Hartford Courant Editorial supporting a moratorium on large scale development
STAFFORD -- As commercial development creeps east up I-84, Stafford is becoming an attractive location for large chain stores.
To give the town a chance to consider how to best deal with this attention, a local group is proposing a moratorium on large-scale commercial projects - those with one or more buildings totaling over 30,000 square feet.

Al Norman's great site

Smart Growth for Vernon
Smart Growth for Vernon is a citizens group dedicated to promoting responsible growth and development in Vernon/Rockville, Connecticut.
It works together with other local groups to promote public awareness of planning and development issues and to encourage public participation in preserving the town's heritage and environment.

Information and Action plans for opposing Walmart
A Fabulous site for info and action, sponsored by UFCW

Walmart Resources
Articles, Studies and Resources on Wal-Mart

Reasons for shopping local and supporting locally owned businesses.
In an increasingly homogenized world, communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character have an economic advantage. This site provides the details.

News and articles about locally owned businesses vs. big box chains

community-owned cooperative information
People looking for an alternative to Wal-Mart may need look no further than their own community, to the growing number of successful community-owned retail enterprises operating around the country.

community-owned cooperative information
The Northeast Center of Cooperation Works, the national Network of Centers for Cooperative Development A spark of innovation for the cooperative community
Mission To increase economic opportunities and benefits for people in the Northeast by fostering the growth and success of all types of cooperative enterprises.

Size comparison of Super Walmart to other stores:
Pretty amazing chart of relative store sizes

Wal-Mart attempts to censor parody website
This web site parodies the walmartfoundation site and has received a lot of negative attention from WalMart.

WalMart's NAZI style ad to oppose anti walmart people
It is frighteningly un-American to use Nazi images in an attempt to demonize those who oppose Wal-Mart and the negative effects this company has had on our communities and the nation.

STORE WARS: When Wal-Mart comes to Town
PBS' page full of information and links about Wal-Mart

BIG BOX ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDIES
At its Home Advantage page, the New Rules Project includes a collection of (negative) impact studies on the effects of big box stores on local/regional economies.

Stafford Web Cam
Take a dynamic look at the "oldest roundabout in North America" in downtown Stafford Springs in front of the Town Hall and the Police Station (once the Rail Road Station).
Check the traffic, watch the trains come through, see if drivers stop for pedestrians in the crosswalks!

A California community took on Wal-Mart and won.
When Wal-Mart sought to build a supercenter the size of 17 football fields in Inglewood, Calif., a working-class city near Los Angeles, the world's largest retail corporation got a big surprise:
More than 61 percent of the mostly African American and Latino voters rejected Wal-Mart's complicated, 71-page ballot measure that would have OKed the project and exempted it from local and state planning reviews.

Bob White's StaffordCT web page
Bob has an excellent page avout Stafford and issues related to development.
The page also has a link to the Stafford Web Cam.

Wal-Mart Watch
"Stack it deep; sell it cheap; stack it high and watch it fly; hear those downtown merchants cry!" cheer Wal-Mart store managers. When Wal-Mart moves in, small businesses get hurt. Main Street suffers.
The whole community gets hurt by Wal-Mart's low wages and inadequate benefits. But it doesn't have to be Wal-Mart's way. Learn here how communities have stood up against the retail giant - and won!

Paying the price at Wal-Mart
About Wal-Mart's effects on workers, taxpayers, local businesses, loss of US jobs, communities and the environment.

CEDS - Community and Environmental Defense Services
CEDS' purpose is to help people defend their community and environment from the impact of sprawl and other poorly planned land development activities. These activities may include housing projects, shopping centers, highways, landfills, mining, and so on.? They help identify & document how a project may impact a community's interests. They can help get the volunteers, funds, facts, political clout, & professional services needed to ensure a project is not built until all impacts are resolved.

United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) on-line petition to stop Wal-Mart's sponsorshipof Good Morning America's "Only in America" series.
This advertising campaign is not the first time Wal-Mart has attempted to deceive the American people. In the 1990's, Wal-Mart introduced its "Made in America" and "Bring it Home to the USA" campaigns.
Broadcast and other news outlets soon exposed the gross deceptions in this ploy forcing Wal-Mart to drop the marketing campaign. We urge you to join us in successfully stopping Wal-Mart's latest ploy.