SPEAKING OUT AGAINST WAL-MART IN TRACY, CA
Letter: Super Wal-Mart or super rip-off? [Tracy Press (Calif.)]
I stumbled into watching a City Council meeting on television and was reminded that Wal-Mart might still become a Super Wal-Mart.
I think the idea of this supercenter is a horrible idea. It might bring a few more jobs, but it could also bring a ton of headaches. With a WinCo opening just down the street and a Costco next door, do we really need another supercenter?
All retail is being pushed onto one side of town already, and it creates a lot of people in one area. Tracy needs to focus on the downtown area along with the Valpico Road and MacArthur Drive area to expand on the other side of town to spread out the crowds.
Not to mention that the Tracy Wal-Mart is messy already, and the idea of adding produce and other perishables is scary. I do not want to find a rotten apple shoved behind a Rambo DVD.
Small businesses will suffer, big business will suffer, and Wal-Mart will continue to grow with its expansion. Businesses in Tracy are already suffering, with two big retailers closing just across the street from Wal-Mart. Do we want to add to that just to make Wal-Mart bigger?
Let us pray Wal-Mart stays the same. If Wal-Mart grows, so will its already long lines and the list of stores closing in Tracy. Then you will catch yourself in line asking, “Is it worth it to wait in line for 30 minutes to save a few dollars on groceries?”
Posted by Joel Nezianya on Monday, July 21 | 0 comments | Permalink
WAL-MART BACK ON THE TABLE IN BARSTOW, CA
Government Report: Wal-Mart back before City Council [Desert Dispatch (Calif.)]
After continuing a vote to approve plans for a Wal-Mart Distribution Center to respond to concerns, the Barstow City Council take up the issue again on Monday.
The Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed 1-million-plus square foot distribution center, to be built along Lenwood Road north of Jasper Road and southeast of the High Desert Estates housing area. The distribution center is expected to bring about 500 new jobs to area during the first year of operation and between 800 and 900 jobs about two years later. Officials with Wal-Mart said they would like to start construction as early as this fall and hopes to open the distribution center in 2009.
A vote on the project was expected at the council’s July 7 meeting; however a late letter received from the Briggs Law Corporation on behalf of Citizens for Responsible Equitable Environmental Development that raised concerns about the project and the accompanying environmental impact report caused the Council to delay the vote.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya on Monday, July 21 | 0 comments | Permalink
LODI, CA WAL-MART IN LIMBO
Chain’s interest in Lodi vague [The Record (Calif.)]
For some six years, the proposal to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Lodi has been a controversial saga that has invested many taxpayer resources, inspired a referendum and lawsuits, and elicited strong emotions from city leaders, merchants and residents.
Now, it is unclear whether Wal-Mart still is interested in the project.
City planners say they have no idea what the retailer has in store and have not heard from its representatives in at least a month. That comes as the discount chain has scaled back growth of its Supercenters and withdrawn plans in other California communities.
“We’re ready to move forward when they tell us,” said Peter Pirnejad, Lodi’s planning manager. “We’re just waiting.”
The project’s planners have not given any indication to Wal-Mart’s future in Lodi. A spokesman for the retailer, Aaron Rios, could not be reached for comment.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya on Thursday, July 17 | 0 comments | Permalink
MIXED FEELINGS OVER WAL-MART IN VENTURA, CA
Don’t fear the chain [Ventura County Reporter (Calif.)]
“To chain or not to chain” — that is the question.
In a year when a Starbucks latte or gallon of gas can set one back a whopping $4, the boycott of all things franchised — and the subsequent shift to supporting independent retailers — is slowly becoming the trendy thing to do in America, circa 2008.
Venturans are soon to make some similar choices as the city’s downtown commercial district finds itself in a corporate versus independently-owned market often viewed as a critical component in defining a community’s character, tastes and preferences toward growth.
In the works, a Fresh and Easy market will be calling the corner of Thompson and Seaward avenues home, bringing its smaller, Trader Joe’s-scale personality to Midtown. And clothing manufacturer American Apparel, known for its progressive policies toward immigration and labor almost as much as its CEO’s track record of sexual harassment charges, looks forward to “vertically integrating” a location on East Main Street.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya on Thursday, July 17 | 0 comments | Permalink
JUDGE GIVES RECALL DRIVE THE GREEN LIGHT IN SUISUN, CA
Backers of a movement to recall Suisun CITY Mayor Pete Sanchez and two council members will be allowed to collect petition signatures at two locations of the Heritage Shopping Center, a Solano County Superior Court judge ruled today.
Mark Merin, attorney for the recall group Save Our Suisun, said Judge Paul Beeman agreed the shopping center is a quasi-public forum for the expression of free speech and ruled the petitioners can collect signatures in the monument area of the mall and at the Ace Hardware store.
“Both sides will agree to a stipulated order,” Merin said. Save Our Suisun is still appealing the judge’s earlier decision prohibiting the petitioners from collecting signatures in front of the Raley’s supermarket, Merin said.
Merin called the judge’s ruling “a limited victory” because the judge recognized the shopping center as a quasi-public forum. Petitioners, however, will not be able to freely roam through the shopping center gathering petitions, Merin said.
Petitioners will be able to collect signatures at the two locations six hours a day, six days a week, Merin said. Another hearing on the issue is scheduled for Aug. 1, Merin said.
Linda Ward, the attorney for the shopping center was not immediately available for comment.
The Heritage Shopping Center’s owner asked the court for a temporary restraining order prohibiting the group from gathering the signatures on private property.
The Save Our Suisun group wants to recall Sanchez and council members Jane Day and Michael Hudson.
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Posted by Tony Calero on Wednesday, July 16 | 0 comments | Permalink
MEDFORD, OR PUSHES BACK ZONING DECISION
Comment period on Medford Wal-Mart extended [Mail Tribune (Oregon)]
A decision on a proposed zoning change required for Wal-Mart to build a supercenter at the former Miles Field in Medford has been delayed after the Planning Commission granted more time for a citizens group to comment on the plan.
The local chapter of Citizens for Responsible Development asserts that a zoning change for less than a quarter of an acre on the 19-acre Wal-Mart property at 1360 Center Drive would require a traffic analysis under city code.
“Within eyesight is Stewart Meadows Village planned across the street on Highway 99,” said Bruce Bauer, president of the Medford Citizens for Responsible Development. “That’s a zone change, and the city required a traffic analysis and not Wal-Mart. We are wondering why.”
Wal-Mart argues previous traffic studies are sufficient because the new design for the store reduces the footprint of initial plans from 206,500 to 176,500 square feet, theoretically reducing traffic destined for the store.
City staff members said they recommended approval of the zoning change without a new traffic analysis because city code requires a study only when the change involves generating more than 250 vehicle trips a day.
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Posted by Tony Calero on Wednesday, July 16 | 0 comments | Permalink
Suisun City, CA. Anti-Wal-Mart Effort Turns Into Civil Rights Recall Lawsuit
A free market battle over a Wal-Mart supercenter has turned into a free speech battle instead. On November 11, 2007 Sprawl-Busters wrote that the Solano County, California Airport Land Use Commission had ruled that a proposed Wal-Mart supercenter along the flight path of Travis Air Force Base would pose a safety threat to shoppers. By a 5-2 vote, the commission decided that the 230,000 s.f. Wal-Mart, with gas station, was “inconsistent” with the Travis AFB Land Use Compatibility Plan for “safety” reasons. Commission chair John Foster said the county’s assertion that the Wal-Mart project would be within the safety limits allowed by the air base plan was wrong, and said the “risk” to residents was too great to approve the project inside the air base’s “safety buffer zone.”
But roughly three months later, on February 12, 2008, Wal-Mart got another chance to fly. In a unanimous decision, the Suisun City Council voted to overturn the Solano Airport Land Use Commission, and approve the Wal-Mart Supercenter. That controversial vote clearly was worked out before the meeting, because on the Council’s agenda was Resolution 2008-13 to override the Airport Commission. Because of concerns about Wal-Mart building stores, and then leaving them, the Council got Wal-Mart to agree to pay the city at least $300,000 to cover the costs of demolishing the building, although the city might find other uses for the structure. The demolition agreement says that if the store closes and goes dark for 36 months, Wal-Mart will demolish the building or give the city payment for demolishing it. “That agreement is designed to ease fears about future blight,” a city official noted. Opponents of the plan, the Suisun Alliance, told the media right after the City Council vote that they were considering litigation against the City Commission, and a recall effort against the five individual members of the Council, including the Mayor.
On March 31, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that the Suisun Alliance had followed through on their intentions, and had filed a lawsuit against Suisun City, charging that the city violated the California Environmental Quality Act when approving a Wal-Mart Supercenter. The case will be heard in Solano County Superior Court by Judge Paul Beeman. The Suisun Alliance, said the lawsuit is likely to take months before being heard. The suit claims the city ignored the CEQA in environmental documents and failed to address, evaluate and mitigate several impacts on the site. The Suisun Alliance says the project violates the Travis AFB Land Use Compatibility Plan, fails to consider a jet-fuel pipeline in the area, and fails to consider the potential for urban decay directly caused by two Wal-Mart stores in the area.
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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, July 15 | 0 comments | Permalink
REDLANDS, CA REMAINS UNITED AGAINST WAL-MART
‘Neighbors’ seek ballot initiative [Redlands Daily Facts (Calif.)]
The Good Neighbor Coalition is seeking to propose a ballot initiative to keep a Super Wal-Mart from being built in Redlands.
The coalition, which has tasked itself with keeping the Wal-Mart store from being built, spoke Wednesday about proposing a ballot initiative to limit the size of box stores like Wal-Mart. The concept is young - the coalition has not yet specified the size they’d like to see such stores limited to.
The coalition arranged a private meeting to be held on July 15 to decide the box-style store limit to be specified in the ballot initiative.
Coalition member Dorene Isenberg said the number would likely be between 90,000 and 100,000 square feet. The Super Wal-Mart planned for Redlands would be 232,000 square feet if it were built.
By trying to cut down on the size of big box stores like Wal-Mart, the coalition is trying to protect local businesses that would have to compete.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya on Monday, July 14 | 0 comments | Permalink
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