Which Way, L.A.?

WalMart Takes Its Case to Inglewood Voters

After the Inglewood City Council said -no,- WalMart decided to gather the 6500 requisite signatures and go direct to the voters. Measure 4-A would allow the national retailer to build a shopping center the size of 17 football fields between Hollywood Park and the Forum, without traffic studies, environmental reviews or public hearings. The project promises jobs, low prices and tax dollars for the working-class town of 117,000, but opponents say WalMart-s initiative means abandoning local control over planning and allowing a rich company to do whatever it wants. Is it democracy or just corporatocracy? With less than a week to go until Election Day, we hear from urban planner Bill Fulton, Mayor Roosevelt Dorn, the only councilman who backs the plan, Assemblyman Jerome Horton, who does not. Making News: Schwarzenegger Opens the Door to a Tax Increase Although he insists he's still opposed to any new taxes, yesterday Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger added a new verse to that familiar refrain. Admitting that there are limited sources of revenue, Schwarzenegger acknowledged his stance was just "wishful thinking." The LA Times' Peter Nicholas was in on yesterday-s interview in Sacramento.