Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/112475
Sarasota News Leader March 1, 2013 THE PLAYERS Page 59 Both sessions ��� one on Feb. 19 and the other on Feb. 26 ��� were heavily attended. The The commission heard more than eight hours crowd was demonstrative at times, its cheers of testimony and at least one hour of legal and applause pounded silent by Mayor Suadvice ��� pro and con ��� over two evening zanne Atwell���s gavel. sessions. It was sitting in a quasi-judicial role, able to make a decision only on the sworn tes- Walmart is an enormous corporation, the timony and factual evidence offered by staff, world���s largest retailer and employer and secthe appellants, Walmart representatives, ���af- ond-most-valuable corporation in America. fected parties��� and the general public. Sam Walton founded it in 1962, and by 1972, it The issue was not Walmart���s wages, the source was publicly traded. Roughly 48 percent of the of its goods, the degree of its philanthropy or stock is owned by Walton���s family and heirs the historic impact on small businesses near- and ���is equal to all the assets of the entire botby. The only issue on the table was, did the tom 40 percent of the U.S. population ��� 120 site plan meet the requirements of the arcane million people,��� according to a new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Hedrick Smith. city zoning code. Residents sign in to address the City Commission. Photo by Norman Schimmel