Why demonize Wal-Mart foes?
So Bakersfield finally has a Wal-Mart Superstore and the chief proponent of it needs to crow (Mark Salvaggio's Nov. 6 Community Voices article, "Newest Wal-Mart Superstore overcame bogus opposition"). I suppose I can understand that. I even understand him sending me a letter containing an ad for his perceived crown jewel.
What I do not understand is why the former Bakersfield city councilman feels the need to demonize the organization that helped make him a councilman in the first place. I also do not understand why he felt compelled to slant facts in such a disingenuous way. It seems that if you work for a union or are a member of one, some people believe you have no valid voice as an ordinary citizen of the community.
As an original member of the BCLC (Bakersfield Citizens for Local Control), let me explain how it got formed. About 40 people who were not connected met up at the first Bakersfield Planning Commission meeting in October 2002 to hear about or give statements against proposed shopping centers in their respective areas. Turns out they both contained Supercenters. The two groups got together and the BCLC was born. There was nothing bogus about it. Not everybody wanted a shopping center by the freeway or in their neighborhood. A park would have been preferable for Panama. But developers don't profit from parks.
I spoke for about an hour and a half that night about the problems with locating this shopping center on Panama and 99, specifically describing how there were fewer ingresses and egresses here than on White Lane, how the freeway exits were much closer to this center than they were on White Lane and how this was going to be a traffic nightmare for south Bakersfield. That was before anyone had proposed a Costco, Winco or Vallarta on Panama Lane. I spoke also about available city zoning at Hosking Road and South H along with Bear Mountain Boulevard and 99. But the developer and the councilman didn't want to build there.
The councilman referred to meeting with a UFCW rep on Christmas Eve. That meeting occurred because he refused to schedule any other time to meet with me. I'm sure he thought I would decline the only offer to meet he made. I did not.
His characterization of my concerns are lacking in substance. We talked about moving the center to another site or expanding where they were, traffic concerns, and about building a park there. In fact, he told me that the community was unwilling to pay for the park, because the city had no money and it would require a special fee zone. We even discussed the possibility of building the site without the Wal-Mart. They get what they want and the community doesn't have a traffic problem. That idea occurred to me because it became obvious the councilman was committed to the developer. I learned from another councilperson I met with. She was supporting this project because that same developer had promised to build a shopping center in her ward. Such is the problem with city government by ward. If you want a development in your ward, the rest are supposed to follow your lead. I also expressed my concern to him about Wal-Mart as a poverty employer who shuffles off employee health care costs to the taxpayer. We never talked about it being non-union. That is his interpretation of my opposition.
The councilman glossed over the fact that the BCLC opposition is the reason the city council got Wal-Mart and the developer to "give" them the "unusual development agreement conditions" and the vacant building procedure. None of us involved in the opposition see any reason to apologize for defending our values, jobs or trying to have influence on the development of our community. We take full responsibility for trying to get local government to do the right thing.
The sad part is that already there have been five accidents on Panama Lane adjacent to the site in 10 days. The police describe that as a cluster. Until the Supercenter opened, there were no such problems.
Soon, more of our tax money will be needed to compensate for traffic flow modification and a southbound freeway backup from Panama that now goes to the Toyota dealership along Highway 99, similar to one we once had on White Lane. Of course, you get an interchange named for you when you help secure tax money for your poor planning.
I wonder if anyone will take responsibility when the first unfortunate person dies because of the city's negligence.
They certainly take credit for helping establish a beachhead for Wal-Mart Superstores in Bakersfield, which should provide each of them a lifetime guarantee to be a Wal-Mart greeter.
Rick Crane was an original member of the Bakersfield Citizens for Local Control.
