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Quartz Hill Locates Heart of Walmart, Prevents Megastore from Opening [UPDATED]
Photo by Jo Naylor via Flickr
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Anyone who watches "South Park" knows that it's almost impossible to thwart Walmart, but the small town of Quartz Hill has persevered and done just that.
The town, located in Antelope Valley, has been fighting the corporate behemoth for six years over their plans to put a store across the street from the town's high school, reports KTLA. The city suggested that the new store would provide new jobs, but a group of residents calling themselves "Quartz Hill Cares" believed that it would be an eyesore (...probably true) and that it would ruin the small-town feel of Quartz Hill. On their website, they write:
Quartz Hill Cares is a group of concerned citizens from many communities who deeply care about the future of Quartz Hill and the entire Antelope Valley. We value the quality of life that we have here and enjoy the small town atmosphere in our rural communities...The planning of these "super-centers" on the west side in the coming months will forever define the character of our valley.
The case went all the way to California's 2nd Court of Appeals before Quartz Hill reigned victorious.
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UPDATE April 4, 2012 10:30 AM: Walmart contacted us and requested that information in this story be adjusted, including information sourced from a now-changed KTLA article about concerns regarding gun sales at Walmart. "Below, please find a statement from Walmart which notes that the store is moving forward. Additionally, I wanted to note that none of the Walmart stores in California sell guns—when the KTLA story was updated, that reference was removed," they point out. Here is their statement:
We proposed a store in Quartz Hill in 2007 with strong support from the city of Lancaster. A handful of residents filed a lawsuit soon thereafter but we won the case in its entirety. In an effort to further delay our store plans, the same group appealed but the Court of Appeal upheld the trial court's decision in favor of Walmart, with the exception of one narrow, economic analysis issue. As a result, we are working with the city to provide that additional information. The bottom line is that the court went through every one of our opponents' arguments and dismissed them all with the exception of one easily correctable item. We expect our Quartz Hill plans to move forward and look forward to serving customers there soon.
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