Allandale is Emphatic - No Wal-Mart

submitted by Tom Linehan

Over 160 Allandale residents showed up on a cold, rainy Saturday afternoon and endured a 3 hour meeting to let it be known: WE DON'T WANT WAL-MART IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.

It was standing room only at Covenant Presbyterian Church. The meeting started out awkwardly as the Allandale Board worked through whether or not this was the appropriate meeting to approve minutes from the previous general meeting. ANA President, Gretchen Vaden decided it wasn't and moved on to the meeting agenda starting with comments from members of the audience.

Approximately, 25 people walked to the podium to voice their opinion. They spoke about the increase in traffic the Wal-Mart Supercenter will bring to our neighborhood, the impact it will have on area businesses, the decline in property values, its impact on children's health as are result of the increased traffic, Wal-Mart's poor labor practices, and the slower response times residents can expect from Fire and EMS as a result of the increased traffic.

Following the comment period, Treasurer Paul Nagy reported that the Allandale Neighborhood Association had a bank balance of approximately $21,000.

A number of questions were asked of the ANA President regarding the neighborhood's actions to date regarding this matter. Similarly, questions were asked about Responsible Growth for Northcross (RG4N), which were answered by Paige Hill, RG4N's president. Resident Jim Bryce elevated people's passions during the discussion regarding a lawsuit when he made the point that it takes a show of power in the form of money to get corporations to sit down and talk, and then proceeded to extract two $100 dollar bills from his wallet giving one each to ANA and RG4N.  He suggested that if the people in the audience and others in our neighborhood did likewise we could raise a sizeable pot of money for a lawsuit and get their attention.

The next steps for Allandale, Gretchen reported, was to wait and hear back from the City regarding the letter ANA sent to the City requesting a new Traffic Impact Analysis be completed. At that point, we will sit down and evaluate our options. She said we are prepared to file a lawsuit against the City but have not.

A motion was made to give RG4N $3,000 to support their efforts. The motion was passed by a large majority. A second motion was subsequently made by Allan McMurty as follows: "ANA has the intent to file a lawsuit against the City based on advice of legal counsel. ANA will begin immediately to raise money for a lawsuit. ANA will actively pursue meeting with and if necessary, monetarily supporting like organizations whether or not we pursue a lawsuit." This  motion was also approved.