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alexbaca:

octopusmatthew:

brosephstalin:

Basically right now there are a grand total of zero Wal Marts in DC. They have proposed building 5. None of the people who live in the communities actually want them, but the developers did not consult the neighborhood before getting the rights to build. 

The one I’m going to is on Georgia Avenue. RIght now there is a huge empty former car dealership lot there with enough space for maybe 300 homes and business. Or one, monstrous, destructive walmart. None of the 80 business want it, because it will kill their own enterprises, and none of the community wants it because, well, it’ll kill jobs and just add to the gentrification of the area.

So we’re marching on the developer’s house to show solidarity with the community and try to have him change his mind. I doubt we can stop all of the walmarts, but this one I think we can. 

i’m going with brosephstalin to this! HELL YES I AM SO EXCITED.

hopefully my mom reads this and is all proud of me!

Guys, I do not want to systematically dismantle your activist spirits, but there’s a lot of misconceptions that need to be corrected here. I am going to do my absolute best not to be A) condescending or B) an asshole, but I’m not going to make any promises. I am also going to write a really fucking long post because this kind of thing sets me off. Also, for about two months, people greeted me by asking me “Hey, what do you think about Wal-Mart?” This is probably a casualty of being a sort-of urbanisty person with a few blogs and a lot of opinions and while it drove me nuts, it was also, in a weird way, flattering. So, you know, I’ve had awhile to refine my thoughts. Here you go. 

Go read all of Alex’s post, because it’s good. And coincidentally learn why I think my neighbors are unjustifiably optimistic about what will happen if they block the Colonel Brooks proposal.