The Redlands Planning Commission will be hearing from residents Wednesday night as the board has a special meeting about a proposed Super Walmart project.
The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the Joslyn Senior Center, 21 Grant St. The meeting is for public input about the project, officially known as the Redlands Crossing Project, set for agricultural land near San Bernardino Avenue and Tennessee Street, a parcel of land currently owned by the corporate giant. No action will be taken at the meeting.
Pro- and anti-Walmart partisans are expected to show up. Among the most vocal of those against the Walmart expansion are members of the Redlands Good Neighbor Coalition and Occupy Redlands. Economic, health, crime, and environmental issues, plus the ultimate costs to taxpayers, are among the concerns both organizations have raised. The meeting, however, will be an opportunity for both these groups to learn.
“We are going to this meeting to ask questions and learn what will be occurring. We want to know about procedures and what the Planning Commission has to say” said Keith Osajima, chair of good neighbor coalition.
The Redlands Good Neighbor Coalition has been fighting the proposed expansion since 2007. They were the driving force to put Measure O on the ballot in 2010. The measure was defeated, with Wal-Mart throwing $440,000 into an effort to defeat the proposal.
Occupy Redlands, new to the battle, is also new to the scene in the city. Organized in October, members of the group have taken on corporate personhood, big banks, anti-woman legislation, labor rights incursions, peace, and the process of educating the public. Marches, teach-ins, and general assemblies are the tools they employ. Their latest effort is asking the Redlands City Council to adopt a Resolution condemning corporate personhood and denouncing the Supreme Court decision Citizens’ United, an action taken in many cities, counties, and states across the country.
