About
Alameda City Flag
Alameda is a charming island city and sometimes confused with the name of the county to which it belongs (Alameda!). Perhaps the city/county founders were so enamored of the name, they christened it twice (along the lines of New York, NY?) But I digress …
As a long time resident, I have watched the city evolve over the years in an attempt to keep pace with the ever changing times. Whilst change can be good, it has certainly not been easy for Alameda as witnessed by the passionate debates over growth vs. preservation. This blog will attempt to chronicle some facets about life in Alameda and perhaps this might help explain why there is no other place quite like it in the entire bay area.
I am at: alameda.blog@gmail.com
Alameda Musings 
November 29, 2006 at 10:56 am |
San Diego to ban Wal-Mart Supercenters
By ELLIOT SPAGAT, AP Business WriterWed Nov 29, 12:29 AM ET
The City Council here voted late Tuesday to ban certain giant retail stores, dealing a blow to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s potential to expand in the nation’s eighth-largest city.
The measure, approved on a 5-3 vote, prohibits stores of more than 90,000 square feet that use 10 percent of space to sell groceries and other merchandise that is not subject to sales tax. It takes aim at Wal-Mart Supercenter stores, which average 185,000 square feet and sell groceries.
Mayor Jerry Sanders will veto the ban if the Council reaffirms it on a second vote, which will likely happen in January, said mayoral spokesman Fred Sainz. The Council can override his veto with five votes.
“What the Council did tonight was social engineering, not good public policy,” Sainz said.
Supporters of the ban argued that Wal-Mart puts smaller competitors out of business, pays workers poorly, and contributes to traffic congestion and pollution. Opponents said the mega-retailer provides jobs and low prices and that a ban would limit consumer choice.
“Quite simply, I do not think it is the role of the San Diego City Council to dictate where families should buy their groceries,” said Councilman Kevin Faulconer, who opposed the ban.
Councilman Tony Young, who joined the 5-3 majority, countered, “I have a vision for San Diego and that vision is about walkable, livable communities, not big, mega-structures that inhibit people’s lives.”
Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin McCall said the Bentonville, Ark.-based company may consider a legal challenge or voter referendum if the measure becomes law.
“Certainly we’re disappointed but there’s still a number of steps left in this process,” he said. “We need to look at what our options are.”
The ban is modeled on a law in Turlock, a city of 70,000 people 85 miles southeast of San Francisco. Turlock prohibited big-box stores over 100,000 square feet that devote at least 5 percent of their space to groceries.
Wal-Mart recently dropped its challenge to the Turlock ordinance, which prevented it from building a planned 225,000-square-foot Supercenter store. In July, a federal judge in Fresno said Turlock’s zoning law did not infringe on the company’s constitutional rights. The state Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
Wal-Mart has about 2,000 Supercenter stores, including 21 in California, but none in the San Diego area. The retailer has 18 regular Wal-Mart stores in the San Diego area, including four within limits of the city of 1.3 million people.
Wal-Mart has not disclosed plans for a Supercenter store in San Diego area. Sainz, the mayoral spokesman, said the retailer probably wants to expand.
“It’s complete and total guesswork but I’m inclined they would,” Sainz said. “Everything I’ve seen and heard from them makes me think they would.”
San Diego’s move comes two months after the Chicago City Council failed to override Mayor Richard Daley’s veto of a so-called “living-wage” ordinance that would have required giant retailers to pay their workers higher wages.
November 29, 2006 at 2:35 pm |
Gerry, I suggest that if you are going to post newspaper articles in comments, you should please explain the point you are trying to make by citing the article. Just posting an entire article without comment usually doesn’t add much to a discussion.
I assume that the article is meant to be a comment on the proposal for a Target store at The Shopping Center Formerly Known as South Shore. However, all of the anti-“big-box” actions mentioned in the article are aimed at so-called supercenter stores that sell groceries in addition to general merchandise. Does it matter that the Alameda Target proposal does not include a grocery department?
Because all of this is completely off-topic for the “About” page, I suggest that any further comments on Target should be added to the existing “Alameda Towne Centre Update” post.
March 4, 2008 at 6:31 am |
🙂
May 5, 2011 at 12:51 pm |
A little digging would have brought some questions to us about (former) city manager Ann Marie Gallant. How do these city manager people who make a quarter million dollars get hired without back ground checks?