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By jwjnational, on April 28th, 2011
 Coalitions in cities targeted for new Walmart stores gathered and took strategic actions on April 21, 2011 to urge elected leaders to make sure Walmart’s desire to open or expand stores is rejected or met with enforcement of strong standards.
In cities across the United States, Walmart is seeking access to new markets and customers, spurring local and national debate for good reason. Local coalitions of community members, elected officials, religious leaders, small business owners and others are joining together and speaking out to voice their concern and ensure the jobs being offered by Walmart meet strong standards for healthy, growing communities.
Jobs with Justice is playing a key role in these coalitions, either coordinating or participating in a number of cities including: Boston, New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Other cities where local coalitions held aligned events include: Los Angeles, Seattle. Here are some highlights:
In San Francisco:
Jobs with Justice joined together with a number of community organizations to publicly announce the formation of the coalition to “Keep San Francisco Walmart-Free”. They held a rally and press-conference with roughly 30 community activists, people of
Continue reading Community coalitions in major cities tell elected officials to reject Walmart or impose strong standards
By Matt Ryan, on February 3rd, 2011
This piece originally appeared on Huffington Post.
In the face of the controversy that has quickly swelled around Walmart’s plans to open its first ever stores in New York City, the Bentonville Behemoth has tried to sell New Yorkers on the promise that the company will solve the city’s most pressing social ills in ways that New Yorkers themselves could never dream of doing.
Citing plans to open megastores selling cheap produce in some of the city’s most underserved neighborhoods, the company would have us believe that it will eradicate poverty, unemployment, and solve the food desert problem to boot. We are in a jam, the story goes, but just trust Walmart, and they’ll swoop in and make all of our problems go away.
The very notion is as insulting as it is untrue.
With our city struggling with persistent unemployment and 3 million New Yorkers lacking access to fresh produce in their neighborhoods, the jobs problem and food desert problem are unquestionably real. But asking Walmart to fix those problems is like asking a fox to fix a henhouse.
Across the country, we’ve seen that when Walmart sets up shop in poor neighborhoods, they do more
Continue reading Walmart Won’t Fix New York, New Yorkers Will
By Kristi Barnes, on September 8th, 2009
The fact that our government often subsidizes the profits of big corporations instead of investing in our communities isn’t new, but it’s time that we say enough is enough. How are we going to tackle the tough problems facing our country when our state and local governments—often the places where we can make the greatest impact—are unaccountable and unable to implement the change we need?
New York City’s government frequently greenlights massive redevelopment projects that rely on millions of taxpayer dollars. In one of the most expensive cities in the world, projects that reshape entire neighborhoods get approved without considering if they will meet community needs, or deliver good jobs and affordable housing.
New York Jobs with Justice was part of a coalition that fought back during the rezoning of Coney Island to win significant community benefits, including 35% affordable housing units, money to renovate the local hospital’s emergency room, land for a new school, and much more.
Right now, the Kingsbridge Armory project in the Bronx will saddle a community desperate for good jobs with a shopping complex that will create 1,200 permanent, primarily poverty-wage, part-time, no-benefit retail jobs unless NYC residents take action. The New York
Continue reading Fighting for Accountable Development in NYC & Beyond
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