Stymied by Politicians, Wal-Mart Turns to Voters (special election )

[SoCalDem]

The election is Tomorrow.. Apparently (from what I hear on the radio this am) Wal-mart diod not "like" the way the city leaders had turned them down, so they PAID FOR a petition drive and millions of dollars worth of Hispanic/Black-friendly ads (TONS OF THEM), and they paid for the special election.. So much for democracy.. They just plan to BUY everything they want, and never mind the fact that they were already told NO..

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Stymied by Politicians, Wal-Mart Turns to Voters

Stymied by Politicians, Wal-Mart Turns to Voters

Published April 05. 2004 8:30AM

New York Times


INGLEWOOD, Calif., April 2 As Wal-Mart continues its march across the American landscape, this Los Angeles suburb of 112,000 people is the latest testing ground for the company's exercise of political and marketing muscle. Inglewood voters go to the polls on Tuesday to decide whether to turn over 60 acres of barren concrete adjacent to the Hollywood Park racetrack to Wal-Mart to create a megastore and a collection of chain shops and restaurants.



The ballot initiative is sponsored by Wal-Mart, which collected more than 10,000 signatures to put the question to voters after the Inglewood City Council blocked the proposed development last year, citing environmental, traffic, labor, public safety and economic concerns.



While Wal-Mart has turned to the ballot in a number of cities and towns to win the right to build its giant emporiums, the Inglewood initiative is significantly different. The proposal would essentially exempt Wal-Mart from all of Inglewood's planning, zoning and environmental regulations, creating a city-within-a-city subject only to its own rules. Wal-Mart has hired an advertising and public relations firm to market the initiative and is spending more than $1 million to support the measure, known as initiative 04-A.

snip.....

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Prominent Leaders Rally To Keep Wal-Mart Out
Prominent Leaders Rally To Keep Wal-Mart Out

POSTED: 10:34 am PDT April 5, 2004
UPDATED: 12:13 pm PDT April 5, 2004

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- The controversy over a proposed new Southland Wal-Mart Supercenter is heating up.

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Prominent national leaders including Rep. Maxine Waters and Rev. Jesse Jackson added their political clout Monday to the effort to keep the giant retailer out. A rally took place near the proposed site of the new superstore across the street from the Great Western Forum on the Avenue of the Champions.

NBC4's Helen Kumari reported from the "No to Measure 4-A" rally, saying the protesters called the proposed new Wal-Mart Superstore a "modern day plantation."

snip...

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The Republic of Wal-Mart

OUR TAKE

The Republic of Wal-Mart

By Seth Jayson
April 5, 2004

Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is so huge, news stories often report that the firm would be in the top 20 economies of the world, if it were a country and not a corporation. Oddly enough, if things go well for Wal-Mart tomorrow, it will take a step toward becoming an autonomous political unit, at least in Inglewood, Calif. If ballot measure 0-4A passes, the world's biggest retailer will win the right to build a supercenter -- one of the firm's flagship grocery and retail megastores -- that would cover an area the size of 14 football fields. Inglewood is one of several California towns where elected officials have attempted to keep out big box retailers.

In a region already scarred by the recent grocery strike, a coalition of organized labor and community activists is squaring off against Wal-Mart with familiar arguments about low wages and a dearth of benefits, and the effect that the company's non-union workforce has on grocers like Safeway (NYSE: SWY) and Albertson's (NYSE: ABS). Wal-Mart counters that the economic trickle-down will be good for a city with high unemployment, where close to one-fourth of the population lives below the poverty line.

So while it's unusual to see a private corporation go straight to the voters for an end-run around the legislative process (and spend about $1 million in the process), there are some even stranger provisions in the ballot initiative. The 71-page measure would authorize the construction to proceed without public hearings and without traffic or environmental reviews. But the kicker is this: Any changes to the project would require a separate election and a two-thirds vote by residents.

Very clever. The folks who run Wal-Mart didn't just bounce off the turnip truck. They obviously realize how easy it is to sway 51% of the electorate, thus the higher threshold for future changes. If 0-4A passes, the company will not only have a license to make its own rules, but it will be all but impossible for Inglewood's citizens to regain control of this enormous piece of development. This precedent for corporate autonomy might be great for Wal-Mart shareholders, but I'm not so sure about the rest of us.

snip....

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[fertilizeonarbusto]

1. "Modern-day plantation"

ain't that the truth!

[Cocoa]

2. paying for its ads

with money skimmed from its own employees. :puke:

[radwriter0555]

3. walmart paid more to SIGNATURE GATHERERS than they pay THEIR CLERKS...

in this monstrous display of corporate greed.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

4. I wish Wal-Mart would go ENRON!!!

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[7th_Sephiroth]

5. our best hope is to

Help Meijer spread out from michigan

[SharonAnn]

13. Yes, I loved Meijer in Dayton, Ohio. Now I'm here in East TN

and we don't have Meijer's stores and I miss them so much.

I started shopping at them because of the way they treated their workers and because they're union stores. I kept shopping there because they're great.

Same with Kroger's. I'm not close to a Kroger's so I build quite a list before I go grocery shopping - it's a drive.

[alfredo]

6. Inglewood should install toll booths at the entrances to the parking lot.

$1.00 to get in, $5.00 to get out.

[joycep]

7. I used to shop at Wal-mart and loved it.

But when I became aware of how they are treating their employees I quit going. Same with Fred's here. A lot of people just are not aware of anything except the good prices and variety. I wish more people did pay attention to their horrible behavior to their workers.

[Marthe48]

8. Wal Mart -aftermath

Since a WalMart was built here, we have lost 2 regional dept. stores (Hills and Ames), a local shoe store, 2 local clothing stores, and a discount shoe chain. Two reasons I won't shop there: they have guards at the door at Christmas checking receipts--I'm not a criminal and I refuse to be treated as a suspect; and because I want shopping choices in 5 years. I won't have them anyway, I don't think, unless I go to the net. At leasat I'm not helping our local businesses go bankrupt. I try to patronize the local stores over regional chains, because I like it that they know who I am. And I shop online, but I try to find small shops that have good prices on American products.
It is too bad that so many people believe Wal Mart's biggest lie: "lowest prices every day" They are not the lowest and I prove that to myself over and over.

[SoCalDem]

11. We have a small furniture & appliance store in my town

It's on a section of closed (dead-ended) highway, and yet I have bought all my furniture from them..appliances too..

It's a true "family business".. Their store is delapidated, but they have fair prices, and good quality stuff..

When my freezer "died", they delivered a new one within 2 hours, the delivery was FREE, the delivery men helped me unload my thawing stuff into the new one, and they hauled the old one away..

I paid a little bit more, but at any "big-box" store, I would have had to pay for delivery, and haul-off..and would have had to wait a few days... (ruined food cost is a factor too)..

When I buy furniture, I can (and HAVE bartered with the owner, since he knows me..(and I pay cash..that helps a lot too :)..)..

Since we got our walmart, all but ONE "local" drug store has gone out of business.. We have walgreens, rite aid, longs, and now it seems as if ALL supermarkets have pharmacies too...

[mulethree]

9. Let them Build it

and then "Exempt" them from any access to the public roads.

[louis-t]

10. This is very scary.

Think: Back to the Future Part Two. One giant corrupt mega-conglomerate controls a whole town.

[Generic Other]

12. Maybe if all the jobs leave the country, Wal-Mart will too?

I think this is as good a place as any to remind people to buy used goods, barter, buy locally. We do not have to support these monopolies just so we can have cheap junk produced by slave labor. It is all interconnected.

Don't buy crap you can make. Re-cycle. Join the underground economy. Don't enable the owner class. Let Wal-Mart's shelves spill over with cheap trinkets from third world nations.

Downsize and outsource Wal-Mart.