Northridge residents fought the Wal Mart Giant and won. Frankly, we're amazed. Wal Mart had designs on a site in Northridge that was properly zoned and even had Councilman Greig Smith's Office (CD 12) all but throwing in the towel.
...an opposition group called Citizens to Protect Northridge hired an attorney to challenge the project, and they found a recent court decision by the state's 5th District Court of Appeals that required cities and Wal-Mart to study the economic impact of the discount store on surrounding businesses. They also commissioned a study that found Wal-Mart underestimated by 40 percent the potential traffic from the store.
"This is a testament to the will of the people," said Jim Alger, president of the Northridge West Neighborhood Council. "We had to fight everyone. We had to fight the biggest company in the country. We had to fight council office who said this was a done deal."
We happened to attend one of those neighborhood meetings in opposition to the Wal Mart where lawyers representing the company were raked over the coals and Councilman Smith stated his opposition but said there was no way to stop Wal Mart from doing what they were legally allowed to do. Congratulations to the Northridge West Neighborhood Council. You kicked ass, and took names. And for future reference, Wal Mart is afraid of environmental impact reports.
· No Wal-Mart in Northridge, retailer says [Daily News]