Okay, so we have seen the movie, but what happenend after? How is Ashland, VA doing now? Are there other towns in the midst of Big Box fights? What are the land use issues here? It's all fair game! Please post any interesting content or thoughts that you may have that would add to our discussion.
Since this is an extra thing, I do want to offer an incentive: You can earn up to five extra credit points by participating in a meaningful way on our blog. That means your posts need to be sustantive and substantial. We'll see how it goes. It's my hope that we'll create something worthwhile that will enhance our understanding of the many issues raised in the documentary Store Wars. Happy Blogging!
3 comments:
Here's Sprawl-Busters' description of the situation:
1999-07-20
Ashland, VA. Flamingos Attack Wal-Mart.
Pink Flamingos are not a bird indigenous to the small town of Ashland, VA, which lies about 100 miles south of Washington, D.C. in the heartland of Virginia. But the community has been flooded with plastic pink flamingos--the tacky symbol of opposition to a proposed 179,000 s.f. Wal-Mart hard by interstate 95. Ashland is a community that already has at least three major malls, with anchors like Ukrops, Food Lion, Rose's and other stores that would compete with Wal-Mart. The downtown of Ashland has a full block of empty stores where the movie theatre once lived. In 1992, Ashland had 12 food stores, and one out of four dollars spent on retail there was for food. Wal-Mart wants to build a supercenter in Ashland to eat up some of that food market share. Only 7.2 square miles of land, Ashland calls itself the "center of the universe", which makes it a natural attraction to Wal-Mart, which wants to control the universe. There are already two Wal-Mart stores within 10 miles of the Center of the Universe. In fact, Wal-Mart is listed as the 9th. largest employer in Hanover county already. The land Wal-Mart wants is predominately zoned industrial, and represents one of the last, largest pieces of industrial property available. The 79 acres the developer covets for a mall is 68% larger than the entire downtown. Ashland is a community that looks to tourism to help feed its meals and lodging tax, which bring in more revenue than the property tax. The community touts its charming, Victorian atmosphere, and its small town character. Many residents with pink flamingos on their lawn, or in their store windows, don't find anything charming or Victorian about a huge Wal-Mart supercenter. Ashland's own economic development staff have warned about the loss of developable industrial sites that the down-zoning to commercial would create. Ashland's own development goals stress the importance of "maintaining a small town atmosphere", avoiding strip development, and sustaining the downtown as "the town's major commercial center". Wal-Mart would turn the town's Comprehensive Plan on its head. The project has to be reviewed first by the Planning Commission, and then by the five member Town Council. More than 300 residents turned out this week to a special forum on the impacts of Wal-Mart, and were almost unanimously concerned about the loss of the unique character of town. Shopping centers in Ashland require a conditional use permit, and must "be in accord with the purpose of the Comprehensive Plan". Councilors have the tools they need to keep Wal-Mart out of the center of the universe.
What you can do: The flamingo is a bird that can stand for long periods of time on one leg. Area residents are hopeful that the retail community in Ashland does not have to learn how to survive on one leg. Existing malls like Ashland Junction will absorb the greatest impact if Wal-Mart comes to town, and the Mechumps creek that runs through the property will certainly be degraded, eventually dumping its waters into the Chesapeake Bay.Residents are also concerned about worsening air quality in the area. The developer's attorney has told residents that his company will soon make public an economic impact study about the full impact of their 410,000 s.f. Wal-Mart mall. Before the study is even published, local residents say they know what it will conclude: Wal-Mart will have no adverse impact on any public services or public revenues. But the flamingos in town know better.
For more details about the Ashland battle, contact sprawl-busters at info@sprawl-busters.com
http://www.sprawl-busters.com/search.php?readstory=245
Not sure if this has anything to do with Wal-Mart, but I went looking for stories about closing businesses and I thought this was interesting:
Once High-Flying Ashland, Va., General Consulting Company Folds.
Byline: Carol Hazard
Feb. 27--Lloyd Associates Inc. rose fast.
The general contracting company made four appearances on the Rising 25 list of the fastest growing companies in the Richmond area, placing in the top five for three years, and was the No. 1 company for 1997.
It made Inc. magazine's 1998 list of the 500 fastest growing private U.S. companies. And it was a winner that same year in the Virginia Chamber of Commerce's Fantastic 50 recognition program.
But last month the company closed shop in Ashland in the middle of the night, former employees and neighbors say, leaving employees feeling betrayed and some subcontractors not paid.
Former employees are quick to distance themselves from the company. But they say they were told in January that the company would wind down over the next several weeks as it reorganized into a local contractor rather than a national one.
The company closed its doors a few days later, without giving the landlord notice of its departure.
"We have no idea where they went," said Chastity Agee of Megabyte Business Systems Inc., the anchor and landlord of the business park.
The company had about 40 employees, including site superintendents, according to some reports. About five people left voluntarily in the fourth quarter, an additional seven were laid off in late December and at least two other employees left before the company closed.
Sources say the company's apparent downfall was a combination of slow business last year, fiscal problems, a customer that went bankrupt and another that failed to pay.
Calls to executives were not returned.
"They walked away from the business," said a former employee, who asked not to be identified. "A lot of people are trying to find them."
The owner and chief executive officer is Mark R. Lloyd, who has an unlisted number in Louisa County. His brother, Harvey Lloyd, was also involved in the business. Harvey Lloyd's wife confirmed that the business was closed.
"I know Mr. Lloyd [Mark] wants to do business right," said Pierce Stone, president of Virginia Community Bank in Louisa County. "I can promise you this isn't something he's enjoying."
Stone said he knows Mark Lloyd personally and the bank has had some business dealings with the company.
The company's problems are the result of a downturn in the economy, Stone said. "The construction business is a tough business."
Lloyd Associates is licensed with the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. It has not filed for bankruptcy protection, even as creditors try to collect money they say the company owes them.
"We did two stores for them and started suing them [for nonpayment] and then they asked us to do a third store," said subcontractor Guy Parker with Chief Cornerstone Builders in Crab Orchard, W.Va.
Parker said his company is one of about 30 subcontractors and vendors that either haven't been paid or had trouble collecting for work done last year for Lloyd Associates on an AutoZone store in Beckley, W.Va.
Suppliers and subcontractors picketed in front of the store last fall for nonpayment. Parker is still waiting to get paid.
Jim Calvert, general manager of David Hill Concrete of Mabscott, W.Va., said his company in its 28 years in business has occasionally dealt with nonpayments, but this is the first time he had to picket for payment on any job.
"Most of the time, you have names and phone numbers," Calvert said. "You work it out."
He said he was finally able to contact Lloyd Associates, but only after picketing. Even then, he said he received little cooperation.
David Hill Concrete put a lien on the store and was paid last week directly by AutoZone. It took eight months to get the money, Calvert said. "It was a big mess."
Larry Jortner of CNA Surety Corp. of Chicago said he is aware of the problems associated with the AutoZone store. A bond issued by CNA to ensure performance and payments was taken out on the project. The company is investigating, he said.
"It looks like we will have to get more involved," Jortner said. "Our company has every intention of paying valid claims."
It was not known yesterday whether subcontractors on other Lloyd Associates projects have had trouble collecting for work done. According to newspaper reports, the company did business in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. It operated in Innsbrook before moving about two years ago to Ashland.
The telephone number at a second office in Sherman, Texas, has been disconnected.
To see more of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gateway-va.com
(c) 2001, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
1999-07-20
Ashland, VA. Flamingos Attack Wal-Mart.
Pink Flamingos are not a bird indigenous to the small town of Ashland, VA, which lies about 100 miles south of Washington, D.C. in the heartland of Virginia. But the community has been flooded with plastic pink flamingos--the tacky symbol of opposition to a proposed 179,000 s.f. Wal-Mart hard by interstate 95. Ashland is a community that already has at least three major malls, with anchors like Ukrops, Food Lion, Rose's and other stores that would compete with Wal-Mart. The downtown of Ashland has a full block of empty stores where the movie theatre once lived. In 1992, Ashland had 12 food stores, and one out of four dollars spent on retail there was for food. Wal-Mart wants to build a supercenter in Ashland to eat up some of that food market share. Only 7.2 square miles of land, Ashland calls itself the "center of the universe", which makes it a natural attraction to Wal-Mart, which wants to control the universe. There are already two Wal-Mart stores within 10 miles of the Center of the Universe. In fact, Wal-Mart is listed as the 9th. largest employer in Hanover county already. The land Wal-Mart wants is predominately zoned industrial, and represents one of the last, largest pieces of industrial property available. The 79 acres the developer covets for a mall is 68% larger than the entire downtown. Ashland is a community that looks to tourism to help feed its meals and lodging tax, which bring in more revenue than the property tax. The community touts its charming, Victorian atmosphere, and its small town character. Many residents with pink flamingos on their lawn, or in their store windows, don't find anything charming or Victorian about a huge Wal-Mart supercenter. Ashland's own economic development staff have warned about the loss of developable industrial sites that the down-zoning to commercial would create. Ashland's own development goals stress the importance of "maintaining a small town atmosphere", avoiding strip development, and sustaining the downtown as "the town's major commercial center". Wal-Mart would turn the town's Comprehensive Plan on its head. The project has to be reviewed first by the Planning Commission, and then by the five member Town Council. More than 300 residents turned out this week to a special forum on the impacts of Wal-Mart, and were almost unanimously concerned about the loss of the unique character of town. Shopping centers in Ashland require a conditional use permit, and must "be in accord with the purpose of the Comprehensive Plan". Councilors have the tools they need to keep Wal-Mart out of the center of the universe.
What you can do: The flamingo is a bird that can stand for long periods of time on one leg. Area residents are hopeful that the retail community in Ashland does not have to learn how to survive on one leg. Existing malls like Ashland Junction will absorb the greatest impact if Wal-Mart comes to town, and the Mechumps creek that runs through the property will certainly be degraded, eventually dumping its waters into the Chesapeake Bay.Residents are also concerned about worsening air quality in the area. The developer's attorney has told residents that his company will soon make public an economic impact study about the full impact of their 410,000 s.f. Wal-Mart mall. Before the study is even published, local residents say they know what it will conclude: Wal-Mart will have no adverse impact on any public services or public revenues. But the flamingos in town know better. For more details about the Ashland battle, contact sprawl-busters at info@sprawl-busters.com
-Casey
Post a Comment