"The Mills Corporation is expanding globally, with plans for a mall north of Toronto, four ventures in Spain, and a mall project near Milan. But Mills Chairman & CEO Lawrence Siegel admits that it's more difficult to build abroad because 'they're better at protecting their downtowns than we are.",

"But the failure to think strategically about transportation and urban sprawl has been a hallmark of many recent Mills Corporation projects. At the opening of Ontario Mills in southern California in 1996, for example, cars were backed up on Interstate 10 for miles, and traffic jams and air pollution have persisted in the area ever since. The entrance to Gurnee Mills north of Chicago was the single most accident-prone intersection in the entire state of Illinois in 1997 and the fourth most accident-prone in 1998, according to the state's Transportation Department. Arizona Mills in Tempe opened in 1998 with fisticuffs in the overcrowded parking lots and promptly became a legendary traffic bottleneck." From the American Prospect., 2/28/00 ( http://www.prospect.org/archives/V11-8/morley-j.html )

"The people of Weymouth, Rockland, and Abington voted for this plan three years ago, back when they didn't think they had any other choice. The megamall was an answer for those who had no idea what questions to ask. Now, for every favorable statistic, there is one that is devastating. The development would add at least 41 000 cars a day to the already jammed Route 3 highway that runs from Boston to Cape Cod, a 37 percent increase that would clog the road from morning until night. Every day, it would drain 750,000 gallons of water that the town simply doesn't have. The jobs? How many locals are willing to work for wages that barely range above the minimum allowed? Tax dollars? The mall would cost the town a small fortune in extra police details and fire fighting, as well as the wear from all the wear from all the workers and shoppers traipsing through the area. 'It's crazy, in a word,' says John DeVillars, the former New England head of the US Environmental Protection Agency'@' Brlan McGrory, Boston Globe, 'Weymouth Mall Ticket to Trouble.' 2/25/00
(http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2l056/metro/Weymouth_mall_ticket_to_trouble.shtml )
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(CITIZENS OPPOSING THE MEGAMALL AND PROPOSED ACCESS ROAD EXTENSION)

BOX 890024 WEYMOUTH, MA 02189 [email protected]

781-335-4163