Opponents fight Wal-Mart expansion site by site

Oregonians hoping to slow the expansion in of anti-union retail giant Wal-Mart experienced one victory and one defeat in May.

On May 14, the Hillsboro Planning Commission voted 6-0 not to allow the construction of a proposed 210,155-square-foot Wal-Mart “supercenter” at the intersection of Cornelius Pass and Baseline Road.

And in a May 20 special election in Lebanon, Oregon, voters said no to a ballot measure to require voter approval of annexations. The initiative, qualified with the help of union volunteers, was a way to stop the annexation of some land on the outskirts of the city that would allow Wal-Mart to build a new supercenter there.

The Hillsboro decision occurred after months of public testimony that ran overwhelmingly against letting Wal-Mart build at that location. The company reportedly plans to appeal the decision to the Hillsboro City Council. If the council upholds the Planning Commission, Wal-Mart could then appeal to the State of Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals.

Jeff Anderson, a union representative of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, which has been fighting Wal-Mart at sites around the state, believes the Hillsboro City Council will uphold the planning commission decision, and that the decision would survive further Wal-Mart appeals.

In Lebanon, with 2,705 ballots counted, the vote was almost exactly 2-to-1 against the measure. Anderson attributed the defeat to low overall turnout, which meant more senior voters.

Anderson thinks seniors, most of whom are on fixed incomes, may be more cost-conscious than other voters, and may see Wal-Mart as a bargain.

“Also, the city council, the mayor, and the local paper were against it,” Anderson said, “and with lawn signs that said ‘save jobs, vote no,’ they were able to confuse the analysis.”

Opponents of the proposed Lebanon supercenter still have an appeal to pursue before the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals. In that appeal, Anderson said, union critics of Wal-Mart have been joined by the local chapter of 1,000 Friends of Oregon, an anti-sprawl group.

Elsewhere in Oregon:

In Oregon City, the planning commission may decide at its June 9 meeting whether to agree with the recommendation of city planners not to allow a proposed Wal-Mart that would require the demolition of some low-income housing. Anderson said he expects the commission will agree with planners, and that Wal-Mart will appeal.

In Salem, Wal-Mart officials have announced plans to build a 203,000-square-foot supercenter by 2006 on land next to the Lowe’s home improvement store on Turner Road SE. And the company plans to expand its current store on Lancaster Drive NE to a supercenter by 2005. That would place Wal-Mart in competition with more than 500 union grocery workers at nearby Albertsons, Safeway, and Fred Meyer stores on Lancaster Drive. Anderson said traffic woes may play a role in any campaign to oppose the expansion, since that part of Lancaster is one of the most congested stretches of road in Oregon.

© Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc.