The political leaders, of St. Albans Town and Franklin County, who are yielding to some of the publics clamor for a store, that “can’t be big enough and can’t come soon enough,” are failing in their duty to the public. They are abandoning local controlThat duty is not simply to give some members of the public what they want, right now. There is also a duty to serve their interests in the long term, to explain what is best, and to do what is best for their children and their grandchildren.

Is there local control by the public when persons subordinate to Wal-Mart’s interests, a real estate developer with a financial interest and an engineer contracted to the developer, have recommended to the St. Albans Town Planning Commission how the zoning bylaws should read?

Is there local control when persons, without financial interest, do not balance more knowledgeable members of the public having financial interests in the outcome of the planning process?

Where is the local control when Wal-Mart will not release information about its stores, its employees and its sales and contractually forbids its suppliers to supply information to others? Independent researchers are denied the data with which to study the stores’ impacts. When others operate in secrecy, when they will not provide asked for information, it is necessary to presume the worst impact in order to protect oneself.

To quote Mr. Charles Fishman, in his book, The Wal-Mart Effect: “Both as individuals and as a society we have an obligation to answer the unanswered questions about Wal-Mart. Otherwise we have surrendered control-of our communities, of our economy, of some measure of our destiny-to decisions made in Bentonville.”

Where is the local control when community leaders ignore peer reviewed studies that show significant impacts on rural communities, by the academic departments of universities without monetary interest, when they contradict the studies of developers and corporate interests? This amounts to putting one’s head in the sand.

The cry of local control is raised when it is proposed that communities be required to inform themselves of big-box consequences, Vermont Senate Bill S.0142.

Where is the local control when a corporation can incite clamor by the public and dictate the size of a store?

Whose local control is it when real estate developers and property owners decide the future of a community?

What economic local control does the Town of Enosburg, or any surrounding towns, lose when St. Albans Town chooses to control the economy of Franklin County?

Local control deserves more than lip service. Local control is too precious to allow it to be usurped by other persons, associations, municipalities or corporations. It deserves whatever investigation it takes to preserve it for the future, for everyone. Do not let developers or corporations take it from you because you do not want to see the truth.