Vancouver Coalition Fights Walmart
A coalition of neighborhood, small business, and environmental groups has gathered more than 4,000 petition signatures against a proposed Wal-Mart store in Vancouver, Canada. … Read More
Wal-Mart Developer’s Tactics Questioned in New Orleans
Rumors of a citizens lawsuit are beginning to circulate in New Orleans less than a month after the city council approved a 200,000 square foot suburban-style Wal-Mart supercenter. The 17-acre development will be situated along Tchoupitoulas Street in the Lower Garden District, a historic neighborhood wedged between a bend in the Mississippi River and downtown.… Read More
Arcata Prohibits Forumula Restaurants
In mid-May, the city council of Arcata, California voted 4-to-1 to enact a citywide cap on the number formula restaurants. The measure must pass a second reading on June 5. It will become law 30 days later. The ordinance defines a formula restaurant as one that shares the same design, menu, trademark, and other characteristics with twelve or more other establishments. The ordinance bars a formula restaurant from locating within the city unless it is replacing an existing formula restaurant at the same location. … Read More
Ocean Beach Planning Board Endorses Formula Business Ban
Six weeks after an advisory referendum won broad support from residents, the Ocean Beach, California, planning board voted 8-to-4 in early May to recommend that the city council adopt an ordinance banning all formula restaurants and retail businesses.
Ocean Beach is a neighborhood of San Diego with a population of about 15,000. Each of the city’s neighborhoods has its own master plan and elected planning board.
San Francisco Mayor Vetoes Big Box Law
San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown vetoed an ordinance to require greater scrutiny of big box development. The measure passed the Board of Supervisors on a 7-to-4 vote in March. Eight votes are needed to override a mayoral veto.
The citywide ordinance would have required retail development projects larger than 50,000 square feet to undergo an impact review and obtain a conditional use permit before proceeding.
Austin Independent Business Alliance Takes Off
Steve Bercu, owner of Book People, a large independent bookstore in Austin, Texas, has been increasingly concerned about the decline of the city’s homegrown businesses. Like the rest of the country, Austin has seen as steady influx of national chains. Meanwhile, the local businesses so central to the city’s sense of place and character are disappearing. About a year-and-a-half ago, Bercu learned about the Boulder Independent Business Alliance (BIBA) in Boulder, Colorado and decided to replicate the approach in Austin. … Read More
Cooperative Bolsters Independent Lighting Stores
To counter competition from big box retailers, independent lighting stores are banding together in a cooperative called Lighting One. The coop enables members to reduce costs through joint purchasing and gain access to services and expertise that otherwise would be unaffordable.
"Lighting One puts us on a level playing field with the big boxes," says Marilyn Shulman, second generation owner of Bayshore Lighting, a 60-year-old lighting store in Long Island, New York. … Read More
Bozeman Weighs Economic Impact Review Ordinance
The Bozeman, Montana city commission is expected to vote later this month on a zoning ordinance that would require proposals for stores larger than 50,000 square feet (less than half the size of a typical Wal-Mart) to undergo an economic impact review before gaining approval. … Read More
California Bill Aims to Quell Quest for Big Retail
In every region of the country, chain store developers have successfully played neighboring communities against one another to gain approval for their stores and to exact the biggest tax breaks and public subsidies. But nowhere have city officials been as desperate for sales tax revenue—and thus big box stores, shopping malls, and auto dealerships—than in California, where the competition for retail development has been especially costly and destructive. … Read More