As construction on the Brainerd Wal-Mart and its access road continue, the members of the Coalition for Responsible Progress want to know why their leaders are not listening to community desires made known in so many planning meetings. The Brainerd Town Plan was adopted in concept in 1998 by the Chattanooga City Council. The area now under construction was shown as a green space and part of the wetland area was placed in conservation easement in 1996. Numerous letters to the editor, a poll citing 2-1 opposition to the Wal-Mart, a public rally, a picnic, a rolling press conference, and several pleas for meetings with the leaders and developers have been to no avail. The group calls on the citizens of Chattanooga to write, e-mail or call their elected representatives this week and ask why they are not following the many plans created over the years with the help of citizens throughout the city.

"We are outraged that after all the consulting money spent by the City and local businesses on the Brainerd Town Plan, not one of our City Council members or the planning agency, or the mayor cared to make sure the land use and zoning designations followed the plan, said Allyson Neal, a Brainerd resident. “The citizens wanted green space and that was indicated in the plan, but we will now endure extra traffic congestion, noise, loss of small businesses, loss of neighborhood character, and the loss of our green space all for a Wal-Mart we don't need," she adds.

"Blind trust or not, Mayor Corker, who owns the land, knew what was going on,” said Joy Day, CFRP member. "I saw him at the site myself the week that ground was broken, surveying the work." “He did not lift a finger to stop this travesty," she continued. "Isn't he supposed to be watching out for citizen interests rather than assuring his profitable future?" she asks.

“You want to see weapons of mass destruction?---just look behind Brainerd Village”, says David Jackson, owner since 1977 of Jackson Bakery located in Brainerd Village. “What’s the point of a City Council if they don’t address the desires of the citizens?” he asked. “They ignored our petitions and told us it was a “done deal”,” “I get here early every morning and used to enjoy watching the sun rise over the trees and see the hawks, other birds and squirrels play, but no more.” “My wife saw a mother raccoon relocating her family off the Par3 golf course.” “There’s a lot of displaced wildlife,” adds Jackson.

Upon learning of the Wal-Mart location, the National Trails System Office of the U.S. Department of Interior National Park Service sent a letter outlining their concern over the loss of archaeological and cultural artifacts related to Native Americans and the Trail of Tears. The letter recommended that archaeological investigation be conducted prior to any groundbreaking in order to avoid any archaeological resources. No investigation was conducted.

"I'm angry that with the building of that access road we have lost the last remnants of the historic mill site and a significant part of our cultural history," declared Vicki Rozema, local historian. “Both the road and the land for the Wal-Mart are part of the Cherokee Brainerd Mission lands prior to the Trail of Tears that included the mill site, the creek ford where Cherokee and Civil War soldiers alike crossed as well as Brainerd Mission cemetery now isolated by pavement,” she added.

Wal-Mart has numerous lawsuits filed against it among them poor labor practices, insurance benefits avoidance, and gender discrimination. (USA Today- http://www.nfsi.org/walmart/Lawsuits; Forbes-http://www.forbes.com/newswire/2003/07/17/rtr1028827.html; and Wal-Mart Litigation Project- http://www.wal-martlitigation.com/front.htm.)

“Anti-worker companies like Wal-Mart, with their low wages and sad benefit packages, contribute to the national health-care crisis,” CFRP member Don Jennings states. “The people of Chattanooga have many urgent needs, but we get a new Wal-Mart instead."

The plans for the Wal-Mart Supercenter call for creating a large stormwater detention pond and redirecting water from one wetland to another through a system of piping and valves. Experts hired by the CFRP say that all of the hydrology of the area will be negatively impacted by the Wal-Mart design and effectively shorten the life of the on-site pond.

"The idea that Wal-Mart will become a wetland manager, is just incomprehensible to me,” said Sandy Kurtz, co-chairman of the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway Alliance and an environmental education consultant. "The Alliance early on submitted ideas for redesign to Fletcher Bright Co., the developer, which could have saved the wetland and the hydrology, but they never responded in any way," she continued. "Further, the access road together with the Wal-Mart site has displaced wildlife, removed all vegetation and made an eyesore out of what was beautiful, she stated. “This development stops the function of working wetlands that help buffer flooding and that will eventually be at taxpayer expense,” Kurtz surmised. “Don't let them tell you that they have replaced these wetlands with their mitigation project behind Brainerd High School, she said. “These mitigation projects have a very high percentage of failure and they had to cut down an 11 acre forest to do it,” Ms. Kurtz concluded

”I watch with disappointment as I observe the destruction of the wetlands and last remaining large green space in the Brainerd/Eastgate area,” says David H. Bryan, a small businessman with an office overlooking the Wal-Mart site. “I recently visited Central Park in Manhattan and observed the vibrant economy surrounding the park.” “No doubt New York residents applaud the vision of New York City's leaders years ago who wisely set aside the area for current generations to enjoy,” Bryan observes. “I wonder what the next generation of Chattanooga's citizens can say about our current leaders when Wal-Mart eventually abandons the area to leave an asphalt wasteland?” “How much better if the development had adhered to what the merchants, paid consultants, and elected representatives agreed to with the Imagine Eastgate Plan in 1998!” “In twenty five years I doubt the area will resemble the vibrant economy surrounding the New York Central Part Area.” “One has to ask why?”

Coalition For Responsible Progress
responsibleprogress@yahoo.com

View of Wal-Mart access road at Brainerd Road with Brainerd Levee to left. This is the wetland for which mitigation is occurring near Brainerd High School and Boyd-Buchanan School. This shows the loss of the Old Birds Mill site as well as loss of wetland vegetation.