We beat Wal Mart!

[natty dread]

The odds were against us. It's been an epic three year battle with many ups and downs, with wal mart using every underhanded tactic at their disposal, but with a grass-roots effort, it appears my town of 6,000 has beaten the fuckers! It's unfortunate that so many communities let themselves be steamrolled by the Wal Mart machine, but they are well practiced at overwhelming the resources of small towns with their legal and PR tactics. I feel lucky to live in Hood River, where my neighbors wouldn't let that happen!

From the HR News:

Retail giant down for count?

By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
October 15

Wal-Mart has been defeated for a third, and possibly final, time in its bid to build a super center in Hood River.

On Wednesday, local officials were notified that the Oregon Court of Appeals had upheld the county’s denial of plans for the 186,000 square foot store. That development was proposed for 16 acres of commercial land at the junction of Frankton and Country Club roads.

“We’re gratified that the court supported the county’s authority in regard to this matter. We felt all along that in the end we would prevail,” said David Meriwether, county administrator.

Wal-Mart officials said they were still conferring about what their next step of action would be.

“We are not only disappointed in the Court of Appeals decision but surprised they did not offer an explanation on such an important decision,” said Eric Berger, Wal-Mart spokesperson.

Meriwether credited the latest victory to the prevailing efforts of county attorney Will Carey, city attorney Alexandra Sosnkowski and Citizens for Responsible Growth, a local activist group.

Sosnkowski said the city had always contended that the “big box” application could not meet “compatibility” design standards. She said the immensity of the structure made it impossible to blend with the surrounding viewscape as required by planning criteria. She and other city officials were pleased that both the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) and the higher court agreed with their stance.

“It was very satisfying to know that a big corporation like Wal-Mart couldn’t force us to do something we didn’t want to do,” she said.

The county board turned down Wal-Mart’s site plan in early January for two reasons:

* It would be two to three times larger than any other structure in the area.

* Development of the site with a 12-acre paved parking lot near Phelps Creek could bring flooding to downstream properties.

Wal-Mart then appealed that verdict to LUBA, whose three attorneys agreed with the county’s decision. LUBA did not choose to address the concerns over flooding because it had already denied the retail giant’s plans on the compatibility issue.

Carey and Sosnkowski said the Court of Appeals affirmed LUBA’s decision without any discussion. Therefore, they believe it will be difficult for Wal-Mart to get the Oregon Supreme Court to even hold a hearing.

“The legal defense effort of the county, city and CRG did an excellent job of bringing forward successful arguments,” Sosnkowski said.

[Trackhead]

A supercenter in a town of 6k? WTF? That would have been quite the eyesore.

You would like to think that a corportation as huge as Wal Mart could take a hint and let a few locations slide due to asthetics.

[Benny Profane]

But, but, without a Wal Mart, where are all the fat, ugly and stupid people going to shop and work in your area? They have rights too, you know.

[Tap]

that's great Natty. glad to hear your "place" will still be a real "place"...HR is lovely.

--LKJ--
fashist an di attack
noh baddah worry ´bout dat
fashist an di attack
wi wi´ fite dem back
fashist an di attack
den wi countah-attack
fashist an di attack
den wi drive dem back

we gonna smash their brains in
cause they ain´t got nofink in ´em
we gonna smash their brains in
cause they ain´t got nofink in ´em

[Vets]

natty dread,

Congratulations! Glad to hear the good news. Hood River can remain beautiful. There is still hope for others too. Fight the power!

[bdog]

Wal-Mart officials said they were still conferring about what their next step of action would be.

Maybe Wal-Mart's next step should be to get a clue! They are being turned away by communities that understand who and what they are at an increasing rate. Which part of NO don't they understand? Very good news Natty.

[Dantheman]

Nice work natty. Fuck Wal-Mart and their, "We're coming if you like it or not" attitude. People shouldn't have to go through 3 years of legal battles to keep them or any other corparate monstrosity out of their town if they don't want them there.

[Buzzworthy]

A buddy works in the distribution center up here and he was saying that stores are shutting down left and right and his hours have gotten cut. I can see why Wallyworld want to get into every single litte town, but Hood???

ANd for three years they fought to come into Hood? Battles need to be picked a bit better I would think.

Glad to see they were defeated. What an eyesore that would have been, let alone the quaint shops there trying to battle it out with them.

[Greydon Clark]

Good work, more communities need to be motivated like yours.

[shamrockpow]

ANd for three years they fought to come into Hood? Battles need to be picked a bit better I would think.

This is all part of their strategy. Show the other towns that don't have quite the same convictions and sense of self that HR does that you're willing to fight and waste resources just to spite them and you can prevent some of those towns from even putting up a fight.


http://www.jerrypippin.com/bush_borg.jpg

[natty dread]

A buddy works in the distribution center up here and he was saying that stores are shutting down left and right and his hours have gotten cut. I can see why Wallyworld want to get into every single litte town, but Hood???

ANd for three years they fought to come into Hood? Battles need to be picked a bit better I would think.

Glad to see they were defeated. What an eyesore that would have been, let alone the quaint shops there trying to battle it out with them.

Amazingly, they ALREADY HAVE a 72,000 square foot store in Hood River that does well and fills a niche, but that just wasn't enough for the Wal Mart machine! One of the most absurd of their many tactics to build the 186,000 sq ft monstrosity with 12 acres of blacktop was to propose a special "rustic-looking" store with a PNW theme especially for Hood River. Wal Mart officials got really indignant when we laughed in their face at that one. Luckily their bullying, threats, lambasting of our elected officials that bordered on slander, and PR didn't work in the face of unified community opposition and fundraising and HR's sound legal arguments.

[natty dread]

This is all part of their strategy. Show the other towns that don't have quite the same convictions and sense of self that HR does that you're willing to fight and waste resources just to spite them and you can prevent some of those towns from even putting up a fight.

So true shamrock.

[Trackhead]

Maybe the U.S. government should contract with WalMart to 'finish the job' in Iraq. The stipulation being they could open a thousand WalMarts in Baghdad when they are done.

They show the aggression, they have the tactics, I think they could pull it off.

Democratize and Walmartize the world.

[char]

Don't tell me they wanted to put it downtown....


Nice work, I"m glad to see that at least one community has resisted that particular corporate machine. First stop Walmart then Starbucks...

[Lynx]

oh man, thats AWESOME. i love hood river. and i miss Lampoei's, that place is rad

[jackace]

Good for you Guys!!!!!!

Wal-Mart ruins small towns and kills their economy. They replace small business owners with minimum wage jobs and drive all their competition out of town.

The small (20,000 people) Washington State town I grew up in got one of those super wally worlds and it has put a big damper on every other business in town. I can only imagine the devastation in a smaller town. They probably turn into the only place in town to shop.

Again Glad to hear you one against the Giant.

[Lynx]

if walmart was the only place i could shop. . .i think i would go insane and shoot myself. seriously. . . most walmarts are just depressing to be in, especially the one that already exists in hood river. i found myself in there with a friend of mine one day when we were trying to escape govy. we lost track of each other for a while and when we finally found each other agreed we had to leave immediately because they place was so depressing and trashy.

[iceman]

Don't tell me they wanted to put it downtown....

Nope, not downtown, right down by the river so there would have been no possibility of looking out at the river without seeing the place. Those people do not have souls.

Nice job, Natty & friends.

[A-wreck]

I only looked at this thread to see if someone would blame bush for wal mart trying to put a store in their town..........


god I can't wait for the election to be over