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Wal-Mart initiative signatures submitted
Issue would go on November 2009 ballot; store could open before then
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More from Local NewsVentura voters will likely decide whether Wal-Mart should be allowed in town — if the world's largest retailer doesn't open shop before voters get a chance to weigh in.
The Stop Wal-Mart Ventura Coalition on Thursday submitted nearly 13,000 signatures supporting the addition of an initiative to the ballot aimed at blocking Wal-Mart or any large grocery store from opening within city boundaries.
The group needs 5,936 valid signatures, or 10 percent of registered voters, to earn a spot on the November 2009 ballot. The county Elections Division has 30 working days to verify the signatures.
A more costly special election will be required if roughly 8,900 signatures are found valid, but the coalition doesn't believe it has that many, because people who sign petitions often are not registered to vote or don't live within city limits.
The initiative would ban any new store larger than 90,000 square feet that sells groceries. Big grocers also could face special conditions if they want to move into an existing vacant store. The measure also forbids "piece-mealing" — moving into an existing store and then expanding.
"The sheer number of signatures should make it clear to the city and to Wal-Mart itself that Venturans don't want Wal-Mart here," said coalition member Nan Waltman, chairwoman of the citizens group Livable Ventura.
Wal-Mart controls the shuttered Kmart store on Victoria Avenue, and coalition members say it's likely the retailer will make a move before voters have their say at the ballot box.
They say the city could go a long way toward preserving voters' rights by requiring Wal-Mart to abide by the initiative if it tries to open before November 2009 and the measure later passes.
"We call on the City Council to formally clarify to the company that they will be held to this new law, if the people of Ventura pass it," said Das Williams, a legislative analyst for the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy.
Wal-Mart would have to get city approval to demolish the Kmart store and rebuild, the company's preference. But it would be virtually impossible to stop Wal-Mart from moving into the Kmart store if the retailer chooses not to make major physical changes to the building, said Nelson Hernandez, Ventura's development director.
Wal-Mart has not formally applied to do anything with the store but outlined plans for a 150,000-square-foot grocery store in meetings with city officials last year. Since then, "we haven't heard a peep from them," Hernandez said.
Wal-Mart, however, recently mailed letters to Ventura residents seeking input on the possibility of a Wal-Mart Supercenter at the Kmart location.
Aaron Rios, a Wal-Mart spokesman whose name was on the letters, could not be reached for comment.
The initiative's authors cast Wal-Mart as a "behemoth" with "predatory practices" and worry that it would hurt local businesses, add low-wage jobs in a community without affordable housing, worsen traffic and alter Ventura's reputation as a quaint beach town.
Critics of the measure blocking Wal-Mart point to the potential windfall of sales tax revenue from a Wal-Mart store and the potential chilling effect the initiative could have on attracting other businesses. The company's three other stores in the county — a Wal-Mart and Sam's Club in Oxnard and a Wal-Mart in Simi Valley — had more than 4 million visitors last year and generated $1.8 million in sales tax revenues for those communities.
The initiative specifically targets large grocery stores but not all big-box outlets. It would not ban a large electronics store like Fry's or Best Buy, or a department store.
The coalition supporting the measure includes the Tri-Counties Labor Foundation, United Food and Commercial Workers union, Stop Ventura Wal-Mart Coalition, Livable Ventura and the Ventura County Working People's Alliance.
Posted by huntram on August 8, 2008 at 6:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"The sheer number of signatures should make it clear to the city and to Wal-Mart itself that Venturans don't want Wal-Mart here,"
So what are they afraid of? It seems that it would be great if the store opened. Since Venturans don't want Wal-Mart here, it will just be a matter of months and the store will close for lack of business, disgraced, never to show their faces in Ventura again! :)
Bottom line, if Venturan's want it, it will prosper, if not, it will fold.
BTW, nobody asked me whether I want it here. I do! The Oxnard store is horrible, but Wal-Mart in other towns are usually nice.
Common Sense!
Posted by sutamaba on August 8, 2008 at 7:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Bring Walmart in. I hate having to drive to Simi for a decent Walmart. If they build it...they will come. In droves. People love Walmart!
Posted by vc1977 on August 8, 2008 at 8:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Bring Wal-Mart in and we can have some decent food prices and more jobs in Ventura!
Posted by harlan on August 8, 2008 at 8:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We don't really have a choice with regard to WalMart. These deals are ultimately made in Washington, D.C, not local ballot boxes. WalMart is our "secret weapon" to get us out from under the enormous debt we've incurred with China, and we're all Washington's soldiers. Go forth and buy at WalMart and keep our loan shark, China, from breaking our legs. (And don't think it couldn't happen. If we haven't been able to attain a decisive victory over a handful of Iraquis and Afghanis during the past 6 years, what are we going to do if a highly militarized nation of 2 billion people come after us on our own soil? Start WWIII in order to default on our debt? We should probably all just start learning Chinese, anyway.)
Posted by stik_figure on August 8, 2008 at 8:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
In 2003 Fast Company published an article titled "The Wal-Mart You Don't Know". Whether you are pro or anti Wal-Mart, it is an eye opening read on the worlds largest retailer.
Posted by Jacksprat on August 8, 2008 at 10:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The old story it will result in big amount of sales tax. However this is the same bull that the developers keep saying. However they don't tell you that the people who will be shopping there are the ones who are now shopping at the local stores. So what you do is move the sales tax from one location to another. But then the other problem is that all of the smaller business will loose and go out of business and then more jobs lost. Of course they same Wal-mart brings in job, part time, minimum wage, no benefits while the other place tried to do right by their employees. Then all the profits from Wal-mart go out of the state, where as the local guy buys his stuff state wide and the profits are spent here. Wal-mart is one of the worst things we have let happen in this country. Going from good mom and pop stores to one with no service. Stop Wal-mart
Posted by MissGreen on August 8, 2008 at 10:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
harlan: Whether Wal-Mart is around to help us pay our debt to China or not, there is one not 5 miles from the location they want to build this new one.
There is ABSOLUTLY NO NEED for one in Ventura!!! Why not Santa Paula, or Fillmore??
I live less then a mile from the old Kmart site and the traffic is already congested as it is, I can't even imagine what it would be like if Wal-Mart took over Ventura, too!
Posted by kkinrose on August 8, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
There's no doubt Wal-mart offers some great deals, but if you read the article referenced above in stik_figure's posting, you'd have to agree that there is a huge hidden cost to such bargains.
Since Wal-mart is the largest company in the world (it's bigger than Target, Sears, Kmart, J.C.Penny, Safeway, and Kroger combined) it can and does wield tremendous power; unfortunately without caring about the very real harm they cause to individuals and our communities.
Mahatma Gandhi came up with his own Seven Deadly Sins that he believed would destroy us. The third of these is "Commerce without Morality". To see how Wal-mart so aptly embodies this deadly sin please, especially if you love to shop at Wal-mart, check out this article and ask yourself if saving a fews cents is truly worth the cost.
Posted by poltergeist3 on August 8, 2008 at 8:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
omg...here goes ol'ventura again..waaa!! dont build a walmart.Instead lets build all these condos that nobody can afford or best yet let all the vacant buildings set empty for years to come.
Posted by vickyschiff on August 8, 2008 at 9:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Isn’t Das Williams a Santa Barbra council member? Why doesn’t Das just stick to making decisions for Santa Barbara – why is he trying to tell us where we can and cannot shop in Ventura?
Why do we need Mr. Williams and his small band of out of town union activists telling us where to we can spend our money? What’s next – going after other non-union grocery stores like Trader Joe’s?
I’m tired of spending time and money to travel all the way to Oxnard or Simi Valley to find affordable groceries. We need a place where we can save time and money – and Wal-Mart can be that store for us. What’s the harm of having Wal-Mart here for those who don’t like or want it? If you don’t like large grocery stores, just don’t shop there, it’s that simple.
Posted by mistral on August 8, 2008 at 10:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Please put a Wal-Mart in Ventura or Camarillo that way I don't have to visit that horrible one in Oxnard!!Go Vickyschiff!!!
Posted by HuenemeJen on August 9, 2008 at 6:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
A lot of studies show that wages for retail and grocery workers drop 1% to 1.5% for every Wal-Mart that opens within a county. That's all retail and grocery workers, not just Wal-Mart employees. Also, many local retail stores either close or fire some of their employees in order to keep up with Wal-Mart's low prices and ability to stay open 24 hours. Wal-Mart's low prices come at a very high price.
Posted by edlaceyesq on August 9, 2008 at 12:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wal-Mart wants to build a 150,000 sq ft Super Center on Victoria Avenue. This would be three times as large as the Ralph's accross the street and would unleash a tsunami of traffic in that part of the city.
Whenever this issue comes up, some folks argue that this Wal-Mart would bring badly needed sales tax dollars to the city.
The Wal-Mart promise of new sales tax money for Ventura is a myth.
With regard to non-taxable grocery items, which would be a large chunk of Wal-Mart sales, the city would not receive one cent of sales tax money, although decent paying jobs at Vons's, Ralph's, and Albertson's would be threatened. Replacing higher paying jobs with lower paying jobs is clearly not in Ventura's economic interest.
Additionally, one must remember that there are only a certain number of retail dollars available to be spent. Ventura has an abundance of retail stores, but is not a rapidly growing city. This means that money spent at a Ventura Wal-Mart is money that likely would have been spent at an existing retail store in Ventura. Essentially, Wal-Mart would be cannibalizing our existing businesses--not generating new sales tax revenue. This would be profitable for Wal-Mart, but would do nothing for Ventura.
Don't fall for the Wal-Mart sales tax myth. Ventura deserves better than Wal-Mart.
Posted by THX1138 on August 9, 2008 at 2:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't typically shop at WM, but if they do end up moving in I may re-consider if their food prices are lower. However I agree the Victoria site is not ideal.
Food prices have sky-rocketed and I doubt we'll see any price reduction with the recent downturn of fuel costs. I wouldn't be surprized if the big 3 food retailers work together on pricing - there's little if any competition!
Even TJ's is catching up with the larger retailers.
Posted by rugvendor on August 10, 2008 at 7:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I am all for Walmart and would welcome them with open wallet. The grocery policies and practices of the "regular," supermarkets have become outrageous! High prices, lack of shelf space for brands other than the stores own and "buy 2," pricing rip-offs have caused me to take my business elsewhere, not the low prices and mediocre service of Walmart. If supermarkets can't compete with Walmart, too bad for them. The public will benefit from the competitive pricing at Walmart. I have a second home in Nevada and shop at Walmart for groceries there and can hardly wait to see save in Ventura. Go Walmart, go; or rather come, Walmart, come to Ventura.
Posted by marketrealist on August 11, 2008 at 9:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If Walmart does come to Ventura, it better design a more environmentally less-sprawl oriented store. It should be at least two storys tall to reduce its footprint and have underground parking. In addition, they should pay for a bus line to service the store customers. They also need good landscaping for bicycling and walking options. Business as usual (like the Oxnard store) will NOT work here.
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