In early May, it will be five years since the Greenfield Planning Board voted to approve the largest retail store in the 263-year history of Greenfield. I am the only person who publicly states that this 135,000-square-foot store is a Wal-Mart.
The Connecticut developer who presented drawings of the proposed store — more than twice the size of our Stop & Shop — used a store prototype almost identical to the Wal-Mart in North Adams, right down to the detailed architectural features.
It is typical for Wal-Mart not to “reveal” itself until a property is available.— especially when they are not the developer. In the case of Greenfield, however, it is doubly important to remain hidden, because of its rejection here in 1993, a very high-profile and embarrassing defeat.
But I know it’s a Wal-Mart. During the hearings in the spring of 2011, Mayor William Martin, who sits ex-officio on the Planning Board, stated that he had spoken directly to Wal-Mart, and that they were willing to come to Greenfield at 100,000 square feet. The French King neighbors have said since 2006 at the Conservation Commission that they wanted the developer to split the difference from his original 165,000-square-foot store, to 80,000 square feet. I asked the developer’s attorney at the time if we could meet to discuss possible common ground. A meeting date and place was scheduled — but on the date of the meeting, I got a call saying the meeting was off. No explanation given.
When the Planning Board voted in May 2011 to approve a special permit, the neighbors needed two of the five votes to stop the project. They got one vote — so fell short by one vote. Under state law, the abutters appealed, and nearly five years have expired. Ironically, most of the delay so far has been caused by the developer. Through his Boston lawyers, he tried to get the case thrown out on summary judgment, and lost. He appealed the “standing” of the neighbors, and lost. He appealed the jurisdiction of the Housing Court and asked that the whole case be dismissed. He ultimately lost that appeal because the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the neighbors had the right to be heard in either Land Court of Superior Court.
Later this year, this case will finally go to court. When I first met with the affected homeowners in 2006 and offered to help them fight off Wal-Mart in their special overlay zone (created to discourage big box formats), I promised them that I would not ask them to put up their money to fight the world’s richest retailer and the world’s wealthiest family, the Waltons, with net assets of $146 billion! (This is the same family you have heard Sen. Bernie Sanders denounce as the “nation’s biggest welfare recipient,” because their workforce depends on food stamps and Medicaid to get by financially.)
So we have started a “legal defense fund” to help these seven homeowners go up against the deep pockets of the Fairfield, Conn., developer and the Waltons hidden just offstage. Since our fundraising campaign started on Feb. 24, we have raised nearly $5,500, toward a goal of $15,000. A total of nearly 1,000 visitors have gone to our website.
This is as surreal as holding a bake sale against a Wall Street Giant — but it is solidly in the tradition of small town America willing to fight back against nuclear power plants , gas pipelines, and big box sprawl. We are still living Shay’s rebellion in many ways.
Our downtown has already been affected by Wal-Mart and Home Depot. We have a number of empty, or marginal storefronts and a litany of stores that have died in place on Main and Federal streets. More is at stake here than seven homeowners. Wal-Mart is the corporation that has hollowed out our manufacturing base and sent it to China. You hear echoes of our battle in every presidential debate that confronts bad trade deals. It is Wal-Mart that invested in China, and killed hundreds of thousands of manufacturing and retail jobs in the process. Many of our local retailers are too scared to speak the truth in public — but I hear from these local heroes.
If you have not donated yet, I urge you to go to the site and watch the great video by local film wizard Steve Alves: https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/legal-battle-to-stop-wal-mart-after-23-year-fight/x/13390286
Al Norman has lived in Greenfield since 1978. According to his birth certificate, he was not born here.