The Wal-Mart Battle In Southern California

"After more than three years of controversy, Wal-Mart celebrated the grand opening Saturday of its Supercenter in Rosemead, amid blaring mariachi trumpets and an air of triumph. But the political fallout from the battle will culminate today when voters in the predominantly Latino and Asian suburb of 55,000 in the San Gabriel Valley decide whether to recall two council members who back the retail giant..."

(Voters in the Rosemead subsequently rejected the recall of two suburban city council members who had supported the plan. Wal-Mart spent an estimated $300,000 on the campaign.)

Meanwhile, the Long Beach City Council has approved "a sweeping ordinance that would effectively ban the retail giant and other big-box retailers from selling food and groceries at their stores.With the vote, the state's fifth-largest city joined Los Angeles as a large urban area that had made it harder if not impossible to open the kind of mega-stores that made Wal-Mart the country's largest seller of groceries."

"With the vote, the state's fifth-largest city [Long Beach] joined Los Angeles as a large urban area that had made it harder if not impossible to open the kind of mega-stores that made Wal-Mart the country's largest seller of groceries."