As we noted earlier this year, some elected officials in the small Dane County City of Stoughton are moving ahead with plans to subsidize the development of a super-duper Walmart, even though the town has data showing residents overwhelmingly disapprove of the store or its subsidization:
And building a new shopping area at the edge of town will drain business away from Stoughton's lovely, historic downtown.
Who thinks a Walmart supercenter in an ironically-named Kettle Park (kettles being among the ice age glacial remnants which sprawl flattens, drains, fills and paves to create a 'park') project will ever join these images on a city website?
“I am very disappointed that the representatives of Stoughton are not doing their due diligence in finding out if the residents even want this to move forward,” said opponent Kathleen Johnson.
She cited a survey that some community members conducted, finding that out of 426 responses, 82 percent did not support TIF dollars for the project and only 25 percent want the supercenter at all.This is precisely the kind of corporate welfare that creates additional food stamp and BadgerCare/Medicaid public spending because Walmart does not pay workers a living wage.
And building a new shopping area at the edge of town will drain business away from Stoughton's lovely, historic downtown.
Who thinks a Walmart supercenter in an ironically-named Kettle Park (kettles being among the ice age glacial remnants which sprawl flattens, drains, fills and paves to create a 'park') project will ever join these images on a city website?
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As you likely know, we just had the same problem in Green Bay, with a lot of head scratching that amounted to, "What's wrong with those dang people? Don't they want low prices for plastic toys available on their waterfront property?" The local press tried to demonize protesters, of course, but Wal-Mart is still being held at bay.
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