According to the NBC affiliate in Cicero, New York, Wal-Mart wants to build a store in town — but a woman’s home sits right in the way. According to a story written by Dave Pieklik, the Cicero Town Board is discussinig adding a traffic signal on Route 11 to help Wal-Mart build its supercenter. Wal-Mart needs to build a 5 lane access road to their site, but they have a 90 year old problem in their way — an elderly woman lives in a house where the road would run, and she says she doesn’t want to leave. The woman, Junis Hansen, is afraid that Wal-Mart will try to force her out. “I just like it here, I just don’t feel that I’m able to move,” she said. Hansen has lived in the same Cicero house for several decades. Wal-Mart wants to build a supercenter on 56 acres of land the company purchased next to Hansen’s house. Hansen said Wal-Mart or no Wal-Mart, she’s staying put. “I’m not moving, I’m staying here cause it’s my house,” she said. The giant retailer reportedly has offered Hansen a substantial amount of money to relocate but she refuses to leave. Town officials are moving ahead with plans to build the traffic signal, and Hansen worries they may try and force her to move. “You lose sleep over it and it’s upsetting. You don’t know one day from the next what they are going to do,” she said. Hansen’s son, Ed, says if the town successfully takes over the land needed to build the traffic signal for the supercenter, his mother’s house could be next. “It’s my mom’s property and somebody shouldn’t be allowed to take it for any reason. Just because they are a big money corporation or whatever they are, they shouldn’t be allowed to take it,” he said.
How is it that Wal-Mart finds itself having to seek properties that disrupt other people’s lives: a beautiful farm in Lacey, New Jersey. A lake in Arvada, Colorado. A mobile home park in Jacksonville, Florida. An entire neighborhood in Mapplewood, Missouri. These are not unusual cases. Wal-Mart often chooses land that is inappropriately zoned, or harms other people’s property. Wal-Mart’s plans are blind to the needs of everyone else. For similar stories, search this database by “eminent domain”.
