Prospective Wal-Mart sparks rebellious Web site

April 5, 2005

KATE GOLDEN/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Since Wal-Mart showed interest in Palmer, stickers, signs and petitions against the store have appeared on the streets and in the shops of downtown Palmer.

"We are mobilizing," said Mary Ann Cockle, an organizer of the People of Palmer group, which united specifically to oppose the store.

Wal-Mart has not said whether it has decided to locate in Palmer, and it has not applied for any permits with the city. But the company hired a local civil engineering firm last month to survey a field within city limits on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

Council members have said their constituents have expressed both hate and love for the idea of a Palmer Wal-Mart.

But at the March 22 Palmer City Council meeting, there was only opposition. The dozen people amounted to almost a flood in the small city council chambers, often sparsely seated during council meetings.

Not all were vehemently anti-Wal-Mart.

"We don't hate Wal-Mart. We go to Wal-Mart," said Verda Lewis, owner of downtown bakery Verda's Cakes 'n' Things. But if Wal-Mart comes to Palmer, she warned, jobs will disappear.

Resident Marie Domer echoed Lewis. "I'll drive 20 miles, but I don't want it in my back yard," she said. She thought Wal-Mart would shut down businesses and ruin Palmer's small-town feel.

Council member Jim Wood pointed out in an e-mail that the city can't prevent Wal-Mart from coming. The land it surveyed is zoned for commercial development, and the owner has the right to sell it.

Cockle said the group knows its power against the corporation is limited. If Wal-Mart decides to come, she said, the group intends to "participate in planning and keep tabs on communications" between the city and the corporation.

"I would say this is an opportunity to revisit the large retail box ordinance," said Kathy Wells, executive director of Friends of Mat-Su.

Council member Steve Carrington said some people have even suggested scrapping the current ordinance and starting over on it. He didn't approve of such a drastic action, which would leave the city with no safeguard. And Carrington said that while he would consider improving it, he hasn't heard any specific suggestions.

Council member Brad Hanson said that after all the hard work that went into creating the ordinance, he thought the city was well-equipped to handle Wal-Mart.

Council support or no, the group seems willing to try going whole hog against the corporation. At its Web site, www.peopleofpalmer.com, it cites the "successes" of communities that have fought to keep Wal-Mart out.

The site also includes contacts for city council members and planning and zoning commissioners, and a link to a "Wal of Shame" reporting unsavory business practices and deaths of local economies attributed to the corporation.

At the March 22 meeting, Cockle said she had more than 100 signatures of those opposing the store.

Rick Shields, a People of Palmer organizer and the Web site author, said that when he conducted an ad-hoc survey of Palmer residents, half the people he called didn't want Wal-Mart in Palmer.

The youngest speaker, Ruth Holbert, was raised in Palmer and presently attends college in Bellingham. She referred to a study that found Wal-Mart cost California $80 million in tax money for food stamps.

"Speaking as someone who wants to live here 60, 80 years from now - When I'm done with my schooling, I want to be glad to come home to Palmer, not Wal-Mart."

"I can assure you that we're all listening," said the mayor, after the flood subsided.

Combs recently sat in at one of the group's meetings to hear comments. He also talked about the city's plans for annexation and the Alaska Department of Transportation's road plans in the area Wal-Mart surveyed.

Council member Brad Hanson said that other than the council meeting, he hasn't heard an uproar from his constituents. The responses he has heard have been split.

"I think there's some reluctance from people to accept Wal-Mart, but all in all I think they kind of welcome the opportunity to diversify shopping," he said.

He said he's not ambivalent about Wal-Mart, personally. He doesn't shop there, and he doesn't like its corporate philosophy. Yet tackling it is a job for a "bigger entity," he said. And he said while hypothetically it may be possible to restrict the large retail-establishment ordinance to forbid Wal-Mart from coming, he doesn't think it's fair to welcome some large retailers and not others.

"I wish they'd pay higher wages, I wish they had better benefits, all the social things that people talk about … But I don't know if I have much control over these things."

Rick Shields said that at this point, all the opposition can do is barrage the city with phone calls, letters and e-mails. But he said the fight wouldn't be easy.

"They're a huge multi-billion-dollar company. They didn't get there by accident," he said.

Contact Kate Golden at 352-2284 or kate.golden@frontiersman.com.