A Walmart store less than a mile from Brattleboro has been vacant since 2009. The enormous store and its acres of parking lots were built in Hinsdale, New Hampshire on acres of land that were once pristine wilderness. The Brattleboro Home Depot and its acres of parking lots have been vacant since 2008. It was built on acres of prime farmland.
Brattleboro is 20 minutes by car, bus, or Amtrak from Greenfield. Walmart wants to pave acres of wilderness in Greenfield to build a new store and vast parking lot. There are vacant storefronts in downtown Greenfield. A grassroots movement to stop the proposed Greenfield Walmart store had an important victory on February 12, 2016.
More information is at http://sprawl-busters.com/search.php?readstory=4143
To get involved in the effort to save wilderness and stop the Greenfield Walmart, contact Al Norman at:
info@sprawl-busters.com
(413) 772-6289
21 Grinnell Street
Greenfield, MA 01301
Walmart is owned by the richest family in the world, the billionaire Waltons. They pay the world's lowest wages at their factories in China. In the USA, they pay barely above minimum wage.
"Wilderness is a haven from the pressures of our fast-paced society," according to www.wilderness.org "It provides us with places where we can seek relief from the noise, haste and crowds that too often confine us. It is a place for us to enjoy with friends and families — strengthening our relationships and building lasting memories.... In wilderness, we can walk and hike, watch wildlife, [and] camp.... This kind of recreation in the wild has countless proven benefits to our health and wellbeing.... Wilderness areas protect watersheds that provide drinking water to many cities and rural communities. It helps improve the quality of our air."
WAY TO GO GREENFIELD!
Walmart is a massive part of the problem, not the solution. It would also cause injury to the thriving downtown businesses of Greenfield, MA. Congratulations to them on this wise choice. Now let's keep Kinder Morgan's grubby hands and dirty deeds out of Hinsdale, NH and Vernon, VT!
Wal-Mart in Greenfield
Great post, as usual.
The Mass. Supreme Judicial Court ruled last week that 7 Greenfield residents can take their case against a 135,000 s.f. Wal-Mart to trial. The wealthy Connecticut developer and the Mayor of Greenfield had argued that the case should be dismissed because 4 years and 9 months ago it was filed in the wrong court. The SJC said is would be "unfair" for the neighbors to have no court to hear their appeal, and so granted a transfer.
The neighbors how have to raise $30,000 for legal costs of putting on a trial. Any southern Vermont residents who want to help these neighbors, can make out a check to:
The Greenfield Neighborhood Association
and mail it to: 21 Grinnell St. Greenfield, MA. 01301
Wal-Mart just shut down 269 stores in America, and the games this giant retailer has played with its over saturation strategy is nowhere clearer than in Hindsdale.
Help these residents make their case in court, in the town that started the anti-Wal-Mart movement in 1993.
Thanks
Al Norman
Sprawl-Busters
Al, Thank you for your work
Al, Thank you for your work on this. And thank you Eesha for covering it.
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