TRACY, CA MAYOR SLAMS WAL-MART ATTORNEY

Editorial: We can supersize our expectations, starting now [Tracy Press (Calif.)]

With four hours of public comment at the City Council meeting last week, it would have been easy to miss the point a consultant made about aesthetics. At issue was the proposal for a Wal-Mart supercenter that would take Tracy’s existing 125,000-square-foot Wal-Mart and expand it to a 208,000-square-foot store, with 30,000 square feet for groceries.

Jim Watt, who represents a local shopping center that opposes the supercenter, asked the council to take a look at the “superior” architecture and design of the American Canyon Wal-Mart Supercenter, rather than settle for the stucco-and-brick façade of the existing Wal-Mart.

Near the end of the hearing, Wal-Mart attorney Miriam Montesinos tried to counter the consultant’s comment about the supercenter near Napa, one she described as a “gorgeous” store that made her proud.

“Tracy’s nothing like American Canyon,” she said, adamantly. “To point to another store in another community and say ‘You should do that’ goes completely contrary to Wal-Mart’s approach to design, which is to go to the community, drive around the community and try and pick up themes from other buildings that they see around the community.”

Mayor Brent Ives heard what both of them said and responded with a shake of the head to the Wal-Mart insult.

“If Wal-Mart hasn’t brought their top product to Tracy, then Wal-Mart needs to bring their top model to Tracy,” he said. “I’ve told every developer that’s come in here in the last five years — you bring us your best or you don’t bring it at all.”

And then he turned to city staff and told them not to let the comment slide.

With that, the council voted to put off until Aug. 5 the decision to approve the proposal for a Wal-Mart supercenter.

Good for Tracy. Raise the bar and keep it raised. And good for the mayor for not being asleep at the wheel.

We’re still concerned about a supercenter-land in our midst, with the subsequent traffic congestion and competitive economics of a big-box concentration.

But it’s clear we don’t have to settle for “average” in Tracy. We can supersize our expectations, starting now.

Posted by Joel Nezianya on Wednesday, July 09, 2008

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