Indy TV #37 Fight to Keep Walmart Out of Northgate Plaza in Greece, NY
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The town of Greece, NY had allowed Northgate Plaza, a once vibrant shopping mall with stores like McCurdys, JC Penny, and Woolworth to deteriorate despite citizens’ complaints. In 2007, the citizens of the town found out why the town had not forced the plaza owners to fix the deteriorating mall., Walmart had a lease with the plaza owner, Widewaters Group, to build a Super WalMart.
In 2007, the Greece Town Planning and Zoning Board, held some public hearings regarding WalMart building their Super store where the Northgate Plaza currently sits. At one meeting, attendance was put at about 1500 residents. The hearing went into the early morning of the next day. There were both residents opposed and for the Walmart project. Many who were for said that anything would be better than the having the dilapidated plaza. Complaints by some opposed that the Board had made3 up its mind before the hearing prompted the first lawsuit. The Greece Town Board, which is composed only of Republicans, appoints members of the Greece Zoning Board. many residents criticize the lack of open government and transparency in the Greece government and of its Board. Monthly Town board meetings are scripted, as seen by the written agenda provided to the attendees. There is also never any discussions on any of the agenda items, nor any “nay†votes recorded when voting on agenda items, giving the appearance of behind closed doors decisions and the Greece Town Board meetings merely a formality.
In September 2007, the Greece Town Planning and Zoning Board approved the plan over these protestations, and the Greece Zoning Board of Appeals followed soon after. A group calling itself Residents Against Walmart, RAW, appealed a Supreme Court dismissal for lack of standing to the Appellate Division. The group lost their appeal.
In January 2010, an environmental group Citizens Alert: Protect Our Waters, CA-POW, which includes some of the RAW members, filed a lawsuit in US District Court. The lawsuit alleges that the town never properly adopted a storm management plan required by the Clean Water Act. The EPA requires such plans to ensure that bodies of water are not contaminated by storm water runoff. The question of a huge parking lot with contaminates from cars and WalMart selling products like fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides could endanger the wetland located near where Walmart would be built as well a Lake Ontario, which is located less than a mile away.
In similar cases, in 2004 Wal-Mart will pay a $3.1 million fine to settle a Clean Water Act violation stemming from excessive storm water runoff from its construction sites, federal officials said Wednesday. Wal-Mart also agreed in the settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department to improve runoff controls at the more than 200 sites each year where the company builds stores, including Sam's Club outlets. The settlement, filed in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, cites Wal-Mart violations at 24 construction sites in nine states and alleges the company failed to get required permits, did not institute a runoff control plan, and failed to install controls to prevent discharges. Wal-Mart will comply with these requirements under the agreement and will improve training and inspections of its construction sites. The settlement also requires frequent reporting to the EPA. In addition, Wal-Mart agreed to spend $250,000 to help protect sensitive wetlands or waterways in one state, not yet determined, among the nine involved in the settlement. The nine states are California, Colorado, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. In 2001, Walmart and contractors reached a similar storm water settlement that included payment of a $1 million penalty. EPA inspections of other sites arising from that case led to the latest violations. (1)
Between 2003 and 2005, state and federal environmental agencies fined Wal-Mart $5 million. Other lawsuits won against Walmart include anti union policies, including hiring union busters, low wages, poor health insurance benefits, poor working conditions, violations of child labor laws, hiring illegal workers and sex discrimination.
Sam Walton the founder of Walmart stated†I pay low wages. I can take advantage of that. We’re going to be successful, but the basis is a low wage, low benefit model of employment.†A 2002 survey by the state of Georgia's subsidized healthcare system found that Wal-Mart was the largest private employer of parents of children enrolled in its program. A 2004 study at the University of California, Berkeley charges that Wal-Mart's low wages and benefits are insufficient, and although decreasing the burden on the social safety net to some extent, California taxpayers still pay $86 million a year to Walmart employees.
When it comes to discrimination, Walmart has a horrendous history. Wal-Mart is currently facing the largest workplace-bias lawsuit in U.S. history for widespread discrimination against women employees; a class action lawsuit filed by African-American truck drivers; and numerous other cases involving discrimination against workers with disabilities. For example, Walmart is being sued in the largest discrimination lawsuit in the US history. The gender discrimination lawsuit includes over 1 million women. In April, 2010, in a divided 6 to 5 ruling, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has certified a gender discrimination class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart to proceed to trial. In 2001, Wal-Mart paid $6 million dollars to settle 13 lawsuits, which alleged widespread discrimination and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The lawsuit history is long and continues to get longer.
In the Indy TV video, Don Rice, a resident of Greece and litigant in the lawsuit will speak about the history of the Residents fight against Walmart moving into Northgate Plaza and more information about the current lawsuit.
(1) Associated Press, May 12, 2004
