From my Pittsburgh in-laws: WalMart Schadenfreude

[TalkingDog]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_734130.html

Wal-Mart bought the 75-acre site, formerly home to Dixmont State Hospital, for $13.7 million with hopes of developing a supercenter there. Plans were scrapped by a September 2006 landslide that dumped 500,000 cubic yards of earth onto the highway and three adjacent Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.

Wal-Mart has been paying for costly stabilization work since. In court paperwork, the retail giant estimates its damages "will likely exceed $50 million."

Cleveland Construction Inc. project manager Rich York referred questions to Wal-Mart, which did not return messages.


Bwaaahhhahahahahahaaaa!

[Archae]

1. I don't see what's so funny.

Is this another "Wal-Mart iz EEEEVIL!" post?

[Cerridwen]

3. I can't speak for the OP, but I kind of like to be able to witness karma

in real time.

[TalkingDog]

4. No, it's a: WalMart let greed blind it to common sense post.

My FIL is in his late 80's and from the second that WalMart bullied their way into having the zoning changed just so they could build on the site, he started saying that the fill they were piling up to increase the buildable space was never going to stay on top of the hill.

He bitched about it for months. Then it slid off the hill, just like he said.

But since you brought it up, WalMart is indeed evil.

[Cerridwen]

2. Some years back, I learned that walmart received gov't grants

which they then used for "community outreach" which was followed by a PR blitz of their contributions to the community; all on the gov't dime while expending none or few of their profits. I wish I'd hung on to that piece of paper because I can't find the damned thing on the internet.

Then there is their practice of advising people how to qualify for gov't services rather than paying a living wage.

I'll not mourn for their financial loses and I look forward to the day when their big boxes are turned into indoor farmer's markets and craft shows and dance halls or homeless shelters (though I prefer we cure poverty than need the damned things).

[Newest Reality]

5. Someday,

You will just see skeletons, (if that) of those super centers after they have been picked clean of anything useful or valuable as we recycle everything we can in the aftermath of America Inc.

[Sherman A1]

6. Some days you get the bear and somedays

the bear gets you. It appears that Wal Mart shot themselves in the foot, not doing due diligence on the parcel & the surrounding area. I am certain they will sue somebody to recover their costs in this episode. More full employment for the Wal Mart legal department (which I suspect does not have to apply for government assistance for their medical care, but I am just guessin').