Local Officials Nix #4.4 Million Tax Subsidy for Wal-Mart
Some towns have to beat a Wal-Mart more than once. The village of Tinley Park, Illinois defeated Wal-Mart in 2008, but the company did not
Some towns have to beat a Wal-Mart more than once. The village of Tinley Park, Illinois defeated Wal-Mart in 2008, but the company did not
This week Sprawl-Busters received the following field report from Dr. Enrique Bonilla Rodriguez, the Founder and Coordinator of the National Front Against Walmart, based in
If Home Depot offered your community $1 million to take their store, would your town turn them down? That’s what they did in Reading, MA,
Democracy ain’t cheap in Whitehall, Michigan. One month ago, Sprawl-Busters was contacted by angry residents in Whitehall Township, Michigan. According to anti-Wal-Mart activists in Whitehall,
“We didn’t anticipate a negative vote.I really thought they would grant it.” That’s what the lawyer for the developer told reporters after Home Depot was
Not here, Planners tell Home Depot. That’s the headline in the Patriot Ledger newspaper. Planners voted 3-1 against a special zoning permit to allow a
Shoppers in Green Bay, Wisconsin who are addicted to cheap Chinese imports don’t have far to go to blow their paycheck. There are two Wal-Mart
It was short, controversial life for the Wal-Mart superstore in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Three months to the day. Back on June 18, 2013, Wal-Mart officially announced
It is the sweetest six words that any anti-Wal-Mart group can hear: “We have decided not to proceed with our involvement.” A Wal-Mart spokesman told
Walmart likes to say “our people make the difference.” Aubretia Maria Edick is one of those Walmart people who wants to ‘make a difference’ in
It turns out that free speech can be very expensive. Citizens in Whitehall Township, Michigan who want to exercise their First Amendment right to petition
After the city of Tigard, Oregon approved a Wal-Mart supertore, opponents did not go away. The group Tigard First announced this week a “new incarnation”
At a 2010 zoning hearing in Cibolo, Texas, one resident apparently showed up to express concern about the rezoning of land along Borgfield Road from
A deal approved in court this past week has ended the contentious battle in Bakersfield, California over a Wal-Mart supercenter that had to stop work
Wal-Mart faces many threats to its ongoing profitability. That’s why it employs two platoons worth of lobbyists, and spends millions of dollars annually to minimize
Home Depot threw its plans for Braintree, MA into reverse last week, and its local attorney says the company is not coming back. That was
On July 25, 2013, Mayor Alex Morse of Holyoke, Massachustts held a press conference with neighborhood activists by his side, to announce his “firm opposition”
Residents in Ceres, California have been boxing out a Wal-Mart superstore since 2007. This week, they won an important first-step victory in a court battle
Attention Home Depot shoppers: A group of 14 institutional investors in Home Depot has sponsored a shareholder’s resolution to be considered at the company’s 1998
New Berlin, Wisconsin is a city just west of Milwaukee with just under 40,000 people. It has a median household income that’s about 44% higher
Angry residents in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin want Wal-Mart to walk away from its plans to build a superstore in this small community of roughly 16,000 people.
A group of citizens in Fountain Hills, AZ, calling themselves the “Logical Land Use Committee” has formed around a referendum issue challenging the Town Council’s
The town square in Bentonville, Arkansas was filled with an estimated 2,000 people wearing yellow rain slickers that said “Wal-Mart — Not in My Neighborhood.”
In April of 2011, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart’s legal team had drafted a 60 page zoning document that allowed it to build a huge superstore
Almost a month ago, Wal-Mart filed a zoning and subdivision application in the Village of Northbrook, Illinois according to memo from the Village Manager, who
For roughly 20 years, Wal-Mart has been imitating the citizen’s groups that have battled to keep the giant retailer from entering their town. One Wal-Mart
Just over two years ago I wrote a column on The Huffington Post which charged that giant retailers like Wal-Mart and Target were using mom
It’s been an inch-by-inch crawl for Wal-Mart in Ridgecrest, California, because the world’s largest retailer has been waiting years for public welfare to come through
A 19 year old mother got a taste of Wal-Mart bureaucracy in Fort Collins, Colorado on January 23rd when store officials told her to stop
About 4 weeks ago, the Oregonian newspaper carried a story that Wal-Mart had announced plans to open a 137,900 s.f. superstore in Tigard,Oregon by late
Residents in the small town of Maynard, Massachusetts (2010 pop. 10,106) have just over one month to try to derail a big box project that
This is literally an open and shut case. On July 7, 2012, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart planned to construct a 185,706 s.f. superstore on 16.7
Two of the richest families on the planet — the Waltons and the Buffetts — have taken public welfare from taxpayers to help clean up
On June 27, 2012, Sprawl-Busters reported that residents in Hawthorne, New Jersey had taken legal action to block a proposed Wal-Mart grocery store. Roughly 10
By not being able to work with local citizens, Wal-Mart once again finds itself heading to court instead of heading to a ribbon-cutting. This time
A federal appeals court in San Francisco has “delivered” a verdict against Wal-Mart in the case of a pregnant woman who claimed that the company
In Home Depot’s attempts to find the perfect spot to lcoate in Wichita, KS, they chose a site located on an existing water-slide park. The
Neighbors in the small community of Seekonk, Massachusetts were caught by surprise this week when they learned that the Wal-Mart they had been fighting since
In early May of 2012, the Mayor of Ellisville, Missouri chastized his fellow City Council members when they voted to give a Wal-Mart developer a
What started off last summer as another unwanted corner drugstore, has turned into a project the community can feel better about. In early July, 2012,
Ask almost anyone who has sued Wal-Mart over the past half century, and they will tell you that getting justice out of the giant retailer
Facing the threat of Wal-Mart moving out of the city, the Naperville, Illinois City Council has voted to give the giant retailer a $1.75 million
What Wal-Mart can’t get by regulation, it tries to win by litigation. On May 22, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart had been rejected twice in
This week anti-sprawl activists in Southfield, Michigan sent word of their defeat over the world’s largest retailer on a controversial piece of property that was
Home improvement giant Home Depot was linked to a bribery scheme with former New Orleans, Louisiana Mayor Ray Nagin in mid January that surprised even
The giant S.S. Wal-Mart is finally steaming home. After decades of sourcing goods from foreign ports, Wal-Mart has discovered America — manufacturing, that is. In
On January 16, 2013, the Associated Press reported that Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin of the Green Mountain State of Vermont had stunned environmentalists by touting
According to Channel 10 TV news in Tampa, Florida, Wal-Mart has a new fight on its hands in the unincorporated community of Carrollwood in Hillsborough
About two and a half years ago, Wal-Mart and a developer tried to rush the city of Shrewsbury, Missouri into approving a $15 million public
If at first you don’t succeed, submit your Wal-Mart plan again. Wal-Mart has shaken off defeat in Hillsboro, Oregon, and returned to the city with
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.