Final vote on Sam's--June 14th.

The Glen Carbon Board of Trustees is planning to reconsider the Sam's proposal on June 14th at 7 p.m. The tax incentive package that Sam's is asking for has come down from $7.25 million to $6.5 million to help pay for the property and clean up the chemicals at the site. Nothing has changed in terms of traffic improvements. Much of the area at graded at D and F now. The traffic study shows that the area will get worse if Sam's opens there.

Don't let the trustees give away our tax dollars!!! Come to the meeting Tuesday night and show your opposition.

April 26th; Vote on Sam's Club

The Village Baord will vote April 26th on giving Sam's Club millions of dollars in tax incentives and allowing it to further congest an intersection currently rated as a "D". Please come to that meeting to oppose the vote. It starts at 7 p.m. It's funny how the village board reminds everybody about the CNN/Money list that puts Glen Carbon as one of the top 100 cities to live in. The critieria did not mention anything about access to large retailers from out of state. Could this vote prevent Glen Carbon from getting on the Top 100 list in the future? Worsening traffic, poor supervision on a contaminated site, tax money for corporations, and refusal to listen to citizens don't sound like items that make a place so wonderful to live in. Let's hope that the village board sees how the Sam's will be detrimental to Glen Carbon. But let's also show up to the meeting.

Petition Down

We are having trouble with the petition but hope to have it fixed soon.

Wal-Mart meeting tonight (April 12th); Curve Ball from the Village

We thought that the village board would take up the Sam's first. They threw us a curve ball by putting the Wal-Mart expansion on tonight's agenda (Tuesday, April 12th). The crazy thing is (1) Wal-Mart still has not done a traffic study on the proposal and (2) the village is not enforcing the current site plan. Wal-Mart had to do a traffic study four years ago. But for some reason it's not necessary this time. There is more traffic congestion near here copared to four years ago. Wal-Mart continues to take up more than 100 parking spaces to sell garden items. This is not allowed in the current site plan. Shouldn't the village enforce the current site plan before allowing a new one? Please come oppose this vote tonight at the village hall at 7 p.m.

Please sign our petition. We have more than 1,000 petitions from the effort four years ago but have started a new petition specific to Sam's. Please sign the petition .

Forum on Sam's--March 30th at 7 p.m. at the Village Hall

Due to pressure from us, Sam's Club has scheduled a forum to discuss its proposed store where the Do It Center and Four Flags Automotive are currently. The Sam's representatives are supposed to be prepared to answer questions. We need to be there to ask: Why should cancer-causing creosote be disturbed on the property? Why does Sam's deserve millions of dollars in tax breaks? Why is the village eager to help the largest retailer in the country put locally owned stores out of business? What goods will Sam's offer to residents that are not currently available in Glen Carbon and Edwardsville? Why isn't the traffic study for the store available to the public? Why is the village content to maintaining a grade of D for the traffic at the site? What's the hurry? Why does the village need to approve this before the new trustees are sworn in? The forum will be held at 7 p.m. at the Village Hall on March 30th.

We had a good crowd last night in front of the board of trustees. Several people told the trustees why we oppose the plan to allow a Sam's Club to develop and give the developer millions of dollars in tax revenue. I apologize for likely misspellings below.

• Gary Graves talked about the problem with the Sam's in O'Fallon and disagreed with giving money to a for-profit organization.
• Mike Chamberlain noted that tax breaks given to Lowe's helped Lowe's put the Do It Center (which did not get tax breaks) out of business. Sam's will have the same impact.
• Phil Jarsik told the trustees that Glen Carbon should not be in the business of giving money to businesses.
• Jeff Corbin mentioned that Wal-Mart has taken huge amounts of money in tax breaks all over the country, making its primary owners very wealthy. He added that Sam's should pay its own way to come to Glen Carbon.
• Susan Hamil said that Sam's will not be a benefit to the community.
• Steve Strayer questioned the Sam's traffic study that shows the store will have only 33 cars per hour coming to the store.
• Grace Garin reminded the trustees that small businesses deserve the same treatment given to big businesses in Glen Carbon.
• Kenny Wilhelm asked why Glen Carbon should welcome a company that treats employees so badly and threatens other stores' abilities to survive.
• Kathy Starch told the trustees that it doesn't make sense to spend money to bring a store to Glen Carbon that doesn't sell anything not currently available in Glen Carbon.
• Mark Martin told them that Glen Carbon doesn't need a Sam's.