City Council votes to seize Wal-Mart land

[not systems]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/24/WALMART.TMP

HERCULES
City Council votes to seize Wal-Mart land

Patrick Hoge, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

The Hercules City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to take the unprecedented step of using eminent domain to prevent Wal-Mart from building a big-box store on a 17-acre lot near the city's waterfront.

The vote caused most of the 300 people who had packed Hercules City Hall for the meeting to break out in cheers and applause.

...

Officials from the nation's largest retailer have said they are determined to open a store on the company's 17 acres overlooking San Pablo Bay. In a letter to the city on Tuesday, Wal-Mart attorneys argued that eminent domain was unnecessary because the company had tailored its project to meet the community's desires, downsizing the proposed store and garden center from 167,000 square feet to roughly 100,000 square feet and designing the shopping center to have "a very attractive, village-like appearance.''

...

The city was the first in the state to adopt a redevelopment code that prescribes the design of streets, building dimensions and some architectural requirements, such as front porches. A key part of the plan called for a waterfront village with high-density housing and shops, a shoreline park, a train station, bus service and even a ferry stop.

[amitten]

1. Yay! n/t

[DainBramaged]

2. Wal-Mart, the leech of retail, fuck them,

aren't a gazillion stores enough?

[magellan]

3. Excellent!

Every once in a while, We The People win. :)

[Nicole]

4. Good for them

I hope other cities follow their lead.

[harpboy_ak]

5. The town was designed as a livable community

specifically designed to human scale for humans, not cars, and Wal-Fart wants to barge in and ruin the reason folks moved there with another ugly megabox?

Good for them! It's about time communities all did like the entire state of Vermont did: tell Wal-Fart to take their crummy low wage jobs and chinese crap and shove it where the sun don't shine.

[blonndee]

6. Good! They try to use it for their own advantage, let them suffer from it

too. FUCK Wal-Mart. Good for the city.

[MnFats]

7. wal mart will probably sue....what have they go to lose?

then again,losing in court may formalize a precedent that other cities could use...
anyway, props to this city council.
hope it doesn't get too bloody..

[lindisfarne]

9. They can sue - but the Supreme Court just recently decided that

taking by eminent domain would be ok in this kind of situation. (Not a decision I liked in particular, but I *do* like that it's being used against Wal-Mart. :nopity:

[951-Riverside]

12. K-MART should be next

Its like anyone except die hards vist K-MART, I think their land is better suited for building a park, firestation, schools, etc on.

[lindisfarne]

14. I cannot stand how slow it is to check out at K-mart. I've only been there

a handful of times in the last 20 years (probably all to get something my grandmother wanted). I've regretted it every time.

[Tiggeroshii]

8. YAY! n/t

[987654321]

10. That's kind of ironic, isn't it?

So big business had really pushed expanded use of eminent domain so that they can take the land belonging to other people and place their businesses there. Here in Arizona it was often used to push the lower class from their downtown area homes so that the wealthy could come in and redevelop the land.

Now one of their own kind has had it used against them. Kudos to that city counsel for taking on one of the biggest bullies in the country. Maybe there's some hope after all.

[Judi Lynn]

17. It's beautiful when their schemes backfire on them.

Welcome to D.U., 987654321! :hi: :hi: :hi:

[depakid]

18. The law is a two edged sword

Look for more of this kind of thing used against destructive and wasteful development as gas prices rise to $4, $5 and $6 per gallon

[bluestateguy]

11. I'm glad they did this but Kelo v. New London is still a bad decision

Of course, it the city builds a public property then Kelo v. New London is not applicable in this case.

[sandnsea]

13. Kelo v New London included public use

In fact, that development was exactly the same as the one described in Hercules, park, public paths, housing, etc.

[depakid]

15. Nice Job

It's great to see communities with integrity pulling out the stops to protect themselves from predators like Walmart.

"The vote caused most of the 300 people who had packed Hercules City Hall for the meeting to break out in cheers and applause."

[spiderpig]

16. I was there and it rocked!

I was at the city council meeting, and am I proud of my 'burb! Wal-Mart lawyers complained about how WM had spent A MILLION DOLLARS (!) revising their original plan to accommodate Hercules' "upscale" demands. As if. This is a beautiful, unpretentious, thoroughly integrated area where residents take pride in their property and seem to share a desire to maintain a distinct community where we can live peacefully, raise families and be left alone.

Those who spoke on behalf of the town's vision were articulate, passionate, and resolute. Wal-Mart produced a couple of lawyers and a few lame (probably paid) supporters, but the overwhelming response was "We don't like you, we don't want you, you're nasty to your employees and you lie...GO AWAY!!!"

There was a huge cheer when the unanimous "NO" from council was announced. Outside city hall, strangers were glad-handing each other.

Again, I love my city!!! Go Herc!!!

[1932]

22. People should read the book The Great American Jobs Scam,

It makes a great argument that these retailers are not healthy for a community's economic base.

[wryter2000]

24. Welcome to DU

:hi:

Thanks for the report. Give your city council a big high-five from Oaktown.

[spiderpig]

25. Thanks, wryter2000!

Long time lurker here.

[Gregorian]

19. God damnit! Good news? I needed some good news.

I'm so pissed! Every fucking night it's the same thing around here- logging trucks at 3am!
Someone seize the forests of this country. Give them back to the public and let them grow like actual forests.

Sorry. I just can't help it. You try buying a house, and then discovering it's unliveable.

PS- I've been seriously pissed about my cousin who flies his plane around the country and builds Walmarts. That's one less he'll get to build. Haha. I think I'll make sure he sees the article.

[ThomCat]

20. Good news in the war against Wall Mart!

:party:

[corkhead]

21. Now I just need to have my city council seize our own Arkansas Deathstar

and burn it down. For the good of the community, of course.:evilgrin:

[wryter2000]

23. Awwwright, Hercules

:applause:

Oakland's fought them and (I believe) won, too. There is a Walmart in San Leandro. I've never set foot inside it.