A Newsflash on October 30, 2002 provides the background on a ballot
question vote in Maplewood, Missouri to keep out a Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club
project. Wal-Mart spent its way into voter’s hearts with a lavish
outpouring from their corporation treasury. Here’s the front lines report
received recently from sprawl-busters in Maplewood: “We are sorry to have
to report that we lost the election on November 5th. Maplewood, Missouri
will have a Wal-Mart/Sam’s. The vote was about 2:1 for blighting 33 acres
and having THF build a Wal-Mart and Sam’s. We were outspent and
unfortunately, we couldn’t get the residents who didn’t want the
development (1000 people who voted no) to help. Wal-Mart contributed
$125,000 to their campaign and the unions contributed about $15,000 to our
campaign. Plus, we didn’t get the money in a timely way. We have heard
that all the contracts have expired, so it should be interesting to see if
THF honors them at the original price. I seriously doubt it, and we’ll probably get blamed for that.”
For more information on Maplewood, search this Newsflash database by the town’s name. For local contacts who fought Wal-Mart, contact [email protected]. For an example of how another community beat big box money on the ballot box, see today’s story from Easton, Maryland.
