California's chilly welcome for Wal-Mart

America's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, - loved by millions for "always low prices," loathed by others for "always low wages" - is running into opposition in America's biggest state.

On Tuesday, voters in Inglewood, a community near Los Angeles International Airport, chose not to let Wal-Mart develop a new superstore in there. The giant chain had fought hard to let "the people" decide, rather than a zoning board, but lost by a 2-to-1 margin.

The giant chain's tactics of going around reluctant local officials to woo local voters is likely to continue in some cases and in new forms. The retailer has gotten voters or officials in other California cities to repeal prohibitive ordinances against "big box" stores, including Contra Costa in the north and Calexico in the south.

Still, the vote Tuesday here may signal that, for all the benefits of its low-priced consumer goods, the Arkansas-based chain is at risk of going too far with its aggressive tactics.

"The tide of public opinion is absolutely going against Wal-Mart," says Kent Wong, labor expert at the University of California in Los Angeles. "This has broad implications for the expansion of Wal-Mart across the country.. They invested tremendous resources to allow them to open this superstore."

In the referendum, voters decided whether to let the chain bypass ordinary government oversight of its development. The idea was soundly rebuffed by a coalition of business, education and religious activists. "The last thing we wanted was for a corporation which is not a democracy to come in here and act like a sovereign nation," said volunteer Rachel Morris, who walked the city streets educating voters about what was at stake.

The measure called for a complex the size of 17 football fields to be built without the usual traffic studies, environmental reviews, and public hearings required by state and local laws. "They were trying to tell residents that Wal-Mart is so big that they don't have to follow state and local laws. That is a nightmare and we didn't buy it," says Morris.

After announcing last year it would build 40 supercenters in California, the chain has opened only one unopposed - in La Quinta, a desert community 200 miles east of L.A. The city of Oakland last year banned Wal-Mart from its communities and San Diego recently passed an ordinance to keep "big boxes" out.

After Inglewood officials last year tried to keep Wal-Mart out, the store got 10,000 signatures to take it directly to voters. Local officials had already filed suit, and more organizations were expected to follow, as the state attorney general held that the measure was likely unconstitutional. The Tuesday vote was considered a test case for similar moves by Wal-Mart to get into other communities nationwide.

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