Joelle Farrell of the Concord Monitor has a neutral assessment of WM's enlistment of residents in a letter-writing campaign. What will city council members do when pro-WM residents clash with anti-WM residents at zoning meetings?
HILLSBORO - Wal-Mart is encouraging local residents to speak up if they want a store in town.Maybe, just maybe, anti-WM forces will realize that they are not the only relevant voice of the public.The company sent fliers to nearly 100 Hillsboro and Deering residents who had previously expressed support for the store and asked them to write letters to local newspapers and the Hillsboro Planning Board. The company is asking the town's permission to build a 155,000-square-foot store on West Main Street.
The board has received at least 40 letters in the last three weeks, said Matt Taylor, the town planner, and many letters of support have been published in area newspapers, including the Monitor.
Wal-Mart sent the fliers in response to an opposition group, Hillsborough Citizens for Positive Growth, whose members have made a strong showing at zoning and planning board meetings, hosted a speaker to discuss problems towns may encounter when a Wal-Mart builds and called on the town to keep big-box stores out of Hillsboro by limiting store size to 50,000 square feet.
Posted by Kevin on February, 22 2005 at 08:41 AM
