Boston Mayor Restrains Trade: City Wants Residents Protected from Lower Prices

The Boston Globe reports:

Boston officials have rebuffed a proposal to build the city’s first Walmart in Roxbury, the opening round of a fight expected to continue in several neighborhoods as the retail giant scouts for locations from Downtown Crossing to Dorchester.

In a recent private meeting with developers, Menino administration officials declined to endorse a plan to open a Walmart Neighborhood Market grocery store at the former Bartlett bus yard, a shuttered MBTA maintenance facility near Dudley Square, where food-shopping options are few.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino said a Walmart would undercut local businesses, including the nearby Tropical Foods market, whose owners are planning to expand in the neighborhood.

Got that? Why have anti-trust laws when Mayor Menino is the poster child for limiting competition?