deter commercial blight.
While Wal-Mart may be able to absorb the cost of closed stores and their leases, cities and towns are left dealing with empty buildings that can lead to a rise in crime and vandalism, the lowering of property values, and depressed sales for neighboring retailers when the closed store is the anchor for a strip mall. And for states like Arizona, a drop in sales tax revenue. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has pointed out that some cities, such as Oakdale, California, or Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, require retail developers set aside money that can be used by the city to either demolish or maintain the site should the store or shopping center become vacant.
Some cities, like Mesa, Arizona, aren’t so lucky.
The shell of a former Walmart sits 2 miles from a Kmart that will close in January. A Mervyn’s and Circuit City will soon depart the area. Such losses this year contributed to Mesa’s $62 million budget shortfall. The city announced 315 layoffs last month.
Cities try to cope with shortfalls in sales taxes, blight left by shut stores [Arizona Republic]
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: | | | | | Community Impact | Environment | legislation |
Posted by Corey Himrod on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 | Permalink
6 Days After The Stampede: A Media Roundup
Six days after Jdimytai Damour’s tragic death, a clearer picture has emerged of not only its immediate causes but the broader question of who is responsible.
[Nassau County, NY Police Commissioner] Mulvey said yesterday that Damour’s cause of death was “positional asphyxiation” consistent with having pressure applied to his chest… “He was trampled to death,” Mulvey said. [Newsday.com, 12/2/08]
The official autopsy does not lie; it clearly took a massive flood of people to knock over and crush a 270-pound man. Other articles point out how the death was preventable:
“This incident was avoidable,” said Bruce Both, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, the state of New York’s largest grocery worker’s union…"Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner?[CNN, 11/30/08]
Clearly, Damour lacked training and was ill-prepared to handle the onslaught he faced, further reiterating Wal-Mart’s tendency to under-train and under-staff:
[The family’s attorney] Hecht said Damour had been working at the Wal-Mart only for about a week and was hired through an employment agency that provides temporary staffing. Damour had not been trained for any security assignments and had no background in crowd control, he said. [AP, 12/1/08]
This Wall Street Journal story summarizes Wal-Mart’s culpability:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. should have had better crowd control to prevent the death of a worker who was trampled the day after Thanksgiving amid the bargain-hunting frenzy whipped up by the sales known as door-busters, according to local police and a lawyer for the worker’s family.
Unfortunately, it’s not the first time:
Wal-Mart faced several lawsuits from customers who claimed they were hurt by out-of-control shoppers seeking talking Furby dolls in 1998. [Wall Street Journal, 12/2/08]
It’s also important to keep in mind that Damour’s death, while the most severe event this Black Friday, was not the only one; it mirrored other, less serious incidents across the country that easily could have been far worse. For example, in Mississippi:
Allison Burchyett…said she was punched in the stomach by another female shopper who swiped a camera out of her hands at about 4:45 a.m. Friday. [DeSoto Times-Tribune (Miss.), 12/2/08]
News coverage of Damour’s death over the past few days has reflected mixed assignments of blame. Of course, many sources cite the crowd’s collective responsibility and that of the individuals within it.
EXCUSE THE journalistic license, but I’m trying really hard to imagine what must have been in the minds of those impatient, early morning shoppers who trampled a security guard to death during a Black Friday sale at Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y. [Philadelphia Daily News, 12/2/08]
However, other sources place the responsibility squarely on Wal-Mart’s shoulders, pointing out that they and other retailers incited a climate of reckless bargain-hunting. A letter in the New York Times indicts corporate America as a whole:
Though blame for this tragic incident rests primarily upon the barbarians who rushed the door, corporate America must shoulder some blame for creating the hype surrounding the ritual known as Black Friday that causes some aggressive and nasty people to do horrible things. [NY Times, 12/1/08]
Read the rest of this story ...
Topics: | Lawsuits | |
Posted by Chris C on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 | Permalink
