On Tuesday, May 15th. voters in Glendale, Arizona will get the chance to overturn the wisdom of their own City Council, which voted to keep out superstores. If Glendale residents vote “Yes’ on May 15th, it means they are voting to stick with the rezoning and keep Wal-Mart out. If they vote “No”, they are voting to overturn the City Council decision. So a “No” vote means “Yes” for Wal-Mart, and a “Yes” vote means “No” for Wal-Mart. Confused? So are the voters of Glendale. The owners of the land at 51st. and Olive Avenue, in conjunction with Wal-Mart, gathered enough signatures to put the vote on the ballot, and the wording of the question is such that a “No” vote, which usually is more motivating to voters, is actually a “Yes” vote for Wal-Mart. A clever move, some say, but the citizen’s group that is fighting Wal-Mart, the “Glendale Citizens for Excellence in Government” is trying to eliminate the confusion by making it clear they support a “Yes” vote to keep Wal-Mart out.The group backing Wal-Mart is called the “Hayscale, LLC Referendum Commmittee”. Hayscale is the business name of the Hurley family, which owns the land.Residents opposed to Wal-Mart say that more than 100 of their lawnsigns have been stolen, and since the question is so confusing, the signs are a critical part of their educational campaign. The landowners have been spending big time to woo voters to their side. The most recent spending came in the form of a short “promotional video” sent to 22,000 Glendale voters, according to Channel 3 TV news. Neighbors of the project claim they were told by the Hurley family that the land would be used for upscale shops and restaurants. “It was very attractive on paper,” one resident told Channel 3. But once residents heard it was a Wal-Mart, they were no longer supportive of the plan. The City Council voted to rezone the property so that only smaller stores could be built. That’s when the landowner decided to take democracy into his own hands, and go to a referendum. The landlord stands to gain the most here, and so has taken the time to use the referendum to his advantage. He’s already lost the City Council, so he has nothing to lose on the ballot, and millions to gain. But what’s in it for local residents?
These “newslfash” pages are filled with stories about referendums. In recent years, Wal-Mart developers (and others) have turned to the ballot as a logical place to try and overturn a City Council vote. The developers figure that if they spend enough money, they will win. This is certainly not always the case, as demonstrated in communities like Eureka and Yacaipa, California, where Wal-Mart lost by a large margin. But in places like Glendora and Huntington Beach, CA, massive spending by developers and Wal-Mart have beaten the neighborhoods. Wal-Mart has used short 5 minute videos in a number of communities. Sprawl-Busters has a collection of such videos from places like Texas and Connecticut. More and more, these developers are realizing that they have to aggressively overcome citizen opposition to big box stores, because the movement has reached a point that many of these projects no longer encounter smooth sailing past local officials. In the case of Glendale, the developer chose to use the ballot to push aside the City Council, which voted to support its citizens. Now its the citizen’s turn to push back the developer on May 15th.
