Strange Bedfellows In Northridge

Business, NIMBY, unions and anti-capitalist types are joining together to battle a perceived common enemy, no, not Al Queda, but a more nefarious foe - Wal-Mart!

Neighborhood Council leader and Assembly Candidate Jim Alger are on the move against their enemy and sent over this press release.

By the way, as I have said before, Mayor Sam is a big supporter of Wal-Mart and believes they should be able to build their store. However, I salute Alger and his troops for taking action for something they believe in. In addition, I'm not at all very happy with the antics we've heard about of the local Councilman Greig Smith, as we detailed in a previous article.

Remember, you read this here first!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WAL MART BATTLE GOES TO WASHINGTON DC
Alger calls in reinforcements

July 17, 2005 WASHINGTON D.C. - With little help coming from local officials, Jim Alger today took the Wal Mart battle and the plight of Northridge residents to Washington D.C.

There, he met with leaders of the "Wake Up Wal Mart" campaign and discussed strategies to defend Northridge against an attempt to build the third Wal Mart within a 5 mile radius.

"I was elected to represent the people of my district, and that is what I intend to do" said Alger adding "many members of this council were elected on the Wal Mart issue, this really affects the community in a negative way."

Last December Wal Mart announced plans to demolish the BEST/Levitz on Nordhoff west of Tampa and replace it with a new store. The community came out strong against the proposal based primarily on traffic concerns.

According to figures released by Wal Mart, the proposed store would generate between 5,500 and 9,000 new vehicle trips per day at the intersection of Nordhoff and Tampa.

In what was already thought of as an unusual alliance the Northridge West Neighborhood Council, usually supporting homeowners rights and the North Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce have already joined together in opposition to this proposed project.

"It's not Wal Mart, it is the proposed site that is just bad for the community" said Chamber of Commerce President Wayne Adelstein.

The addition of the Wake Up Wal Mart campaign brings organized labor unions, who have long opposed Wal Mart on employment grounds, into the mix.

"Politics can make for strange bedfellows" said Alger, "on this issue we are all on the same page, it is just to bad we have to fight like this for what should be a no brainer. If the people don't want it the people don't get it, how hard is that?"