21 years ago today I beat my first Wal-Mart in Greenfield, MA. In 2005 they returned, this time with a wealthy developer to shill for them. We have held this latest advance off for nine years now, including almost three and a half years in court. This past week, our Attorney Tom Lesser, presented oral arguments in Appellate Court. The developer is arguing that we should not be in Housing Court---so this is not about the merits of our case at all, just jurisdiction. A Housing Court Judge said we had the right to bring our case to her---but the developer is trying to overturn her decision. Every October 19th I ask the local newspaper, the Greenfield Recorder to mark the anniversary of this classic battle for Small Town America, and every year they decline. This is the longest Wal-Mart battle in America, and says so much about our economy today, the politics of shopping, the phony system of land use regulation, and the degradation of our environment. I celebrate this 21 years today for what it is, and all the activists who are fighting big box sprawl in their hometowns today!
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 10:13:33 +0000