Ontario, CA. Op-Ed Calls Wal-Mart a “Charade”

Op-Ed: Wal-Mart charade [Daily Bulletin (Calif.)]

This citizen attended the entire Planning Commission public hearing charade in August, ending about midnight. I wanted to see the extremes they would go to convince us how wonderful Wal-Mart would be for the residents adjacent to this already decided project.

The land at Fifth Street and Mountain Avenue already had been sold to Wal-Mart, so I’m not sure why the hearing for a done deal was even necessary.

This probably happened because our nonfiduciary Councilman Alan Wapner was a consultant to Wal-Mart. This reveals lots of integrity on the part of Wal-Mart and Wapner.

Money does talk, folks, and that is what Wal-Mart has and what Wapner wants, so it was a great match.

Ninety-nine percent of the meeting was monotony that most of the attendees did not understand, nor did they want to understand, because that was not why they attended the meeting.

They were there because they do not want a Wal-Mart in their community and next to or near their properties.

Also, we have a right to know how much Wapner received in consulting fees.

Two commission members were not present. Smart. Why waste time?

Eighty-five people signed up to speak. However, as the monotony continued some just left knowing it was an exercise in futility.

Another concern expressed by we unreasonable affected residents is the traffic gridlock that will be created and is already a problem, making it difficult for emergency vehicles.

Also surprising to me was that City Council members were advised by the city attorney not to talk to any of the people adjacent to or near the project. Apparently city manager hires the city attorney and city attorney approves City Council and City Council appoints Planning Commission. That puts we unenlightened taxpaying voters at the bottom of the political totem pole.

This seems illegal to me. But never fear, Wal-Mart is near to bail them out. It was a great charade, except we knew the ending before we arrived.

But it ain’t funny.

Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, October 09, 2007

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