Citizen group plans Wal-Mart protest

Published 6:44 am Monday, March 3, 2008

Citizens for a Better Mill Creek/Thomas Lake is the newly formed anti-Wal-Mart group that is trying to prevent the development of any large commercial store on 132nd Street SE.

The group plans to protest by waiving signs from 3-5 p.m. Sept. 7 at 35th Street and 132nd Street, near Penny Creek Elementary in Everett.

Its Aug. 30 meeting, which had a turnout of approximately 30 people, community members discussed the best way to change ordinances to keep Wal-Mart and other large commercial stores out of Mill Creek and Thomas Lake. Group members have been working with an attorney.

The citizens decided that they will draft two petitions, each of which will be forwarded to the Mill Creek City Council and the Snohomish County Council. One petition will address the possibility of rezoning the lot on 132nd Street from a big-box set up to an area that small, local business owners could use.

The other petition would ask for an ordinance to establish a set living wage for employees in the area, which would be above what stores such as Wal-Mart offer.

Group members will send letters to both councils, because an annexation of the land into Mill Creek from Snohomish County is possible.

Within the next two weeks, the group plans on standing in front of local stores and asking people to sign petitions for both Mill Creek and Snohomish County.

“We are feeling really excited. The momentum is going, there are people working on petitions and sign waiving,” said Heather Golden, United Food and Commercial Workers Union representative.

Golden said the group needs to start planning fund-raisers in order to pay experts to assist their current lawyer, Claudia Newman, and speed up the legal process.

Another idea discussed by the citizens was to request the city of Mill Creek establish a firearms ordinance. The group would want firearms to be sold a certain number of miles from schools.

At the meeting, community members volunteered for leadership positions in the group. The trustee will be Jim Church and the secretary is Lillian Kaufer.

The next meeting will be Sept. 13 at Round Table Pizza at 6 p.m. Afterward, the group will go to the Mill Creek City Council meeting at 7:30 p.m. to express their ideas and concerns.

“We really think we are going to make a difference,” Golden said.