Wal-Mart faces Court Challenge in NOLA

The New Orleans City Council approved a plan to use tax revenue from a new Wal-Mart to be built on the site of the former St. Thomas public housing complex (near Magazine Street) to back $20 million in bonds to help pay for housing planned near the Garden District. The Times Picayune reports that the city filed a petition against All Taxpayers, Property Owners and Citizens of New Orleans, which seeked to "permanently [enjoin] any person from bringing any action or proceeding contesting the validity" of the bonds, the council's actions or any of the lengthy legal documents involved, "or any other matters adjudicated or which might have been called into question in said proceedings."

The citizens fighting Wal-Mart and the housing development have also filed suit to contest the council's approved use of "tax increment financing" to underwrite the bonds. Not surprisingly, the developer intends to begin construction in a few months, despite the large number of legal challenges he faces. Deja Vu anyone?

Posted by AJR at December 27, 2002 08:30 AM