Thursday, 5 Oct 2000
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.
I made progress yesterday on the article I'm writing for The New Rules, but didn't quite finish. The phone kept ringing; email kept downloading.
One call was from a woman in a small town in Michigan. The residents there fought Wal-Mart several years ago, but lost. Now developers are back with plans for hundreds of thousands of square feet of chain retail along a highway leading out of town. She's hoping there's a greater awareness now of what this kind of development does to communities than when Wal-Mart first arrived. She's been distributing copies of The Home Town Advantage and helping to organize the opposition. She called to find out if I might be available to visit the town and speak.
Artwork: Ken Avidor
More news also came in yesterday from two communities in Iowa: Decorah and Mason City. I am scheduled to speak in Decorah in a few weeks. The group that invited me has been sending news clippings on the battles in both cities to stop the construction of Wal-Mart supercenters. These are giant stores with the company's standard merchandise, plus a full grocery. The stores are equivalent in size to about four or five football fields, not counting the acres of parking.
In Decorah, Wal-Mart wants to put one of these stores with all of its impervious asphalt on the flood plain of the Upper Iowa River. Unbelievably, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) issued a permit for the construction. But Citizens for Responsible Development, a group of small business owners, environmentalists, and others concerned about the damage this store will do, filed a lawsuit challenging the DNR's decision.
The judge has just granted a stay, meaning Wal-Mart can't touch the site pending the outcome of the suit. The judge noted a "substantial legal or factual question exists as to the propriety of the [DNR's] order." A hearing on the case is scheduled for next week. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.
The fight in Decorah has been going on for two years. In Mason City, the Planning and Zoning Commission has already voted down Wal-Mart three times. But the corporation keeps rearing its ugly head. This is one of the challenges people who organize to stop these developments face. Corporate retailers are extremely persistent. They are crafty and have plenty of money. They will use every backdoor manipulation necessary to get their way.
This is one of the primary reasons ILSR recently started an electronic newsletter that covers efforts nationwide to stop chain store expansion and support local retail. The media largely ignores these local struggles. Activists often feel they are utterly alone, which has a way of wearing people down over time, exactly what these national chains want.
Our email newsletter, called The Home Town Advantage Bulletin, is designed to counter this by letting people know that they are not alone and bringing them stories from all over the country of people who are fighting back and winning. We also want the newsletter to provide local activists with a steady stream of research and information that can help them convince neighbors and local officials to support independent businesses and oppose absentee-owned retail development.
Above all, the newsletter urges communities to adopt new rules. Strong local land use policies can create permanent protections and prevent the need to fight off these stores one by one. Right now, much of the battle against chains is being fought as a kind of guerrilla warfare. ILSR's aim is to help these local efforts expand and take proactive steps to protect the character and economic future of their communities.
Dozens of cities and towns are leading the way. To take a look at the kinds of policies they are adopting, visit the Retail section of the New Rules website.
Back issues of The Home Town Advantage Bulletin are available on the Bulletins page of our website, where you can also check out our other bulletins -- Family Farm Rules Bulletin, ATM Surcharge Bulletin, and New Rules Project News.
If you're interested in subscribing to The Home Town Advantage Bulletin (6 issues/year and it's free!), just drop me an email at smitchell@ilsr.org.
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