Part 10 of 11
Chandler, Arizona
[Sandra Laney, Chandler, Arizona - Resident] On December 6, there was an article on the front page of our local paper, and it said that Wal-Mart was going to build a super center on the corner of Queen Creek and Alma School, which is just a very short distance from my house. And this particular location was within our planned community. And it was within walking distance of an elementary school and a junior high school. And I felt that it was an inappropriate location for something of that magnitude.
Jacobson Elementary School.
Bogle Junior High Schook, 1600 W. Queen Creek Road.
[Sandra Laney, Chandler, Arizona - Resident] So I decided to form a campaign and say, "No Wal-Mart in our neighborhood."
Inglewood, California
[Altagracia Perez, Reverend, Holy Faith Episcopal Church] Living as Christ has taught us, we begin to transform the world. This transformation is visible in the reading we have from Acts.
[Altagracia Perez, Reverend, Holy Faith Episcopal Church] We are really trying to show why the work that we're doing is the work of the gospel.
[Madeline Janis-Aparicio, Executive Director - LA Alliance for a New Economy] The lesson we learned in Inglewood is that we have the ability through our democracy to take power, and take control, and actually hold these companies accountable.
[Altagracia Perez, Reverend, Holy Faith Episcopal Church] As a nation in this world, the most powerful, the most affluent, we have the power to make sure that all have what they need. This is not some pie-in-the-sky vision, but instead, this is our call as Christians to make this happen.
[Sandra Laney, Chandler, Arizona - Resident] One of my neighbors and I went and hand-made some little posters, and we decided that we were going to have a meeting in the local park, which was about a block from here. We had no idea how many people would show up. We were absolutely amazed. And all of them wanted to do something.
[Altagracia Perez, Reverend, Holy Faith Episcopal Church] In the beginning, there was only a few of us. Not a lot of people came to the meetings. Only some supermarket workers and a couple of churches, remember? And then, little by little, more people, and so they started putting on the pressure.
[Sandra Laney, Chandler, Arizona - Resident] They wanted to build the Wal-Mart on this whole parcel. It was going to be 215,000 square feet, and there was going to be ...
[Altagracia Perez, Reverend, Holy Faith Episcopal Church] Wal-Mart was going to take this whole space. It's like 17 football fields big. Aand they were going to build one big box that was Wal-Mart, and then little stores inbetween. And another big box that was Sam's Club.
[Sandra Laney, Chandler, Arizona - Resident] We volunteered to do the various chores that we had. And then we solicited what I call a core committee. And that was a group of people who would be responsible for the strategy, press releases, everything that needed to be done to organize our campaign.
[Altagracia Perez, Reverend, Holy Faith Episcopal Church] So then the coalition started getting bigger and bigger, and before you knew it, everybody felt like if they weren't a part of a coalition for a better Inglewood, they weren't standing up to defend the community.
Jane Chatten-Brown, Laane Legal Consultant
[Madeline Janis-Aparicio, Executive Director - LA Alliance for a New Economy] And I think the other lesson learned in Inglewood is that there's no magic potion to suddenly, you click this, you put this together, and suddenly you're going to win. It's a hard process. There are a lot of things you have to put in place, but when you put those things in place, you can win. It includes the ability to organize with regular people: the small business owner and workers.
WOODY'S BAR-B-QUE.
INGLEWOOD TIRE & AUTO SERVICE INC. Since 1939.
[Daniel Tabor, former Inglewood City Councilman] We got our message focused. We hammered away on the phones. Hammered away on doors. People saw us coming and going when they went to church. Every time they went to a store in Inglewood, there was a flyer about our effort. We had rallies.
[Madeline Janis-Aparicio, Executive Director - LA Alliance for a New Economy] It includes a legal strategy, enough resources to have the research to be able to make your case, to be able to have the materials. It includes the ability to get out your message through the press. To do media events.
[Sandra Laney, Chandler, Arizona - Resident] We grew to 187 volunteers, and we had block captains, and we had an area chairman. We proceeded to gather signatures on our petitions, and we started out with 1,500 signatures. And by the time we got through, we had 4,000 signatures. And they were all from people within our, what I call area code, zip code.
[News Announcer] Inglewood is the first test for Wal-Mart's ambitious plans in California, and activists say the stakes here are huge.
Welcome To The City of INGLEWOOD WAL-MART WOOD. Don't Let Wal-Mart Rollback Democracy In Our Community. Coalition for a Better Inglewood.
[Rev. Altagracia Perez] This is like Godzilla Eats Tokyo. This is much bigger than David and Goliath.
[Sandra Laney, Chandler, Arizona - Resident] All of the information that was coming from Wal-Mart kept saying, "It's a done deal; there's nothing you can do about it; we have our zoning; don't waste your time." But we knew better.
BAD NEWS FOR WAL-MART.
[Sandra Laney, Chandler, Arizona - Resident] 98% of S. Chandler residents oppose Alma School supercenter. -- Then we had numerous public meetings to let the public know what's happening, what the status was.
More than just a store? RVers taking refuge in Wal-Mart parking lots.