“Critic claims mall hurts economy” CALGARY HERALD, February 25, 1989.
By Jeff Adams.
EDMONTON – Bill Grosvenor is the albatross around Triple Five Corp.’s
corporate neck.
The middle-aged former Briton is determined to drive Triple Five out of
business, claiming its West Edmonton Mall has done irreparable damage to
the local economy.
“Wherever I go, I warn the public of the harmful effect of Triple Five,”
says Grosvenor.
When a British TV crew came to town recently to see the mall and report
on Triple Five’s plans to build something similar in the north England
city of Leeds, Grosvenor made sure everyone heard from him too.
And when a delegation of West Germans arrived last month for their own
tour and to start negotiating construction of a mall and entertainment
facility there, Grosvenor also gave them an unexpected earful.
He writes hundreds of letters to wherever Triple Five might do business.
The campaign includes about 140,000 gummed labels printed to entreat
people not to come to Edmonton or invest in any Triple Five project.
“Anything and everything I can get that makes Triple Five look bad, I
mail it out,” Grosvenor says. “I’ll do everything I can within the law
to put Triple Five out of business.”
He points to a stack of mail on the other side of his living room,
saying the letters are from overseas supporters of his anti-mall
campaign. But Grosvenor refuses to open even one for examination by a
reporter.
The self-described “militant” refuses to be photographed and says he
can’t reveal his business holdings because to do so would invite
harassment by Triple Five.
Grosvenor says the concessions the City of Edmonton granted to Triple
Five total millions of dollars.
Local residents and merchants are straining to pay for those
concessions, he says, estimating property and business taxes have been
tripled in recent years.
But a city official says property tax increases have matched inflation,
while business taxes have either fallen or risen only slightly.
