An interesting assortment of articles today, including a superb article by Natalie P. McNeal in the Miami Herald about 300 anti-WM resdients opposing a new Supercenter in Miramar (really annoying registration required):
More than 300 residents formed a standing-room-only crowd at the Miramar City Hall Wednesday night, ready for a fight they'd been awaiting for months.The residents were there to persuade city commissioners to reject plans for a new Wal-Mart supercenter at the corner of Miramar Parkway and Flamingo Road.
Residents of nearby subdivisions, especially Monarch Lakes, have been fighting the plan for months, saying that it would lead to increased traffic and crime and lower property property values. They have created anti-Wal-Mart clothing and a letter-writing campaign, and they have dedicated the Monarch Lakes website to the effort to stop the world's largest retailer....
Commissioners approved the proposal in an initial vote in June but postponed the final vote to get more research on the store's impact. The reports found that the store does agree with the city's future land-use plans and the majority of the development code....
The battle is more than just talk. Since Wal-Mart began its push for west Miramar, both sides have launched campaigns.
The Monarch Lakes subdivision, across the street from the proposed site, has a website, www.monarchlakes.org, devoted to its campaign. Homeowners have picketed City Hall, worn ''No Wal-Mart'' buttons and adopted the slogan ``Monarch Lakes, not Wal-Mart Lakes.''
Well, as of right now, their website is "under construction", but googling the site does bring us some very interesting hidden pages, such as WM and Women: They Suck Ass, the boilerplate Wal-Mart's anti-worker activity factsheet, and bizarre photos (like the one at left) of Wal-Mart's alleged poor treatment of the environment around their already existing stores.. It's clear that their primary concerns are 1) traffic and 2) the fear that so many people will choose to shop at Wal-Mart causing their own favorite stores to go out of business:
If Wal-Mart’s application is approved, the competition to the “better brand” stores may ultimately cause them to go out of business. If this happens, what other large commercial type businesses will the City Commissioners look to replace them?
Posted by Kevin on September, 8 2005 at 09:22 AM
