friends of MESJ-SLC

[Crystal Young-Otterstrom]

Dear MESJ of SLC:

Below are some upcoming events you might be interested in!

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Class at the City Library: Writing Your Legislator

January 22, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. 

The 2007 Utah Legislative Session starts on January 21. One letter to a legislator represents the opinions of 25 people. Learn how to effectively write to your senators and representatives on Capitol Hill, and make your voice heard! Cost: $10; call 957-4992 to register.

 

 

Eyes Wide Open: Monday, January 21, 2008 | all day | MESJ of SLC is a sponsor of this event | 171 East 4800 South

The Salt Lake Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) will be hosting the American Friends Service Committee's Eyes Wide Open exhibit On January 21, 2008.

This powerful exhibit includes over 20 empty combat boots tagged with the names of Utah soldiers who have died in the Iraq war, as well as over 200 civilian shoes, also tagged, to represent Iraqis killed in the war. 

 
The Quakers' Peace and Social Concerns Committee believes that the exhibit will have more impact if there are several co-sponors to show support for this exhibit.  Groups that wish to co-sponsor do not need to give money, but must be willing to let the Quakers list their names in the materials sent out to advertise the event.  If your organization is interested in co-sponsoring, or if you have questions, please contact Emily Box at (801)486-6883, or emil...@msn.com

 

Wal-mart Activism

 
MESJ of SLC member Ash Sanders is getting involved in wal-mart activist because she doesn't want a new Wal-Mart to be built in Parley's and she needs your help!

 
Here's the back story:
KMart originally built on the disputed area in the 60s, when all a store had to do was get an over-the-counter building permit and no public comment or professional review was necessary. So the citizens of the Parleys neighborhood went to bed one night and woke up to a KMart the next morning. They were outraged, but there was nothing they could do. In 1995, the zoning was changed to Community Business (CB), which means that all businesses in the zone have to be under 15,000 sq feet. The KMart property is around 113,000 sq ft, so they were grandfathered in as a non-conforming use. Now the KMart is going out of business, and Wal-Mart has bought the property. Wal-Mart has applied for a zone change and a master plan map amendment so that they can expand indefinitely, building a superstore that would be around 200,000 square feet, promising the usual things in exchange: to redo the parking lot, etc.

We are saying NO to the zoning change and map amendment. Recently, we received an administrative interpretation from the planning commission interpreter that said that Wal-Mart could expand by 50 percent even WITHOUT the zone change. This obviously makes no planning sense, since the zone was changed to reflect desires and planning judgment for a small business area, and allowing someone to continue and expand on a non-conforming use is antithetical to the zoning parameters, planner's counsel, and the wishes of the citizens.  Trying to change the use of an area to small business and then allowing a superstore to capitalize and increase on an old grandfather clause is, if not illegal, politically irresponsible.

What you can do:
Email Nick Britton at nickb...@slcgov.com and express your displeasure with having a Wal-mart in Parley's.  Be SURE to include that you are emphatically against the zone change. Demand a reason for the ridiculous administrative interpretation and insist that it is antithetical to previous, and sound, planning. Include facts about how Wal-Marts harm communities, period. In the end, ask for something: that the commission do environmental or economic impact investigations, that the city declare a moratorium on building until they can figure out the impact of the Wal-Mart, that the city should use the area for a park of a collection of small business, etc.

You can get loads of Wal-Mart facts on Ash's blog on the following page: http://projectdeseret.com/?p=21. The facts are set up to contradict some common arguments people make in favor of Wal-Marts. There are counterpoints to arguments about security, environment, economy, and the free market.

Please read the post and use any of the facts you like! I can give you more facts about anything you need if you email me at sanders...@gmail.com. I can also give you citations for all the facts, although I got all of the ones I mentioned from the book Big Box Swindle, which I highly recommend.

Why Are Superstore bad?
1. Wal-Mart (and superstores in general) are bad for communities--environmentally, economically, socially, and civically.
2. Wal-Mart makes the same claims and does the same seedy stuff every time it comes into a community.
3. The zoning has changed in that area for a reason. We want the area to be suited for small shops and not megastores. Ignoring the zoning goes against the wishes of the citizens, the uses that are best for that area, and the judgment of planners. We need to stress that we MUST keep the zoning and map the same UNLESS there is an excellent reason to change it, and that bringing in a Wal-Mart is not an excellent reason--that it is, in fact, one of the worst reasons.
4. The Wal-Mart should not be allowed to ride the wave of KMart's non-conforming use status. K-Mart didn't work out in that area, and it's closure is our chance to put in uses that DO work. Wal-Mart should not be allowed to expand and become even more non-conforming. We need to start to honor the intended purposes of that site.

 

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Crystal Young-Otterstrom
801.652.0737