Rosemead, CA. Mayor Raises Money to Protect Himself From Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart made national news recently for trying to influence how their employees will vote in the upcoming Presidential campaign in November, demonizing the Democrats for their support of pro-union legislation. For many people, this was the first time they had seen Wal-mart trying to steer the outcome of a political election. Instead of just selling cheap underwear and Mickey Mouse lawn furniture—Wal-Mart has been retailing politics. The company has been trying to push the political outcome of races since it opened in 1962.
A recent case in point is Rosemead, California. On September 22, 2006, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart spent $300,000 on campaign races in Rosemead. Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart had donated $200,000 to protect Rosemead Mayor Gary Taylor and Councilman Jay Imperial from a recall election brought by angry city voters who felt their elected officials sold them out on a Wal-Mart supercenter vote. But on the final day of the campaign, Wal-Mart donated another $100,000. It’s an old campaign finance trick: you make the commitment to spend $300,000, but you hold back actually paying for it so campaign officials don’t have to declare the money until the race is actually over, and voters have no idea how much was really spent until the polls have closed.
As a result of the unlimited spending allowed by corporations, the Mayor and the Councilor kept their seats with 59% of the vote—the best that Wal-Mart could buy. One local political analyst said the enormous financial support by Wal-Mart showed that the company would “stand by its friends.” The Mayor had good reason to welcome Wal-Mart’s generous campaign financing. In Rosemead’s elections in 2005, two Wal-Mart supporters were ousted and replaced with two opponents. Residents opposing Wal-Mart unseated two incumbent City Council members, and elected John Tran and John Nunez, who both went on to fight Wal-Mart. In that election, Wal-Mart did not raise a war chest, and it shows the difference an infusion of corporate wealth can make in an election outcome.
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Topics: Community Impact
Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 | Permalink
Dunnville, Ont. Indians Blamed For Wal-Mart Withdrawal
In June of 2007, it looked like Wal-Mart was on a firm course to build a 101,100 s.f. store on 17 acres in Dunville, Ontario, in Haldimand County. According to the Dunville Chronicle, representatives of the landowner, Calloway REIT had met with a native Indian group known as Six Nations. Calloway Real Estate Investment Trust had hired Smart Centres to develop the store at the corner of Taylor Road and North Shore Drive. The project included a Boston Pizza and a Taco Bell.
At that time, Calloway described its sit-down with Six Nations as positive. “We’re still talking,” they said. “We will meet with them again. It’s looking very positive. We managed to get a very good relationship going. The project will continue for sure. We are committed to it.” But Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer feared that the Indians would derail the project. “It’s upsetting,” the Mayor said. “The property would bring in $450,000 in property taxes a year and 200 jobs. Wal-Mart is a much needed store to keep people in the community.” The Mayor said people all over the county were upset about Wal-Mart’s negotiations. “If they don’t come to any agreement, I don’t think the native brigade is going to be very cooperative,” one local resident told the Chronicle. Fourteen months later, the negotiations have crumbled.
This week the Dunnville Chronicle reported that Wal-Mart had backed out of the deal. “They have gone away for the immediate future,” said County Councilor Lorne Boyko, “but they were really keen on Dunnville. They’re still very, very keen on Dunnville and if things every get settled around here, there’s a possibility that Dunnville will be revisited. I’m hopeful that sometime time in the near future, I will be dealing with these people again.” Boyko said when he learned from Calloway that the project had fallen apart, he was disappointed and frustrated. “This is a bad day for Dunnville. I think (the store) would be in the best interests of Dunnville and it would have freed up additional developments and projects and progressive actions in the community. There were other businesses coming in on their coat tails..I think you would have seen the face of Dunnville change for the better.”
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Topics: International | Community Impact | Economic/Small Business | Canada
Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 | Permalink
San Juan, PR. Wal-Mart Busted For Below Cost Pricing Of Milk
This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post.
It must sound strange to American consumers to hear that the government of Puerto Rico this week “warned” Wal-Mart to raise its prices on milk---and that Wal-Mart agreed! Government regulators said that Wal-Mart de Puerto Rico was selling its Great Value branded milk at $1.46 a quart---or 36 cents below the legal price.
This is not an isolated incident for Wal-Mart. In 1998, a pharmacist in West Bend, Wisconsin charged that Wal-Mart was selling milk below cost, in violation of a Wisconsin state law. In September of 2000, state officials filed a formal complaint against Wal-Mart, charging that the company sold milk, butter, cigarettes, laundry detergent and other items below cost in West Bend, Racine, Beloit, Tomah and Oshkosh, Wisconsin. “There’s no way they could be buying it that cheap and turning a profit,” the pharmacist said. Three years later, the Wisconsin Division of Trade and Consumer Protection reached a “settlement” with Wal-Mart in this case.
Wisconsin law allows a retailer to sell an item below cost---but only as a response to below cost prices at their competitors. Wal-Mart would have had to document sales receipts from merchandise purchased below cost at competitors, or clipped ads running below cost prices to show they were responding to other merchants’ prices. That’s what the pharmacist did to nail Wal-Mart: she bought milk at Wal-Mart and kept her receipts. Similar claims against Wal-Mart pricing were filed by at least 4 other merchants in the area. The West Bend pharmacist said that when Wal-Mart opened one block from her pharmacy, she had to remove the milk cooler in her store, because sales fell by 80%. This caused her to lose “cross-traffic” sales for other items in her store. Wal-Mart faced up to $175,000 in fines, but got off easy in Wisconsin with only a $15,000 payment to cover the state’s cost of investigating the retailer. “They did a number on us,” the West Bend pharmacist admitted. Puerto Rico could have fined Wal-Mart for illegal pricing---but they didn’t. When they got nabbed, Wal-Mart agreed immediately to raise their milk prices. The company put out the standard press release saying it was committed to adhering to all local laws, and that it corrected the price as soon as it learned of the problem.
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Topics: Economic/Small Business | North America | Lawsuits | |
Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 | Permalink
Ruckersville, VA. Wal-Mart Delays Superstore Project For A Year
In early March of 2008, the Greene County Record newspaper in Virginia reported that site preparation work was well underway at the “Gateway Center” project in the town of Ruckersville, Virginia, which will be anchored by a 153,000 s.f. Wal-Mart and a Lowe’s. The entire population in Greene County in 2007 was less than 18,000 people. There’s already a Wal-Mart 11 miles away in Charlottsville, Virginia, so Ruckersville residents addicted to Chinese imports don’t have far to travel to have it all. But some of Greene County’s smaller business are nervous about the superstore’s arrival. The Chairman of Greene’s Board of Supervisors, Steve Catalano, told the Record that there are some small businesses in the County that “could be vulnerable” to bigger businesses. “I’m a little scared,” the owner of the Great Valu grocery store in nearby Stanardsville told the newspaper. “But regardless as to whether it’s coming or not, we have to put our best foot forward. Everybody that walks in here knows everybody; that is distinct from the big market people. We’re going to be putting our best foot forward; focusing on customer service.” The Food Lion grocery store in Ruckersville has invested $2 million in renovations.
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Posted by Al Norman on Monday, August 25, 2008 | Permalink
Tunkhannock, PA. Wal-Mart Leapfrogs Over Its Own Dead Store
Wal-Mart loves to give trinkets to the natives when it comes to town looking for a permit. In one tiny Pennsylvania town, the natives wanted bluestones. And that’s what they got---sort of. On June 8, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart had scouted a site for a superstore in Tunkhannock township, Pennsylvania, population 4,327 people. The township has had roughly the same population for nearly 20 years.
Tunkhannock promotes itself as being located “within The Pocono Plateau, considered one of the world’s Top 40 ‘Last Great Places’ By The Nature Conservancy.” But Wal-Mart just sees this small town as a Great Place to build a superstore. But there’s a large problem: there’s a Wal-Mart discount store on State Road, Route 29 South in Tunkhannock just across the street from where the corporation wants to build its superstore.
There’s also a Wal-Mart supercenter 17 miles away in Dickson City, and 22 miles away in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. According to the Scranton Times-Tribune, Wal-Mart submitted plans for a 153,000 s.f. superstore just across the street from the existing Wal-Mart store #2024. The project has been under review by the Wyoming County, Pennsylvania Planning Office. The Wyoming County Planning Commission reviewed the project at its June 18th meeting. Wal-Mart has a purchase agreement with the landowner, Select Sires of Ohio. A spokesman for the landowner said the land has not yet been sold. This is a return trip for Wal-Mart. The company was working on a 184,212 s.f. superstore plan for the same property back in 2006, but in the summer of that year, the retailer pulled its application from consideration by the Planning Commission. The county required Wal-Mart to show that it had agreements for certain easements that were needed for right-of-way. Two years later, the new plan does not need those easements, but part of the land does fall into the Bowmans Creek Watershed. Wal-Mart also is seeking approval for 2 small retail parcels in addition to its superstore plan. If the supercenter opens, the existing 75,000 s.f.
Wal-Mart discount store will close down.
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Posted by Al Norman on Friday, August 22, 2008 | Permalink
West Haven, CT. Neighbors Want Wal-Mart To Turn Down The Noise
Wal-Mart Store #3803 at 515 Sawmill Road in West Haven, Connecticut has
been making some noise in the media recently---but its not the kind of
noise the company wants to hear. TV. Channel 8 reports this week that
neighbors of the West Haven Wal-Mart want to give the Mayor of their city
an earful regarding their noisy commercial neighbor. West Haven Mayor John
Picard has an “Office on the Road” program in which he goes out into the
community to listen to the public---and this week he’s going to hear
plenty about Wal-Mart. The city turned a deaf ear to residents when this
huge retail store was being proposed. The neighbors were concerned about
the traffic, light and noise impacts of a store so close to residential
property. This store first opened on March 21, 2007. According to
Wal-Mart’s press release at the time, the new store “brings new economic
benefits to the area.” But all it brought neighbors was more traffic and
noise. At the time, Mayor Picard was effusive in his praise for the
project. “The West Haven community is looking forward to a productive
corporate partnership with Wal-Mart,” Picard was quoted by Wal-Mart’s PR
department. But the 141,980 s.f. store thought that giving the community
“many appealing elements…including earth-tone colors, concrete and wood
laminate flooring throughout the store, wider aisles and energy-efficient
lighting,” would keep the neighbors happy. But neighbors don’t care about
the wood laminate flooring---they say they can’t put up with the racket
the store makes. The store’s Tire & Lube Express, with its hours from 7
a.m. until 10 p.m., seven days a week have forced the neighbors to seek
out the Mayor. Mayor Picard is coming to the Wal-Mart on August 21st for
his ‘Office on the Road’ program, but neighbors in West Haven say they
have been shouting about the noise problems for more than a year, with
little result. One neighbor who works nights, told Channel 8 he can’t
sleep during the day because of the store’s noise. The neighbors say they
have met with Wal-Mart, but the volume is still turned up. The Tire & Lube
Express was designed to be closest to nearby homes. Residents have pleaded
for a sound barrier, or fence, or even air conditioning for the auto
center so the garage bay doors could be closed during store hours. But
Wal-Mart has done nothing. So the Mayor is coming to sit in the Wal-Mart
Personnel Office for 4 hours in the afternoon, and he’s not going to like
what he hears.
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Topics: | Community Impact
Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, August 21, 2008 | Permalink
Liberty, Ohio. Wal-Mart Won’t Sign Agreement To Hire Local Workers
Roughly a month ago, on July 16, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart was desperately trying to find some water for its proposed superstore on Belmont Avenue in the old Liberty Plaza in Liberty, Ohio---but politics was keeping the tap shut. Liberty township’s Administrator, Patrick Ungaro, told officials that Wal-Mart informed him in July that their superstore project is on ice over the issue of water.
Delays on this project are not a new issue. Last year at this time, Wal-Mart indicated that they were putting the project on hold for its own internal reasons—mainly due to a change in Wal-Mart’s growth plans. The township was ready for the project last year. The fire department had approved plans to tear down the existing Liberty Plaza buildings. The only unhappy party was Forum Health—which rented space in the Plaza that they didn’t want to vacate. Forum Health, which used its rental space in the plaza for its finance department, held up the Wal-Mart project for months, because the health care company did not want to pay for moving costs. An agreement was eventually reached between Forum, the plaza’s previous owners, and Wal-Mart.
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Topics: | Community Impact
Posted by Eric Bull on Thursday, August 21, 2008 | Permalink
Clearfield, PA. Wal-Mart Seeks Major Property Tax Abatement For Superstore
Wal-Mart is gaining a reputation for being a tax deadbeat---but there are still many communities that are learning this the hard way. Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #2129 is located at 100 Supercenter Drive in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. When the superstore was being proposed, Wal-Mart told officials in Clearfield that the new store would be good news for property tax revenues. That was before the store opened. Now, the issue of property taxes has become a sore point in Clearfield. It turns out that Wal-Mart thinks its paying the county far too much in property taxes, and wants its bill cut dramatically. The giant retailer took the community to court over its superstore property tax assessment. According to the Gant Daily newspaper, the appeal is now underway at the Clearfield County Courthouse.
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Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 | Permalink
