Wal-Mart Issues Threat to Austin Neighborhood to Build Big Store Unless They Backdown

Avatar http://www.rg4n.org Posted by admin 415 days ago

On Friday, Wal-Mart sent the City a letter offering a small and final reduction in the size of its planned Northcross Supercenter.

We are here today because this latest demonstration of Wal-Mart’s continued refusal to seriously address neighborhood concerns was accompanied by a threat against Austin and its citizens.

If RG4N, a neighborhood association, a business, or anyone else exercises their legal rights in this matter, Wal-Mart has threatened to go back on its promises and plop down at Northcross the same big blue box it had originally planned. This could include running trucks on neighborhood streets and keeping the Supercenter open 24 hours a day, for example, although ultimately these matters are subject to regulation by the City Council.

In reducing the size of the planned Supercenter, it appears that Wal-Mart is worried about the community’s strong opposition and its willingness to make sure the Northcross plan complies with the law. The Northcross project has been slowed down and is behind schedule. And we know from national reports that Wal-Mart’s stock price is being kept afloat by the opening of new stores like the one planned for our neighborhood.

But threats show bad faith with the community they hope to join. This threat undermines Wal-Mart’s assertions that the company cares about the neighborhood’s concerns. Wal-Mart’s letter reveals a bully trying to strong-arm its way past a community’s vision for itself.

And we will not give in to a bully and sacrifice our neighborhoods and our rights just to help Wal-Mart bolster its stock price.

In light of Wal-Mart’s letter, we are postponing the traffic protest that we had scheduled for Thursday in order to respond to Wal-Mart’s threat. We are asking Austinites to join us for two events.

First, we are planning Arms Around Austin for this Thursday at noon. We will encircle City Hall to show that Austin and its neighborhoods will not be bullied.

Second, we plan to protest at a local Wal-Mart next Saturday from noon to 1:00pm. The exact location will be announced later this week on our website, rg4n.org.

Wal-Mart has threatened the people and businesses in the Northcross area. In addition, City Council members have expressed fear that Wal-Mart might sue them individually if they act as provided by law to help resolve this situation.

Despite this offensive attempt to railroad the citizens and elected officials of the City of Austin, Wal-Mart has an opportunity now to do things right. Accordingly, RG4N asks that Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott publicly retract and apologize for Wal-Mart’s threat against our citizens. We further ask that Mr. Scott come to Austin and meet with us to find a resolution at Northcross that addresses neighborhood concerns and also is profitable for the developer.

Wal-Mart has made a threat, but we are not backing down. We intend to stand up for a better vision for Northcross, for our neighborhoods and for the rights of all citizens to exercise their rights as necessary to protect their community. We ask people from across Austin to join with us in fighting for good development and the rights of neighborhoods to have a say in how they grow.

Read the letter.
Location: Austin, Texas

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