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August 19, 2006: As you know, the
Cheverly Town Council, once again, considered their Wal-Mart resolution at
their August 11th Town Council Meeting. Progressive Cheverly members have
consistently come to both Town Council and work session meetings and last
Thursday was no exception. Unfortunately, the Town Council chose, once
again, not to take any action. The Council has submitted a number of
questions to Wal-Mart and has resisted acting on the resolution until
Wal-Mart has responded. My sense is that some of the Town Council
members have taken the view that any
action by Cheverly on a resolution weakens their ability to negotiate with
Wal-Mart to achieve the goals the Council is most interested in. (click
to view the proposed resolution)
To their credit, the Mayor and Town Council has taken various steps to
help ensure that the ultimate design of the Wal-Mart store is not the
classic warehouse box store but something more aesthetically pleasing.
My understanding is that Wal-Mart will be on
the agenda for the Town Council's work session on August 25th but that
there will be no votes. It is always useful for Progressive Cheverly to
be present when this issue is being discussed. While not essential, I
would encourage any of our members to go to these meetings, especially if
they have never attended previously. I will not be there since I will be
on vacation.
Additionally, as many of you know, Progressive
Cheverly has been working over the past four months with a number of
municipalities, elected officials, community development organizations,
civic associations, and citizens who reside close to Capital Plaza to
address the need for community standards for large retail stores that are
planning to move into our community. The Coalition considered the
community standards proposed by Progressive Cheverly and made a number of
changes. The final document, which is posted on the Progressive Cheverly
web site, has been formally endorsed by the following:
This statement has been forwarded to both Wal-Mart and the Nellis Corporations with the hope that a meeting will take place between Coalition representatives and officials of Wal-Mart and Nellis. Officials of the County Executive's Office and County Council Members David Harrington and Tom Hendershot have been working with the Coalition and are helping to facilitate a possible meeting with all the parties involved. Regardless of what impact we are able to have on Wal-Mart and the Nellis Corporations, the process of working together with surrounding communities has been a very positive one and hopefully will provide for opportunities to continue to work together on other issues in the future.
Madeleine Golde, Co-Chair
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© 2010 Progressive Cheverly Progressive Cheverly is an independent citizens’ organization with no affiliation to the government of the Town of Cheverly.Last modified: 01/07/10 |
