“In pursuit of cheaper stuff, Vermonters need to be especially careful not to overload their winding roads and covered bridges, not to ruin their green rolling landscapes and not to empty out their small historic downtowns. More than a quarter of the state’s income comes from tourism, and nobody’s going to mail home a postcard of Wal-Mart.”
“Of all races in an advanced stage of civilization, the American is the least accessible to long views… Always and everywhere in a hurry to get rich, he does not give a thought to remote consequences; he sees only present advantages… He does not remember, he does not feel, he lives in a materialist dream.”
—Moiseide Ostrogorski (1902)
June 7, 2007 Dear Senator Lyons,
The Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth wish to express their support for your position on the wording of the rules governing Act 250 with regard to preservation of prime agricultural soils. The distinction between "and" and "or" is profoundly significant to the long-term viability of Vermont, both in terms of it's economic prospects and the simple ability to feed the population locally should that become essential. We live in an uncertain world where food security issues, fuel prices and political upheaval elsewhere could easily interrupt our food supply from distant sources.
Here in Franklin County, the NWCRG is struggling against efforts to convert some of the largest concentrations of prime-agricultural soils in the state to large-scale retail and residential development. Successful organic farms on the perimeters of these soils will be threatened. We cannot allow this to happen, as high quality Vermont farm products and the countryside in which they are grown represent the two most promising industries for Franklin County, as we embark on the twenty-first century.
Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you in your efforts to preserve prime agricultural soils in Vermont.
Thank you.
Sue Prent, Spokesperson
Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth
St. Albans, Vermont
(802) 524-5814
June 7, 2007 Dear Friends of Responsible Land-use and Local Economies,
This is a plea for support. We in the NWCRG find ourselves at a critical crossroads. If we are to continue our efforts to oppose the irresponsible conversion of prime agricultural soils and wetlands at Exit 19 of I-89, to large-scale retail, we must immediately come-up with some money to hire an attorney.
We have very little time in which to respond to the developer's Motion to Dismiss. We have filed for an extension in order to raise some funds to pay for legal representation. If we do not respond to the Motion to Dismiss, the judge will grant the motion, and we will no longer have a voice in the the Act 250 process for this development. If our arguments can't be heard at Act 250, that will pretty well guarantee that the developer wins and you'll soon see the southern entrance to St. Albans off of I-89 resembling Tafts Corners with all the traffic, pollution, environmental, aesthetic and economic impacts that goes with it.
We know that many of you are primarily focussed on the threat of sprawl at Exit 20. Our efforts at Exit 20 continue to frustrate the developer-driven sprawl that threatens that junction, but that battle is far from over. Already the developers and short-sighted St. Albans Town and Swanton administrators are trying to DOUBLE the overall area available for big box locations.
Unless we demonstrate our resolve and resources to oppose all highway-centric sprawl in Franklin County, we may win the battle against this Wal-mart, but lose the war against sprawl in the long run. We cannot afford to remain a one-project opposition force. We have been fortunate to have the support of the VNRC for our legal efforts against the JL Davis Wal-mart project; but we have no resources to direct our efforts anywhere else. Recognizing the importance of taking a stand against sprawl at Exit 19, we are appealing to you.
Many of us have had the pleasure of being quietly congratulated by some of our neighbors for the great job we are doing on behalf of the entire community. It's time to put that goodwill to the test and ask for some participation in the form of monetary contributions. Even better would be pro bono representation by one of the sympathetic legal professionals in Franklin County. We love all those words of support, but right now, we need HELP!
What's really at stake, you ask?
Disappearance of prime agricultural soils. The areas in St. Albans Town and Swanton that have been designated for large-scale retail development have some of the highest concentrations of prime agricultural soils in Vermont. The only other remaining area where concentrations are similar is around Bennington. Developers love to locate their projects on prime agricultural soils because they yield most readily to excavation. Of course, this means the permanent loss of the area to agriculture. It is shameful and outright folly to continue to allow the degradation of Vermont's principal economic resource to satisfy the short-term interests of a few developers and unimaginative administrators. Our economic future lies in our ability to exploit the cache that Vermont has in quality food marketing. Which brings me to our second point:
Food Security. Recent events should serve as cautionary tales for anyone doubting the necessity of protecting local lands for their eventual use to feed local populations. Not only is the cost of transporting our food over hundreds or thousands of miles in danger of becoming cost-prohibitive due to fuel cost pressures; but we can no longer ignore the fact that, by freely outsourcing our food production and passing it through so many hands before it reaches our tables, we are courting disaster in terms of food safety and availability.
Traffic. If we allow these mushrooms of sprawl at the Interstate exits in Franklin County, we will see worse traffic problems than they have in Williston. Rte. 104 doesn't have the capacity for this kind of load. It will turn a pretty nice rural drive into a polluted crawl through disappearing countryside. Bear in mind that, when the developer applied to the DRB to permit his large scale project at Exit 19, he maintained that his prime ag soils were "no longer farmable" due to the traffic! The DRB apparently agreed with this reasoning, as they issued the permit, despite our objections; but when the same argument had been raised by Hudak Farms in objecting to the Wal-mart proposal three-tenths of a mile from their organic farm, the DRB chose to ignore their plight and permit the project! V-Trans has raised serious concerns about the state of Rte. 104. even without considering the proposed development at Exit 19.
Aesthetics. Is this really what we want to be the gateway to Franklin County...a sea of concrete and big box retailers? How many tourists are going to find that attractive? Next Vermont grown and raised foods, tourism is our biggest business. Is the best future we can conceive of for Franklin County to be a retail quick-stop?
Degradation of the air, the watershed and natural environment in general.
Local Economy. The pressures that big box retailers can place on small local businesses will cause many to close with no opportunity for new local retailers to start-up in the community. The end result will be an overall decline in the tax base as increasing services are required to accommodate the "drive-through" traffic generated by national chains who are not invested in the community.
Please take this opportunity to contribute to the ongoing work we are doing to preserve a valuable way of life and the precious resources that we have here in Franklin County.
Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth
P.O. Box 750
St. Albans, Vermont 05478
(802) 324-4139
May 8, 2007 Nuns a Security Threat to Wal-Mart
April 4, 2007 Wal*Mart Takes Over the World A Fatal Mistake by Wal*Mart Children in India Wal*Mart - Just Plain Evil
April 4, 2007
Wal-Mart Dumped from one of the World's Largest Pension Funds
The Norwegian Government's pension fund, with $285 billion in holdings, is dropping Wal-Mart--the world's largest retailer--from its fund due to the use of child labor and systematic sweatshop abuses in its huge global supply chain.
In its 2006 Annual Report, released on March 20, 2007, the Council on Ethics for the Government Pension Fund-Global reached the following conclusion:
"There is no doubt...that Wal-Mart purchases a number of products that are manufactured under unacceptable conditions. There are numerous reports of child labor, serious violations of working hour regulations, wages below the local minimum, health-hazardous working conditions, unreasonable punishment, prohibition of unionization and extensive use of a production system that fosters working conditions bordering on forced labor, and employees being locked into production premises, etc. in Wal-Mart's supply chain. All the above examples represent violations of internationally recognized standards for labor rights and human rights." (page 27)
"The Petroleum Fund's Council on Ethics considers that there is an unacceptable risk that the fund, through its investments in Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and Wal-Mart de Mexico SA, may be complicit in serious or systematic violations of human rights.
"The Council recommends that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Wal-Mart de Mexico SA be excluded from the Petroleum Fund's portfolio." (page 3)
On the U.S. front, the fund found Wal-Mart guilty of "discrimination of female employees," "active obstruction of employees' right to unionize," "violations dealing with the employment of minors," "mandatory overtime without compensation" and the "use of illegal labor."
In the section of the report dealing with Wal-Mart's abusive offshore sweatshop practices, the Norwegian Government's Council on Ethics largely relied upon the National Labor Committee's research in Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Bangladesh and China. The NLC's research was corroborated by other independent human and worker rights organizations.
Points which emerge in the Fund's report:
* "Wal-Mart imports products from 70 countries around the world."
* "In 2003, Wal-Mart imported goods valuing more than $15 billion from China and is the world's largest importer from China."
* In 2004, Wal-Mart had 5,300 direct suppliers, but overall depends upon "our 68,000 suppliers worldwide."
* Wal-Mart's annual sales exceed the Gross Domestic Product of 161 countries in the world. THE FULL REPORT: "Annual Report 2006 / Council on Ethics for the Government Pension Fund-Global"
March 22, 2007 DEATH TO DIVERSITY Rats in the Doughnuts
February 26, 2007 WOMEN OF WAL-MART FIGHT DISCRIMINATION Sprawl! Does it make people fat? Bad Wal-Mart Photoshop
February 13, 2007 A Toll Entrance to Wal-Mart?
February 11, 2007 Unholy Alliance
February 7, 2007 Sexist Class Suit against Wal-Mart
February 6, 2007 Protect the Neighborhood
February 6, 2007 READ ABOUT IT! "Third-world?" India shows more concern for its "mom and pop" stores than does Franklin County, Vermont.
February 1, 2007 Wal-Mart Cheats the States
January 29, 2007 Sewers lose Fabrics
January 28, 2007
1. At Wal-Mart, Americans spend $36,000,000 every hour of every day.
2. This works out to $21,000 profit every minute!
3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to March 15th than Target sells in all year.
4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined.
5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private employer in the world.
6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World.
7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only 15 years.
8. During this same period, (the 15 years) 31 Supermarket chains sought bankruptcy (including Winn-Dixie).
9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.
10. Wal-Mart has approx 4,000 stores in the USA and half of them are Super Centers. That is 1,000 more than it was 5 years ago.
11. This year, 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at a Wal-Mart store. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 billion).
12. 90% of Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart.
January 1, 2007 SLOW the CITY
November 11, 2006 NWCRG has been honored with an "Outstanding Activism Award" from the Vermont Natural Resources Council, on the occasion of the "Vermonters Building Solutions Conference at Vermont Technical College in Randolph, Vermont.
October 19, 2006 Wal-Mart Employees Walkout
October 16, 2006 Wal-Mart seeks to keep its labor cheap! Not only is it caping workers' wages but it intends to increase its employee turnover in order to reduce who qualifies for insurance and other benefits. Walmart Caps Wages, Cuts "Full-Time" Positions As if that is not enough, Wal-Mart and other manufacturers are threatening China that they will move their factories to other countries, if China improves conditions for its workers. U.S. Corporations Opposing New Rights for Chinese Workers
October 4, 2006 - St. Albans Town Asks to Vacate Wal-Mart DRB Permit! In response to Judge Meredith Wright's ruling that Ernie Levesque's actions did, indeed, constitute a conflict of interests, the Town has decided to void the DRB permit and hold new hearings. We have asserted that unless a strong policy prohibiting conflict of interest, and an entirely new and IMPARTIAL DRB board is in place, the new hearings will have no more validity than the previous ones. We will keep you posted of developments.
October 2, 2006 - Thank you to everyone from the Franklin County/Grand Isle community who joined us for our third annual "Festival For A Local Vermont". You and the gorgeous day made it a huge success for us. We would also like to thank Lucien and James for their musical contributions, our extraordinary magician for his incredible close-up illusions, artist Corliss Blakely for her donation of prints, our organized friends who came to table, and all the local businesses who helped us out with refreshments (you know who you are!) When we all come together, look what we can do!
Sept 30, 2006 -St. Albans, VT -Vermont Environmental Court Judge Meredith Wright has ruled that, in wearing a hat that read "St. Albans Needs Walmart" during a permit hearing for the proposed store, Development Review Board member Ernie Levesque "contaminated both that day of hearing and the further proceedings." She further observed that the civil rights of opponents to the store's construction had been violated. Commenting on the fact that Board member Albert Benson had signed a petition in favor of the Walmart store, Judge Wright said that he, too, had acted inappropriately and that his actions had "detracted from the appearance of a fair hearing."
July 10, 2006 - St. Albans, VT - ACT 250 Hearings are in recess; and Developer JLDavis' traffic and economic studies for his proposed 160,000-square-ft. Walmart have effectively been demonstrated to be fatally flawed. We await further word from the ACT 250 Court; but meanwhile we must continue our efforts to keep the critical issues of traffic, environmental and economic impact before the public. Our mission remains to bring information to our neighbors and support reasonable alternatives, so that our community will be equipped to face the threat of uncontrolled sprawl wherever it appears.
October 2, 2006 Walmart Caps Wages, Cuts "Full-Time" Positions
June 6, 2006 Biggest, responsible pension fund boycotts Wal-Mart
May 23, 2006 New Mexico Says Wal-Mart Cannot Avoid State Income Tax By Shifting Funds Out Of State
May 23, 2006 BigBox Police Requirements
Garment factory fire, Friday, 24 February, 2006.
Save This Business!

Garment Factory Collapsed, with workers in it!
May 16, 2006 Organic + Wal-Mart= Quality vs. Cheaperest
May 5, 2006
Richard Hudak's Letter to the St. Albans Messenger
May 5, 2006 It’s not about Saranac being pro- or anti-Wal-Mart
May 5, 2006 Quebec Court rejects Wal-Mart bid to block unionization at St-Hyacinthe
May 3, 2006 An Ugly Side of Free Trade This might take some time to load. It is a large file.
BIG-BOXES ARE WALMARTS ARE SPRAWLS ARE BIG-BOXES ARE WALMARTS ARE SPRAWLS ARE BIG-BOXES ARE WALMARTS SPRAWLS ARE BIG-BOXES ARE WALMARTS ARE SPRAWLS ARE BIG-BOXES ARE WALMARTS ARE SPRAWLS ARE BIG-BOXES WALMARTS ARE BIG-BOXES ARE SPRAWLS ARE WALMARTS ARE BIG-BOXES ARE SPRAWLS ARE WALMARTS ARE BIG-BOXES
May 2, 2006 Wal-Mart Crime Report
April 27, 2006 Unions protest Wal-Mart health care in 35 cities
Always Local-Control, Always!
April 25, 2006 Faith leaders' letter condemns Young for Wal-Mart role
"We want everybody to be selling the same stuff, and we want to compete on a price basis, and they will go broke 5 percent before we will." David Glass," former Wal-Mart CEO
AMERICANS MUST NOT SHOP THEMSELVES OUT OF GOOD-PAYING JOBS, IN THIS COUNTRY!
April 8, 2006 Williston's Fire and Police Services Over Budget
April 7, 2006 What Does Longmeadow, Mass. Know That Our Local Leaders Do Not?
April 6, 2006 Another Trash Problem
April 6, 2006 Wal-Mart Tries to Block Port Security
April 4, 2006 How Good a Neighbor is Wal-Mart?
Each insured Vermont family will pay about $300 per year to insure uninsured persons.
March 30, 2006 Illegal Aliens Found at Ticonderoga Wal-Mart.
March 23, 2006, Thursday Damariscotta Votors Reject Wal-Mart Plans Voters in Damariscotta, Maine vote a 35,000 square foot cap.
How mild-mannered Nashuans battled Wal-Mart and Won
Click "The Issues" on the Menu to read about BIG-BOX PROBLEMS!
Key Points regarding new Big-Boxes:
- A typical Big-Box requires over 1,000 parking spaces and generates 10,000 car trips every day.
- Every $1 of public revenue generated by Big-Box costs tax payers $2.50.
- For every 2 jobs Big-Boxes provide, 3 jobs are lost in the community.
- In 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency fined Wal-Mart $3.1 million for Clean Water Act violations.
~ |