I feel beaten, I don't know whether to quit or keep fighting WalMart

[cags]

Tuesday night our city council voted 5-2 to amend the zoning ordinance to allow WalMart to come to our town.

We got about 1800 signatures in a town of 14,000 people, which were 90% against the WalMart(We took for and against to show the council members an honest survey). The council members were bombarded with emails and calls against the WalMArt. They even admitted at the meeting that they knew the people did not want it, but they felt the tax revenue outweighed the bad effects of WalMart. My 13 yr old daughter spoke at the meeting and she was so awesome I was so freaking proud of her.

Well now our group is meeting this weekend to see if we want or can keep fighting this. We've contacted an attorney and he seems to think we have options. Within 2 days we've gotten $20,000 in plegdes from the residents for a legal fund. I think we have to pursue a recall of the council members then we can get a temporary restraining order on thier decision.

But I am tired, my family has been going door to door for 2 weeks everyday, and I can only imagine the work of a recall. I feel like there is something fishy going on with council members, maybe being paid by WalMart, and theres nothing we can do to win.

How do you fight WalMart if your own council members are trying to get it in?



:shrug: I can't decide what to do

[wyldwolf]

1. Run for city council

Won't help this time, but at least if you win a council seat you can fight this type of thing from the inside.

[ultraist]

20. where did you get that banner?

[wyldwolf]

35. I made it, why?

[ultraist]

41. It's great! Nice work.

[wryter2000]

2. You and your family should be proud of yourselves

I can't advise you on what to do, but I want to recognize your struggle. :yourock:

[Canuckistanian]

3. Invite some members of the local Chamber of Commerce

I'm sure they'll give your council members an earfull....

[Maddy McCall]

4. Good luck.

If the town is in need of tax money, that might be what is on the council's mind. Do they plan to give WM big tax breaks to come into your town?

[cags]

9. We don't need the money, they want it for extra things

like a library and skate park, but the residents have said they would rather not have them if the price is WalMart

[NYC]

5. Keep fighting.

I know you are tired, but it is a worthy cause.

Perhaps you can't succeed, but you owe it to yourself to try. Do your best. Don't give up until Walmart opens its doors for business. Your community deserves to live Walmart-free.

Best of luck.

[hiley]

6. keep fighting

Walmart .
Kudos to your daughter !

[Starlight]

7. I'd love to tell you to keep fighting.

But I understand if it's too much. :hug:

I saw in the NYT that Walmart is trying to get into NYC now. :(

[beyurslf]

8. I love to hear about young activists being raised up. Keep fighting if you

can.

[napi21]

10. AAre you close to other towns, or a large one?

I can't believe WM could run a profitable store with only 14,000 people in the area.

My thought is, if the majority of residentsdon't want WM, and there's not other towns close enough to patronize it, even if they build the darn thing, it won't be open long.

[cags]

11. That is one of our concerns, we are next to a town of 40,000

that won't allow WalMart in thier town, so they think they will get those cutomers.

[Sgent]

12. Walmart

runs many, many supercenters in towns with 10-20K.

That's how they got their start, by opening in rural areas and completely wiping out the competition.

[Nikia]

54. I was going to say something similiar

It seems that they prospective Walmart towns really need to hit around 7,000 in population if there is not another Walmart within 20 miles or so if the outlying areas aren't completely uninhabited. If a town is big enough to have any large discount, department, or even grocery store, it is big enough to have a Walmart. Their strategy is to close the competitors down.

[napi21]

14. Did they already buy the property?

If not, is it possiblee to convince the owners not to sell?

[cags]

21. The owners haven't sold yet, but they want to. I really don't blame

them though. There are 4 owners who will leave the community, and they just want the most money they can get.

[NC_Nurse]

15. Hats off to you!

Walmart was here before I knew what a scourge they were. I hope you can keep up the good fight. I know it's tough, but you'll feel better knowing you did all that you could. You are teaching your children some valuable lessons too: like to stand up to power and not to give up!

Just my .02...:) I support you either way!

[idlisambar]

16. How do they feel about Wal-Mart?

Is it possible that their local businesses and politicians could exert pressure on your council members?

[idlisambar]

13. Another supporter here

I've been following your posts. You should take a lot of pride in what you are doing. I wish I could offer more advice.

[MissMarple]

17. Folks in Woodland Park, Colorado are fighting them, as well.

However this ends, I think eventually Wal Mart labor practices and therefore their pricing will have to change. That is if progressive politics win the day. The Wal Mart heirs are getting obscenely rich on the backs of small businesses and taxpayers.

Cheap goods have to be paid for one way or another. Wal Mart just chooses to do it in an egregious fashion by shifting the costs of low wages onto the backs of the taxpayer, while cheapening the quality of their goods to dominate small markets.

But, I guess I'm lecturing to the choir.

Good luck!

[NV Whino]

27. I can't believe they want a WalMart in Woodland Park

I lived in Green Mountain Falls as a kid. Yuk! Fight. Fight. Fight.

[ultraist]

18. So your petition wasn't stolen after all?

That's good news. You should look up the party affiliation of your city council members. Go to your board of elections site and you can look up how people are registered. If they are all Repukes, you are probably screwed and shouldn't waste the money on legal fees.

You cannot just recall those elected officials. We have the same situation here in that a few nasty Repukes on the city council abuse their power.

Be sure to campaign for any Democrats running next time!

[cags]

22. I live in Repukeland so I'm pretty sure they are and anyone

running against them would be too. But all the repuke residents here don't want the WalMart either so I have to give them a little credit for that.

[crispini]

19. Keep up the good work!

Of course you are tired. Take a day or so off, get some sleep, clean the house, give yourself a chance to recouperate and then hit the trail again. You know what you should do-- fight it until there is no hope left. You're just tired right now. Take a short break and then you'll feel like ripping into it again.

:toast: Here's to you and to everyone who cares enough to try and make a difference. BRAVO!!!!!

[ashmanonar]

23. whether you keep up the fight or decide that enough's enough,

you've got the moral high ground. although victory is nice, so is knowing that you did the right thing.

maybe you can get some more help, get someone else to devote as much time and care as you have?

[cags]

25. I'm not alone, we have a large organized group involved

So many people have put in a huge effort of time and money to try to stop this. There are others who definitely will continue this fight, if I bow out, but my family has been a major contributor to this effort and it would be a loss for them.

I am really torn right now

[ashmanonar]

28. :/...

make someone your deputy, and share "leadership" responsibilities, so to speak? i think you shouldn't just give up, but at the same time you need to worry about your own life too.

[likesmountains 52]

24. Be sure that your next step( if WalMart wins)

is that your local board or architectural review committee makes them build a decent looking store, with landscaping...not asphalt. They don't have to be as ugly as they usually are. At least if it does get built you won't have to look at a big white and blue box.

[cags]

29. So far, we have strict building standards and WalMart has

agreed to abide by them. They say it will be one of the nicest WalMarts they've ever built, but no matter how much you dress it up its still a WalMart. It definitely won't be blue it will be a white stone, and they have to keep the lot 50% lanscaped and there will be walking trails that connect to the rest of the city. They also are supposed to donate 10 acres of the land for a park too.

But its still just WalMart

[ConcernedNonpartisan]

26. Kudos to you and your daughter.

Fight the good fight and stand proud, win or loose! THAT's the American way!

[Armstead]

30. If a large percentage of the town doesn;t want it I'd say keep up

Maybe you could spread the work around so you don't have to carry so much of the load?

Maybe enough people are angry at having the council thumb their nose at them that additional people would be inclined to join the fight.

Just a thought.

[NV Whino]

31. Take a short break. Then...

1. work to change the makeup of your city council.
2. work to unionize WalMart

There was a DU thread about WalMart closing its doors in a Canadian city because they were being forced to unionize. The one thing WalMart doesn't want is union.

And congratulations on all your efforts so far.

[ultraist]

42. That might be a good backdoor way to stop Walmart

See if you can get people talking about how it has to be unionized. Walmart hates unions. But if you are in the South, you may not have much luck with that. Unions are not big down here.

[G_j]

32. I know how you feel, all too well

I fought Walmart super-centers almost full time for two & 1/2 years.
We won the first two rounds through city council. Then the CC election arrived and the developer's PAC essentially bought the next CC. We then had a far more regressive council than before and not only did they approve an extra huge super-center right on the river in a flood plain, they went on to approve all sorts of other inappropriate projects. We had filed a law suit which was thrown out, then the developers sued us.
There is probably no experience that I had had that left me so bitter (until Bush began his reign of terror on the planet of course)

All that said, there were bridges and coalitions formed in our community that are absolutely wonderful as a result of the Walmart fight. Friendships and bonds between diverse people who may have never known each other otherwise. We made some major waves, got a number of concessions from the WM developers, and probably cost them a few million dollars in the fight.
I'm not sorry for the experience, but I am certainly a bit more jaded.
I can hardly bear to go to a CC meeting to this day.
Keep up the fight as long as you can, and KEEP THOSE COALITIONS AND FRIENDSHIPS TOGETHER, no matter what happens they will be valuable in the future!

[GetTheRightVote]

33. never stop fighting them, do not shop at their store even if they open

There are more ways to fight this battle then one, I never shop there anymore. In the end you will win because you never quit.

:kick:

[LizW]

34. I'm sure you've already done this, but

do you have the statistics about how much tax revenue will be lost by other businesses closing when WalMart comes in? When a SuperCenter came to our city (pop. about 60,000) other grocery stores in the area closed or relocated. Now our city council is struggling to help fill several empty strip centers where the grocery stores moved out and then the smaller stores did, too.

[cags]

36. Yes 2 of the council members voted no. One of them did

the research, and he came from a a town where he watched a new WalMart close down six grocery stores, but he hasn't been able to convince the others

[Cha]

37. Thank you for all your activism in this

matter of ..walmart.

I remember when I lived on Kauai..we did all we could to try and keep mcdonalds out of our little town..to no avail.

It's so frustrating but you have done all you possibly could..I admire that.

[wildeyed]

38. Don't decide today.

Take a day or two off, regroup and get some rest, then decide if you can continue. You know WalMart will poison your community, good for you for fighting so hard.

I don't know what your options are regarding a recall, but in my city, they forced a new stadium for the basketball team down our throats AFTER they had a voter referendum (non-binding) on the subject and it was voted down. The ring leader, a formerly popular and powerful county commissioner, was taken out in the primaries. 'Course it was too late, we still had to pay for the stadium, but it was still sweet.

[RubyCat]

39. Can you organize a union? It worked in Canada!

Organize it while they're in the hiring process. :)


AP: Canadian Wal-Mart Seeking Union to Close

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3081878

[cags]

40. Right now were trying to make sure they don't even get a hiring process

[ultraist]

43. Good luck with that!

However it turns out, you should be proud of your involvement. I think it's great that you involved your 13 year old too.

:toast:

[cags]

44. I didn't even have to ask her, she actually got me involved

Her next mission: Corporal punishment in the Dallas School District and shes not even in that school district.

I've got a little cause fighter on my hands. LOL

[ultraist]

45. A true advocate/activist!

[GoldenOldie]

46. Question where the money that WalMart takes in goes.

Someone posted previously that WalMart sends all funds to banks in their corporate home State. So monies spent within the town will not stay within the town. What is the sales tax and what is the exact percentage the town would get. What actual benefits other than low paying jobs will the town receive? Will they tell their employees to apply for food stamps, or health access through the State because they do not furnish adequate pay or benefits like they do in other States, cities, towns?

[cags]

47. The sales tax to the town would be 1.7 mil

Right now most of the city's tax revenue comes from property taxes. Sales tax right now is only 6% of our tax revenue. With the Wal-Mart it would be 23%, so all the council members see are dollar signs.

Our council members seem to think it would be good jobs for our teens.
This is a very affluent community and anyone working at Wal-Mart couldn't afford to live here, so it will only provide jobs outside of our city.

[Nobody]

48. There have been success stories

And even Wal Mart is well aware that 1 out of every 3 communities fights them. They know they're not wanted and they bull their way in anyway. An 800 pound gorilla that sits (I left out the h) anywhere it wants.

Good luck. I hope you can continue the fight and add yours to the wins column.

Let me also add that those city council members of yours are the kind of slime that shouldn't be representing people since it's plainly obvious that they don't.

That so-called tax revenue. Has your city council factored in the loss of income tax from people taking those low wage jobs and getting subsidized by tax dollars? Has it factored in the revenue going to the home state of a non-local business and NOT into the city's coffers? How about the increase in food stamp usage and subsidized housing because Wal Mart believes in making the state pay its operating costs?

I don't think they did, even if someone shoved the numbers right in their faces where they couldn't miss it.

I have a hell of a lot of respect and awe at the good fight you've already fought.

I hope you do go for that recall, since if they aren't willing to listen to the people about Wal Mart, on what other issues are they ignoring the people they supposedly represent?

Waves of support and positive energy from my computer to yours and from me to you!

[Ilsa]

49. I admire everything you've done.

I know you must be exhausted, so I can understand if you need to stop fighting it.

Consider taking a long break from thinking about it. After a break, you may feel like working on it again.

Good luck and bless you and your family for fighting the good fight.

[SmokingJacket]

50. My town fought them about eight years ago and won, but...

they came back under a new mayor and an exhausted population of activists. They're set to open this year. Or maybe they are open -- I have no idea.

I think one day the chain will self-destruct. We won't be able to get super-cheap crap from China forever. Our dollar is dropping, and their economy is growing.

I like to imagine the empty rotting hulks of those superstores, those big ugly letters fallen into decay, teenagers spraypainting on the walls...

[jdj]

53. here's something I just posted for Union County NC

A message has been sent that if you don't do a good enough job, or don't do what commissioners want you to do, you will be replaced.

That's how Union County Board of Adjustment Chairman Dan Johnson interprets the Union County Board of Commissioners' decision Monday night to dissolve the Board of Adjustment.

"This board is set up to serve the people of Union County and they have ignored the county land use plan and the findings and facts," Sexton said. "This board (commissioners) does not have the luxury of taking or leaving recommendations from the Board of Adjustments."

Sexton's comments stem from the Board of Adjustment's decision to grant a special-use permit for a 206,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter near Marvin. The county and residents opposed to the store recently joined forces and filed an appeal in Superior Court over the Board of Adjustment's decision."

http://www.enquirerjournal.com/articles/2005/02/11/news...
-----------



I really can't beleive this, because this is a VERY republican town, and this has to tell you that people are getting freaking fed up with Walmart if the repukes are fighting them.

[Bryn]

51. Politicians are almost always corrupted all for $$$

Super Wal-Mart managed to bully its way into the rural area in Homestead/Florida City, Florida where I live and it caused several stores to fold up and leave (those were my favorite stores) ... Albertson's, Garden Ridge, K-Mart, Old Time Pottery, Scotty's and now Winn Dixie is leaving and also Cracker Barrel decided not to come there (not sure if I am correct).

Good luck with your fight. This Super Wal-Mart is close to my home and believe me, it's not worth it because the lines are usually LOOOOOOONG and they are too cheap to hire more cashiers!! Yesterday there were approx. 4 cashiers and it was crowded. So many empty "cashier booths" ..I hate going there now.

Bryn

[lonestarnot]

52. NEVER SURRENDER....Organize another store!

x(