Voters in Inglewood, a racially diverse working-class suburb of
Los Angeles,
have soundly rejected a ballot initiative to permit the building
of a 60-acre
Wal-Mart shopping complex exempt from virtually all state and
local regulation.
Its
defeat at the polls on Tuesday may portend difficult battles ahead
for
Wal-Mart as it moves forward with plans to build 40 so-called
supercenters in
California, combining Wal-Mart's usual assortment of goods with
large grocery
departments on as much as 200,000 square feet of floor space.
The Los Angeles
City Council is preparing an ordinance that would in essence outlaw
the building
of such retail behemoths within the city limits, and several other
California
cities, including San Diego, are considering measures.
The
Inglewood vote against Wal-Mart, 60 percent to 40 percent, was
a victory
for a coalition of unions, churches and community groups who said
the
development would have driven local retailers out of business
and gutted the
city's legal, environmental and planning powers.
Wal-Mart
spent more than $1 million to promote the initiative, which the
company put on the ballot after local officials rejected the proposed
development last year. The vote was closely watched around the
nation as a test
of Wal-Mart's ability to sway public opinion and influence political
bodies as
the company continues its move from rural and small-town America
into its
largest cities.
Opponents
cheered their victory, depicting it as a triumph of David over
Goliath. Wal-Mart, with annual sales of more than $250 billion
and more than 1.3
million employees, is the world's largest retailer. Inglewood
is a city of about
113,000 people, roughly half black and half Latino. An estimated
10,000
households are headed by union members.
"I
think that it means that Wal-Mart has to go through the front
door and
deal with cities and communities as equals," said Madeline
Janis-Aparicio,
leader of the Coalition for a Better Inglewood, a group formed
to fight the
Wal-Mart project. "They can't trick cities and communities
into giving away the
store, getting everything they want without any oversight. They're
going to have
to do business differently if they want to do business in California."
The
Rev. Altagracia Perez, rector of the Holy Faith Episcopal Church
in
Inglewood, said that while many of her parishioners did not oppose
the building
of a Wal-Mart store in their neighborhood, they objected to the
way the company
tried to circumvent local officials by taking the matter directly
to the ballot.
"They
voted no because they didn't want to give up their property, their
rights and their processes," Ms. Perez said.
Bob
McAdam, vice president of corporate affairs at Wal-Mart, said
the company
regretted the outcome of the vote but said it would not deter
the company from
pursuing its expansion plans in California and elsewhere. Mr.
McAdam said that
Inglewood's opposition to the development was largely inspired
and financed by
organized labor, which opposes the company's anti-union policies
and relatively
low wages. Inglewood's four city council members all opposed the
Wal-Mart plan
and were among the leaders of the drive to stop it. The Los Angeles
affiliate of
the A.F.L.-C.I.O. spent about $110,000 to defeat Wal-Mart at the
polls.
"We
are disappointed that a small group of Inglewood leaders together
with
representatives of outside special interests were able to convince
a majority of
Inglewood voters that they don't deserve the job opportunities
and shopping
choices that others in the L.A. area enjoy," Mr. McAdam said.
"Throughout
the campaign we said this is just about one store in Inglewood,"
Mr. McAdam added. "If we win, that's all it means. If we
lose, it will have no
implications beyond that. We're still going to meet our goal of
building the
stores we predicted we'd build."
He
said the company had not decided whether it would return to Inglewood
city
officials with a revised plan for the 60-acre site near the Hollywood
Park race
track, or simply move on to its next project.
Jerome
E. Horton, a Democratic member of the California Assembly who
represents Inglewood and adjoining areas, said that the vote was
a referendum on
the ability of a large corporation to win exemption from local
zoning and
planning laws.
"The
question was whether the wealthiest company in the world could
circumvent the law," Mr. Horton said at a small victory rally
for the anti-
Wal-Mart forces at the Inglewood city hall on Wednesday morning.
"The answer was
no."
He
said local leaders were willing to consider a new proposal from
Wal-Mart
to put a store in Inglewood. "We're prepared to negotiate,
we're prepared to
work with you," Mr. Horton said. "But you have to comply
with the laws of
California."
Mr.
Horton is sponsoring legislation that would prevent companies
from
seeking to bypass state environmental review by sponsoring a ballot
initiative,
as Wal-Mart did in Inglewood.
Having
won in Inglewood, Los Angeles labor leaders are preparing for
a
broader contest with Wal-Mart across Southern California. Miguel
Contreras,
secretary treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor,
A.F.L.-C.I.O., said that he expected Wal-Mart to oppose the Los
Angeles
ordinance banning so-called big box stores and to spend freely
to win the right
to put stores in the city and other urban centers. Unions from
across the
country will band together to oppose the Wal-Mart expansion strategy,
he said.
"It
will become the battle royal for all of organized labor in the
United
States," Mr. Contreras said. "It will be where labor
makes its stand."
But
even all of organized labor's muscle and money may not be enough
to stop
the Wal-Mart juggernaut, said Kenneth E. Stone, emeritus professor
of economics
at Iowa State University, who has written frequently on the Wal-Mart
phenomenon.
He said the victory celebration of Wal-Mart opponents in Inglewood
was likely to
be short-lived.
"They're
not about to quit," Professor Stone said of Wal-Mart executives.
"They may move into a neighboring area and make Inglewood
merchants and city
officials sorry they turned them away. That's happened elsewhere."
He
added that Wal-Mart has shown time and again that it does not
back down in
the face of local roadblocks or union opposition.
"This
is the biggest company in the world, he said, "and they desperately
want to be in urban centers."
