|
For those of you following local living economies,
sustainability/community issues, Smart Growth and planning, please check out
the following: Sustainable Industries Journal Northwest @ http://www.sijournal.com/issues.asp. Their
banner reads: Economic Gain through Environmental Innovation SIJ is a very impressive publication for a start up hatched six months
ago. It covers news and leads of
the different energy and environmental industries. In the current issue, in addition to regular features and
listings of renewable and ‘smart energy’ companies of the month, there is a
report about a recent local attempt by Wal-Mart to purchase property without
disclosing who they were, ostensibly to prevent competitors like Target and Lowe’s
from competing with them, but their critics allege, to prevent opposition from
forming in time to block their building permits. Note: Although a developer is not obligated to disclose his tenant
immediately, plans that involve a lack of full disclosure add to the growing
tension and distrust about sustainability conflicts and local control. The story also showed up in the Sunday Oregonian Big Box
Battles @ http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/105680212636900.xm
but only AFTER SIJ
reported it. The basic details: developers purchased for a mystery tenant 26 acres
between two residences, and planned a retail building bigger than the high
school and parking lots the size of four football fields. Guess who? Neighborhood activists claim that they these tactics are
meant to keep opposition from having due process in open democratic forum. They won, perhaps just temporarily,
here in Portland, but not so north of here in Poulsbo, WA where they have
learned that Wal-Mart sees the nation as “one big company town”. Here in Portland, it boiled down to the
developer and tenant hadn’t taken into consideration to huge demand on traffic
and roads that would not be met in time, due to the secrecy of their
project. And for those of you who have not already seen it there is a Wal-Mart
Watch website @ http://www.walmartwatch.com. Please take a look at the map. Further, as another item on the menu, a well-written report about
efforts to promote regionalism from a continent away in Maine, where local
communities are banding together, often reluctantly, to share the cost of
services rather than duplicate the expense, prompted by tough economic times. See Regionalization
confronts tradition of local control @ http://www.pressherald.com/news/state/030629regional.shtml I also found it interesting to read this week
that small rural communities are garnering another name: micropolitans. As our physical world, at least in the industrialized
nations, becomes more integrated and mobile, even rural communities are less
isolated and parochial than in times past. In this case, sometimes a name change can be lucrative,
qualifying for more matching funds for local development. Finally, I attended the first organizational meeting of the local BALLE
group (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) and saw that there is a
good mix of young and old entrepreneurs interested in networking and learning
from each other, some of them long time “alternative lifestyle” practitioners
but many lately displaced from the corporate world. This seems to be a growing movement, a backlash from the
corporate empire culture, touching on the human need for community and things
that matter to people in neighborhoods.
Some of these people are anxious to strategize, they see the current
economic paradigms – as well as the politics that support it - as failed models
and want to promote a new alternative, one that incidentally, has historic
roots. These are not losers from the corporate world nor are they just Mom and
Pop cottage industrialists. There
are men and women in these meetings whom you would like to know, international
corporate warriors with years of marketing experience, CPA’s, software
developers, business consultants and political hacks who have nuts and bolts
experiences to share, looking for solutions to problems they see. I think many of them will be watching
the trickle effect of the Supreme Court’s decision not to review the Nike vs
Kasky case (corporate personhood) as will many in the corporate world. Politicians will also be taking notes. It’s almost campaign season for real,
and these are going to be issues people talk about in the face of a moribund
economy and a growing unease with a cookie-cutter world, a sense of loss. Contact me if you want further info or readable files for any of the
above. - KWC |
