Activists across the country are urging the retirement fund, TIAA-CREF to reassess its ownership of stocks from companies like Wal-Mart that are socially deficient. Here’s
Sprawl-Busters has received the following update from the battle in Titusville, Florida, where residents have been locked in a struggle to push a proposed Wal-Mart
Residents in Papillion, Nebraska have forced Wal-Mart to put its superstore plans on hold. Here is a report submitted this week to Sprawl-Busters: “There is
The City Council in Heber City, Utah has voted unanimously to set size limitations on stores that will keep retailers from building huge outlets in
Citizens in Acton, Massachusetts have celebrated a victory over the world’s largest home improvement chain. A developer who had proposed to buy a landfill in
Three judges in an appellate court in Santa Fe, New Mexico have reversed a judgment by a lower court that had awarded $15 million in
An amendment to a bill currently before the Oregon legislature would give the city of Beaverton, Oregon the right to reject a big box store
A press release issued by Wal-Mart on September 17th. regarding the aftermath of Hurrican Ivan may have the effect of bringing more shoppers to their
You can find just about anything you want at Wal-Mart — and that includes crime as well. Whatever kind of heinous act you prefer, you
Wal-Mart spends $3.8 million every day on advertising, so it’s only fair that the other side of the WAL gets a some public exposure as
Wal-Mart is up to its briefs in legal problems, but the company wasted no time this week, in the middle of its hyped Annual Meeting,
On June 7, voters in Aberdeen, South Dakota will vote on zoning changes that could clear the path for a Wal-Mart supercenter. To help educate
It’s a common theme: Wal-Mart saturates an area with stores, and proceeds to propose more stores in more inappropriate locations. Here’s a first hand account
Wal-Mart has a secret it’s trying desperately to keep in Minnesota. The company is fighting efforts to reveal how many of its “associates” get publicly-supported
Wal-Mart has one strike left in Twin Falls, Idaho, having lost the support of the city’s planning department, and this week the Planning & Zoning
The future of Wal-Mart lies in its international division. While expanding new stores in many U.S. communities has become an unpleasant tug of war for
A group of anti-Wal-Mart activists in Maryland has taken to the internet to raise funds for a legal challenge to a Wal-Mart superstore in their
Wal-Mart likes to have its supercenters open “always”, but 24 hour retail giants are the worst neighbor one can imagine. In West Des Moines, all
When the Sauk Herald in Minnesota published a story about Wal-Mart coming to the small town of Sauk Centre, it set off a flurry of
Effective January 4, 2005, cities, towns, villages and counties in Michigan have a new zoning law that allows them to bypass the normal zoning process
Add the state of Wisconsin to the growing list of states across the country that have discovered an uncomfortable truth: public tax dollars are supporting
A local residents’ group in Lancaster, Massachusetts that has been battling Wal-Mart for more than a year, is asking why Wal-Mart executives don’t live anywhere
A group called Saving Florida, Inc., a non-profit devoted to economic and political justice, growth management, and environmental protection in the state, has scored a
Wal-Mart’s distribution system has been lavishly funded — not by the corporation — but by state and federal taxpayers. The Arkansas retailer has used public
Because of a total lack of regional planning, sometimes neighboring towns part ways over big box development. If towns would work together to plan for
In Rosemead,California, the battle against a Wal-Mart supercenter has spilled over to the ballot box, where voters took matters into their own hands. Sprawl-Buster’s received
The Target corporation does not get the same level of public scorn that Wal-Mart attracts, but the Minnesota-based retailer is really just Wal-Mart with an
As expected, Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich, himself the beneficiary of Wal-Mart political contributions, vetoed a bill yesterday that would have required companies like Wal-Mart to
A group called Progress with Economic and Environmental Responsibility (PEER) are lobbying Columbus, Ohio officials to adopt an ordinance that would require retailers larger than
City Councilors in Burlington, Ontario have handed Wal-Mart another defeat. The Councilors rejected the recommendation of their staff this week, and voted against the giant
Wal-Mart investors be forewarned: citizen opposition to Wal-Mart may have an adverse impact on the value of your stock. According to a 15 page report
Activists in Helotes, Texas have been fighting Wal-Mart for months over an area of town called the Scenic Loop. They may have scored a crucial
It’s not easy these days for Wal-Mart to slip a supercenter into any town. More and more, all it takes is some heavy breathing at
Wal-Mart officials have told the media that they are dropping plans in Dunkirk, Maryland to build two smaller stores side by side to get under
Sprawl-Busters has been hearing from several Florida communities being assaulted by Wal-Mart. In Miramar, Florida, a group of about 50 people took to the streets
Tonight, the City Council in New Bedford, Massachusetts will decide whether or not to tear down an historic mill building, nearly 100 years old, to
Wal-Mart quickly apologized this week for a newspaper ad it not only approved, but helped to pay for in Flagstaff, Arizona, that carried Nazi imagery
Fifty members of Congress want Wal-Mart to disclose data about the wages they pay their workers, to see if a pattern of gender discrimination exists.
All it took was the whiff of a Wal-Mart to convince town officials in Rotterdam, New York to unanimously vote this week to put a
I have written for years that Wal-Mart and othe big box chain stores are ruining hometown America, but this time it’s literally true. Citizens in
Despite the fact that America is already over-built with discount stores — a fact first admitted to by Wal-Mart’s head of real estate back in
Wal-Mart lost another battle this week in Jefferson, Wisconsin. The city’s Common Council voted 5-3 to reject the annexation fo two pieces of land proposed
On May 3rd, Portsmouth, Michigan voters approved a rezoning for a Wal-Mart supercenter. The vote spread between the two sides of the issue, however, was
The Wal-Mart supercenter proposed for American Canyon, California is on ice for now. A Superior Court Judge in Napa on May 3rd chilled the retailer’s
So determined are today’s big box developers, that they are willing to build their store literally over dead bodies. According to the Reidsville Review newspaper,
Wal-Mart tried desperately to avoid the embarassment of defeat in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, by trying to withdraw its petition to rezone 25 acres to build
After two years of wrangling and lawsuits, a developer has reached an out of court settlement with neighbors in Leominster, Massachusetts. The settlement deletes a
City officials in Delhi, California think a Wal-Mart supercenter will help them get sales tax revenue back from neighboring towns. Instead of engaging in regional
Lawmakers in Maine are considering imposing a new sales tax on big box stores, like Wal-Mart, which they say cost state taxpayers money when their
They’d rather have no store, than a unionized store. That seems to sum up Wal-Mart’s antagonism against organized labor. If workers get too strong, shut
The strategies written here were produced by Sprawl-Busters in 2006 at the request of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), mainly for citizen groups that were fighting Walmart. But the tips for fighting unwanted development apply to any project—whether its fighting Dollar General, an Amazon warehouse, or a Home Depot.
Big projects, or small, these BATTLEMART TIPS will help you better understand what you are up against, and how to win your battle.