Local Zoning Meets Global Politics... If you live in Contra Costa County, California (near San Francisco), you can vote today on local restrictions to prevent Wal-Mart from building 200,000 square-foot discount super centers in your county.

Voting "No" on Proposition L will overturn local restrictions on building stores over 90,000 square feet with more than 5% of floor space devoted to the sale of (non-taxable) groceries. Voting "Yes" will leave the restrictions in place.

Of course, this ballot measure is not a simple land-use issue. It's a huge political battle fraught with social issues. Just read the latest issues of Fortune Should We Admire Wal-Mart? (March 8, 2004) and BusinessWeek Wal-Mart Gives Globalism a Bad Name (March 8, 2004). [Fortune link requires subscription.]

Wal-Mart, which gathered the signatures necessary to qualify the measure for the ballot and contributed $500,000 to the "No" campaign, is opposed by a coalition of "Yes" supporters, including Safeway, unions and the county board of supervisors that has raised $165,000. (Contra Costa Times, Feb 16, 2004). So whom are we to believe?

Is Wal-Mart a servant of the people? "Passing along the gains of its brilliant distribution system to consumers, its farsighted managers have done nothing less than democratize the American dream. Its low prices are spurring productivity and helping win the fight against inflation." (Fortune)

Or is Wal-Mart a tyrant? "You've seen the headlines. Illegal immigrants mopping its floors. Workers locked inside overnight. A big gender discrimination suit. ... Crushing the dream of the independent proprietor -- an ideal as American as Thomas Jefferson." (Fortune)

What do you think?

--Peter Pike