On Wednesday, March 7th a group of people headed by Friends of North Kelsey will publicly announce a new phase of their fight against an out-of-character development in the City of Monroe. The group’s announcement will address the Walmart which was OK’d by local city government.

Who: Friends of North Kelsey and others who feel that a Walmart is inconsistent with Monroe’s citizen-created development plan.

When: Noon on Wednesday, March 7th.

Where: Corner of Kelsey Street and Hwy. 2 in Monroe

(link to a map of location: http://binged.it/zUibBR)

Visuals: People will be on the corner of North Kelsey and Hwy 2 calling on local officials and Walmart to respect the local community’s plan.

BACKGROUND: Despite a long and involved process over several years in which local citizens developed a plan and directed the city to seek a pedestrian-friendly development in the North Kelsey location, this citizen input was largely ignored. The city bought property expressly to make sure it was developed in a way consistent with values of that community plan. The citizens, however, were railroaded by a dishonorable, and what they believe to be an illegal, decision by local elected officials to approve a Walmart for the site, even though the Walmart proposal violated a number of the plan’s specifics. Public testimony highlighted concerns that a Walmart in Monroe will threaten community values, will badly worsen already- congested traffic on major thoroughfares, and threaten living-wage jobs of those already working in local retail.