Which Way, L.A.?
Walmart Comes to Chinatown
Walmart's skirted the LA City Council to open a store in a building that's been empty for years. Is a cheap grocery what Chinatown needs? Will its ethnic identity be lost?
By Warren Olney • • 1h 0m ListenThere were lion dancers, cyclists and a rally under Chinatown's dragon gates on Saturday, but construction on the project being protested had already begun last Tuesday. We hear how Walmart got around the Los Angeles City Council and found a way to open a new store in a building that's been empty for years. Is a cheap, full-service grocery what the neighborhood needs? Will its unique, ethnic identity be destroyed? Can a permit appeal by union labor stop construction before Walmart opens for business? On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, forest fires and federal money.
Banner image: Demonstrators protest against Walmart's Chinatown project on Saturday, June 30, 2012. Photo by Saul Gonzalez
In this episode
2 storiesWalmart Comes to Chinatown
In March, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a moratorium on big chain stores in Chinatown. But Wal-Mart had beaten the politicians to the punch by pulling permits the day before. Construction on the new store at Cesar Chavez and Grand began last Tuesday.
Read the story25 minWildfires Rage across the West
In the suburbs of Colorado Springs, residents are discovering what happens when a forest fire comes to town. Some cars are nothing but charred metal and some homes are burned to the ground, while, in the same neighborhood, other houses have not been touched.
Read the story24 min
