With Wal-Mart
’s proposal to build a Super-Center in Gilroy – selling a full
line of general merchandise, groceries, meat, drugs and produce –
southern Santa Clara County emerges as the front line in what will
be a long struggle between the retail giant and a coalition of
small business, community organizatio
ns, unions and environmentalists opposing the steady growth of
these 200,000 square-foot stores.
EDITOR:
With Wal-Mart’s proposal to build a Super-Center in Gilroy – selling a full line of general merchandise, groceries, meat, drugs and produce – southern Santa Clara County emerges as the front line in what will be a long struggle between the retail giant and a coalition of small business, community organizations, unions and environmentalists opposing the steady growth of these 200,000 square-foot stores.
If approved, this will be the first supercenter in Northern California.
The demonstrators will be asking the Gilroy City Planning Commission to take a closer look at the land use, economic, and environmental effects of this project.
In September 2001, the Planning Commission approved a generic retail project for the proposed site at the Pacheco Pass Center. An environmental review of that project, which did not envision a Wal-Mart Supercenter, found no significant impacts on land use, traffic or air quality.
The Wal-Mart Supercenter was only identified as the occupant in December 2002. Studies show that such operations can impact local economies and the environment far more seriously than ordinary retail stores. It is the position of the coalition sponsoring this demonstration that the City of Gilroy must order an economic and community impact study of the project before it takes any action, and must also publicly circulate a revised environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) examining the traffic and air quality impacts of this project – the first of its kind on the region.
This is a classic bait-and switch. A Wal-Mart Supercenter will have a major impact on traffic and air quality, as well as on Gilroy’s downtown businesses and the whole character of the South Valley community. The city needs to take a careful look at this, and not pretend that it’s just another Big Box. It’s not. We need to have full disclosure, full public review and a full discussion. The community has a right to know.
Roger Rivera,
President of Local 428,
United Food and Commercial Workers
