Onward Oregon's campaign against the Gresham Wal-Mart

Onward Oregon has some great information on their website in regards to the Gresham Wal-Mart.

According to their information, Wal-Mart would cost the city of Gresham $93,600 annually. In contrast, small specialty retail stores taking up the same amount of square footage would bring in $65,200 to the city.

That's just the cost to the city. We haven't even begun to talk about money going into the local economy. Wal-Mart would contribute $14.8 million less to the economy than local businesses of an equal size.

City and county tax revenues would also go down if Wal-Mart goes in. Some studies have shown a decline of 19% after big-box stores went in.

Then there's the traffic issue. Similar-sized Supercenters draw between 15,000 and 25,000 shoppers/day or 5,000 – 8,000 auto trips/day, most from outside the immediate area. When QFC did its traffic study on the intersection, it gave it a 'failing' performance rating due to it's poor left turn movement and it's over-capacity traffic volume, resulting in long delays particularly during evening rush-hour. With the entrances/exits t Wal-Mart being with a few hundred feet of the intersection, you can expect this to only get worse.

You can find all of this information, and a LOT more, on their lengthy Gresham Wal-Mart page.

You can also use their online action page to directly e-mail (or print out letters to) the city planner and city council.