As sure as the sun rises in the East, Wal-Mart will eventually try to build in your town. Just ask the residents of Sunrise, Florida, who are now hoping they can make the sun set on Wal-Mart’s plans for a 176,000 s.f. superstore on Oakland Park Boulevard. The residents of the Longacre community are organizing to stop the construction of this huge store next to their homes. “We are definitely going to get a group to go into there, and we’re going to get some fliers out and send some material to Sunrise Lakes (Phase III, which is to the south of the planned store),” resident Karen Parente told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “If we get united and put up a good front, we can do this,” she said. “I am going to defeat them. Otherwise, I’m going to cry.” Wal-Mart hosted one of their dog-with-no-pony shows for the neighbors this week in a nearby hotel. When Wal-Mart’s lawyer asked residents what they wanted, one neighbor said it plainly, “What we want is you not to move in.” After all, Broward County is already saturated with 11 Wal-Mart stores, and Florida already has seven dead Wal-Mart stores which have been closed to make way for larger supercenters. There are already two Wal-Mart discount stores in Sunrise. Store #1349, on North University Drive, will be closed. Store #2151 on W. Sunrise Boulevard will remain open. One Sunrise resident wrote Sprawl-Busters this week with her plea for help. “Last week we found out that Wal-Mart submitted a proposal to City Council to build a 24 hour 200,000 sf Super Wal-Mart literally on the boarder of our community,” she wrote. ‘ The parking lot will be within 10 feet from our backyards. We do not have a home owner association. There are only 73 houses in our development. There is a larger community on the other side of ours. The site for proposal is on a busy intersection where traffic is already at its capacity. We need to fight this store back and not to allow them to ruin our community. This store is too much, too big, too close. We are determined to fight back but need help in organizing the movement quickly. There is a City Council meeting this upcoming Tuesday. The small
group of neighbors are trying to raise interest in the community. We are typing up flyers and are planning on having a meeting on Sunday to get people to come to the City Council meeting.”
This is a totally frivolous proposal. Sunrise already has two more Wal-Marts than necessary. The plan for a supercenter is all about groceries, and getting a larger share of the grocery market in Sunrise. Wal-Mart brings no added value to Sunrise with this superstore, and will leave the city with a dead store to fill. For local contacts in Sunrise, contact [email protected].
