When the enemy of my enemy is my friend

I've been surprised to see little discussion in the Internet world of this article, "Rivals Secretly Finance Opposition to Wal-Mart," from the Wall Street Journal, about how supermarket chains are behind some of the organized efforts against Walmart store projects.

The article mentions Saint Consulting, which specializes in land development approval/disapproval consulting. I have mentioned the firm before. They published a fabulous book, Nimby Wars, about the process. See this article from Forbes about their work.

Frankly, I am surprised, still, that they published the book, which is a great primer for anyone, "nimby" residents included, in how to go about organizing in order to get your way. Of course, the adoption of community organizing strategies and tactics by "capital" is nothing new.