Wal-Mart Turns to Voters

(Inglewood, CA) After efforts by organized labor halted expansion plans, Wal-Mart sponsored a ballot initiative to have the citizens decide in Inglewood. Tomorrow, voters will determine if the company can build and operate a megastore and a number of chain shops in this city of 112,000. Interestingly, the ballot initiative will also exempt Wal-Mart from Inglewood's planning, zoning and environmental regulations. According to Peter Kanelos, of Wal-Mart's community affairs division,

"Organized labor is attempting to bully Wal-Mart and its customers."

Not so, says Madeline Janis-Aparicio, leader of a group formed to fight the Wal-Mart project.

"They are driving a Mack truck through California land use, planning and environmental law and trying to create a Wal-Mart government on this 60-acre site.

In a nutshell, it's environmental arguments against business expansion. Voters decide tomorrow.