Heaven forbid that the residents on the west side of Madison, WI should have to travel to the east side to find their Home Depot store. So the company is pushig hard for 2 Home Depots — one for the east, and one for the west. Home Depot already obtained city official’s OK for the Nakoma Plaza site on the west side, and on May 17th., as the Capital Times newspaper said, “Home Depot nails east-side site” as well. On the west-side, Home Depot had more than a litle help from state taxpayers in the form of a $750,000 brownfields grant to clean up the contaminated site. The site was once a coal and oil yard, and instead of having the company that polluted the site pay the freight for cleaning it up, Wisconsin taxpayers pick up the cost and give it to Home Depot, a multi-billion corporation. Home Depot had to abandon the first east-side location they chose, because the parcel did not lay out well for the size of the project, but the Madison Plan Commission heaped praise on the Depot as “one of the most cooperative applicants” of a large scale projects. But the University of Wisconsin Greens are not as enthusiastic about 2 Home Depots opening up shop, and they have called for a Boycott of the Home Depot stores, along with the Rainforest Action Network. But it appears as if City officials were not only willing to give Home Depot whatever it wanted, but to give them corporate welfare at state taxpayer’s expense as well. Existing building supply merchants must be wondering what they have to do to get tax welfare too. The west side Home Depto may be open by July, and will be a 115,000 s.f store and a 500 space asphalt parking lot. East side residents to transportationally challenged to shop on the west side, will soon have their very own sprawling store on their side of town too. How long before Home Depot suggests and North side and a south side store as well?
For more information about Home Depot’s sprawling of Madison, WI, contact the UW Greens, 731 State St, Madison, WI 53703.
