LAANE on the Move - August 2004
Special News Alert
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Landmark Superstores Law Passed
By Los Angeles City Council
Ordinance Gives Public a Greater Voice in Decisions Over
Wal-Mart Supercenters, Establishes National Model for Accountable Development

Landmark Superstores Law Passed
By Los Angeles City Council
Ordinance Gives Public a Greater Voice in Decisions Over Wal-Mart Supercenters, Establishes National Model for Accountable Development

The Los Angeles City Council today enacted a landmark law that will provide communities and lawmakers with greater control over the construction of supercenters by Wal-Mart and other retailers.

The vote was the culmination of a two-year campaign led by LAANE, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 770 and Councilmembers Eric Garcetti and Ed Reyes.

Los Angeles is the first city in the country to pass legislation of this kind. Under the law, Wal-Mart and other companies will have to submit an economic impact report before a supercenter proposal is considered by the Council. The ordinance will apply to proposed superstores over 100,000 square feet that carry a full line of groceries and are located in any of the city's economic assistance areas.

Numerous studies, including one by the City of Los Angeles have documented the damaging impacts of superstores. These include job loss, replacement of good-paying jobs with poverty-wage jobs, blight, loss of open space, destruction of local businesses, and increased crime and traffic.

Until now, however, neither city officials nor community members have had the ability to evaluate the probable impacts of a proposed superstore before a permit is issued. As a result, there has been no meaningful public debate or control over the building of superstores in Los Angeles.

"This is a great victory for Los Angeles residents, who will now have a role in shaping the future of their city and ensuring that development is creating healthy communities," said Roxana Tynan, director of LAANE's Accountable Development project. "We cannot leave these decisions to Wal-Mart and other large corporations."

A broad coalition of community, housing, environmental and labor groups came together to support the superstores ordinance, including activists from Inglewood, where voters rejected a proposed Wal-Mart supercenter this spring.

"Voters in Inglewood sent a strong message when Wal-Mart tried to build a supercenter without any public review or input," said Rev. Altagracia Perez with the Coalition for a Better Inglewood, which along with LAANE led the successful campaign to stop Wal-Mart's April ballot initiative. "Residents must have a real voice in decisions that affect their communities, and Los Angeles has taken an historic step toward ensuring that the public has a place at the table."

While the law will apply to all retailers operating superstores, special attention has focused on Wal-Mart, which has announced plans to build 40 supercenters in California. A new study released this month by the University of California shows that Wal-Mart is costing California taxpayers nearly a hundred million dollars a year in public assistance to its workers. Another study released in February by California Congressman George Miller in February documents Wal-Mart's negative impacts on workers and the public.
Read Press Coverage of the Superstores Campaign
The Christian Science Monitor says supporters of L.A.'s new superstores ordinance believe it may become a national model for handling "big box" stores moving into economically fragile communities. The legislation says developers must do cost/benefit analyses to assess their economic impacts. Applicants would have to assess potential business displacement, housing and open-space effects, impact on city revenues, job creation or loss, and access to low-cost goods. Such concerns have been at the heart of battles nationwide. More L.A. is thinking twice about welcoming any more sprawling big-box stores. The Washington Post writes that some local officials say the retailers drive down wages where they open and force struggling neighborhood businesses either to close or to cut payrolls. Roxana Tynan, LAANE's Accountable Development Project director, says the new ordinance "is a great victory for Los Angeles residents." More The Los Angeles Times reports that the City Council overwhelmingly backed a proposed law that would make it harder for Wal-Mart to erect superstores over 100,000 square feet in the city by requiring the company to study whether surrounding areas would be harmed by the addition of the mammoth centers. City officials pushing the law believe that Wal-Mart may have a tough time showing that its mega-stores would have a positive impact on communities, which could give the City Council a reason to reject them. More

Progressive reforms are continuing in Los Angeles, declares this LA Weekly story. Led by the City Council's Eric Garcetti and Ed Reyes, members passed a modified big-box ordinance that would apply to designated economic-development areas. Some see eliminating the original outright ban in favor of community input as an astounding strategic advance. Wal-Mart watchers around the nation are now looking closely to see whether Los Angeles will strike the first successful blow against the world's largest corporation since the Battle for Inglewood in April. More
For more press coverage, visit the Accountable Development Press Room
Click to get more information on the Superstores Campaign
For more information about LAANE's work visit our website at www.laane.org.