In a bit of surprise the Walmart Corporation has decided to cancel plans to build a new Supercenter on part of the Wilderness Battlefield in Orange County Virginia. The property presently owned by Walmart is part of the ground where the Civil War battle occurred in May of 1864 and is not currently under protection of the National Park Service. This area does adjoin the Wilderness Battlefield area of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park and the development of the store would have destroyed the historic scene and resulted in vast increases in traffic and related light, sound, and air pollution to the immediate area.
Although Walmart was able to obtain all necessary legal approval for the project, several groups were still challenging the construction in court. Today Walmart announced the decision to take the moral high ground of public interest over corporate profit and cancel their plans for this project.
Congratulation to Walmart for taking this stand to help preserve the history of our Nation.
I first brought this to readers attention with a post I wrote in 2009:
http://aparkrangerslife.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-battle-of-wilderness.html
For more information on today's move by Walmart go to:
http://www.civilwar.org/aboutus/news/news-releases/2011-news/walmart-abandons-wilderness-plans.html
Wow. We didn't have that kind of luck here in northwestern Ohio. The second largest mall developer, General Growth Partners (GGP) built a "lifestyle" center just 1/3 mile west of the Fallen Timbers Battlefield National Historic Site. We were able to wrest a few concessions from them, but not much. And now, of course, GGP has gone into bankruptcy.
ReplyDeleteI might have to take back a few rotten things that I've said about Sprawlmart.