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Wal-Mart vs. Nothing?

Posted by: Connie Chung
Thanks to: Connie Chung
26 November 2003 - 7:00am

As living wage activists and big box developers, like Wal-Mart, clash in economically depressed urban areas like Hartford, many hope that city officials will do the right thing.

"Having plundered America's countryside and suburbs for decades, Wal-Mart is now setting its sights on unfamiliar urban territory: a grassy lot in Hartford, Connecticut. But as the mega-corporation expands out of America's conservative strongholds, it must contend with a phenomenon it hasn't previously encountered--an opposition armed with a living-wage ordinance....Wal-Mart has not sought a property tax break in Hartford, but the city's housing authority owns the meadow where the store will sit. And the living-wage ordinance covers real estate deals....It is a natural campaign to launch, because the unions and community groups advancing living-wage ordinances are usually part of the same crowd that opposes construction of new Wal-Mart stores."

Full Story: Wal-Mart's Big City Blues
Source: The Nation, November 24, 2003
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The decision to abandon a property is a symptom of the loss of confidence. And while abandonment certainly affects confidence among surrounding homeowners, the most important question to answer is not "how do we deal with abandoned properties?" but "what is the most cost-effective way to restore market confidence, and how do abandoned properties fit into that picture?"
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