CALIFORNIA SITE FIGHTS: UP AGAINST A GIANT

Should Oakley welcome Wal-mart? [Antioch (Calif.) Press]

There may be no retail chain more shopped at, worked in – and reviled – than Wal-Mart.

When a new Wal-Mart is about to open and seeks employees, people are often lined up around the block for the chance to work there. And the fact that it’s one of the most successful businesses in U.S. history is evidence that many people shop there for the good selection and low prices.

But it seems that as many people hate Wal-Mart as shop there, claiming its non-union employees are under-compensated in pay and benefits; that the retail giant underprices mom and pop stores, putting them out of business; and that it’s just, well, too big for its retail britches.

Several months ago Antioch’s City Council denied the Wal-Mart on Lone Tree Way the opportunity to expand to a 24-hour operation with a grocery section. On a 3-2 vote the council claimed the expanded store would increase traffic and crime, exceed the space limit in Williamson Ranch Plaza and create blight by putting nearby grocery stores out of business.

Antioch Councilman Arne Simonsen, who supported Wal-Mart’s expansion, said the only blight created in Antioch would be if Wal-Mart closed shop there and moved to Oakley, leaving behind an empty building.

It’s not certain that Wal-Mart actually does plan to open a store in Oakley, perhaps on the vineyard property along Main Street between Bridgehead and Big Break roads. But Oakley officials are eager to get some big-box retail stores located here to provide much-needed sales tax revenue, which helps pay for more police officers and road and park maintenance, among other things.

On the other hand, several Oakley residents and business owners are concerned that big-box retail – and especially Wal-Mart – is not what Oakley needs at this time.

Nothing is set in stone, no vineyards have yet been paved over – so now is a good time for Oakley residents to weigh in on this issue, as Robert Phillips and Steven Hartland do on today’s opinion page.

Do you want Wal-Mart in Oakley? If not, would you accept other big-box stores? If so, which ones? If none, what should be done to help Oakley’s budget grow with its population and its needs?

E-mail letters to . If you don’t have e-mail, you can drop off your letters at our office in the little commercial center on Del Antico Way. You can also weigh in on our Web site, http://www.oakleypress.com, by clicking on the comments link after this editorial.

And, of course, you can attend and speak up at Oakley City Council meetings, which are held the second and fourth Monday nights of the month in the Delta Vista Middle School library, which is off of Sellers Road at Frank Hengel Way.

Posted by Beth Gostanian on Monday, June 18, 2007

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