A bid by the world's largest corporation to bypass uncooperative elected officials and take its aggressive expansion plans to voters failed Tuesday, as Inglewood residents overwhelmingly rejected Wal-Mart's proposal to build a colossal retail and grocery center without an environmental review or public hearings.
With all votes counted Tuesday evening, 4,575 Inglewood residents had voted in favor of Wal-Mart's plan, while 7,049 had voted against it.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday April 09, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 33 words Type of Material: Correction
Wal-Mart vote -- A Section A article Wednesday about the Inglewood electorate's rejection of Wal-Mart's proposed Supercenter referred to St. Michael Catholic Church as being in Inglewood. St. Michael is in Los Angeles.
Wal-Mart hopes to break into California's grocery business by opening 40 such Supercenters statewide. The one in Inglewood would have been Los Angeles County's first.
The company had spent more than $1 million on its campaign, and opponents had warned that if the company won, residents throughout California should gird for similar battles.
"What this shows is that Wal-Mart can't dupe people in this city to sign away their rights," said Mike Shimpock, a strategist for the campaign against the move. "If they spent $1 million here and lost by this margin, I doubt they'll try this elsewhere. They'll have to approach cities as equal partners."
Thwarted by officials in Inglewood and elsewhere, company strategists decided to take their proposal directly to voters, who the retailer said would be well served by new jobs, tax revenues and low prices.
The expansion encountered fierce opposition from organized labor, which insisted that Wal-Mart's aggressive business practices and anti-union employment policies would result in lost jobs and depressed wages for millions of workers.
The United Food and Commercial Workers and Teamsters amassed a seven-figure war chest to fight Wal-Mart's effort statewide and vigorously lobbied public officials.
State Democratic legislators have introduced bills that would force Wal-Mart to provide health insurance to a wider number of employees and pay for expensive economic studies before it could build stores. In Los Angeles, officials are drafting an ordinance that would effectively ban such stores from the city.
The Supercenter in Inglewood was proposed for an area the size of 17 football fields between the Hollywood Racetrack and the Forum, the arena that once served as home court to the Los Angeles Lakers. In addition to the household products, clothing and drugs commonly sold in Wal-Mart stores, Supercenters sell groceries. Analysts have said that the chain's share of grocery sales in California could reach 20%.
