One Step Closer to Wal-Mart

My column this week is on the proposed Wal-Mart supercenter in Fairfield. The city is coming closer and closer to approving the project, which I think is vital to Fairfield.

I've had a couple people ask me if I was affiliated with Wal-Mart in any way because of the columns I've written supporting a Wal-Mart at the Mission Village site. The implication is that I couldn't possibly have come to the conclusion that a Wal-Mart supercenter would be good for Fairfield on my own. I must be on the take.

Well, no. I have no connection to Wal-Mart. In fact, I've had my difficulties with them and boycotted the Chadbourne store for six months and encouraged my friends to do so after an incident where I felt I was treated unfairly. So, it's not as though I love Wal-Mart.

I've seen Robert Greenwald's documentary, The High Cost of Low Price. I've visited anti-Wal-Mart websites. But Fairfield passing on a supercenter is not going to hurt Wal-Mart. But it will harm us.

For me, it's a cost-benefit analysis. Sure, Wal-Mart will hurt other businesses. It will probably put an underperforming K-Mart store out of business. It will increase traffic on that end of town.

On the other hand, it brings tax revenue. It brings jobs to Fairfield. And contrary to what many think, they're not minimum wage jobs. It brings more one stop shopping to Fairfield that will actually decrease traffic in other parts of town because Fairfielders won't have to drive to several locations. (This is part of the bad news to other retailers but America is about business competition. You either buy into the capitalist system or you don't.) It will bring low grocery prices and that's important for people struggling to make ends meet. It will clean up a major eyesore that has sat dormant for years.

You add the fact that if Fairfield passes on the Wal-Mart, that we're actually going to lose money to Suisun, and it becomes a no brainer.

I know many lament the big box hell that suburbia has become. Every city seems to boast a Wal-Mart, multiple Starbucks, Best Buy, Barnes and Noble etc...I complain about how homogenous cities have become, too. But you know what? I still shop at all of those stores and chains.

While we may speak wistfully of the good ol' days, most of us have embraced the change. Not enough of us are willing to drive out of our way and pay more to support mom and pop stores. Is that regrettable? Yeah. But it's reality.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Matt Garcia

Image
Ten years ago, I woke up and turned on my laptop and went to the Daily Republic website and was devastated to learn of the shooting of Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia. I immediately called my brother Tony who answered and knew why I was calling. We shared our shock and horror. But mainly we just cried together on the phone. Later when Matt had been removed from life support and passed away I told Tony that it felt like hope itself had died. He told me, “Matt has inspired too many people to let hope die. But hope took a beating today.” It seemed like some horrible cosmic joke. Twenty-one year old Matt Garcia, elected to the Fairfield City Council on a platform of supporting youth and curbing violence is murdered on the streets of Fairfield. What's worse, his killer mistook him for someone else. It was a pointless act of evil in which a worthless example of a human being took the life of a priceless one. In 2007 Matt invited me to lunch at Joe's Buffet to discuss...
Read more

What if we could enforce our own driving laws?

Image
Thursday, June 6, 2013 Let’s all enforce our own driving laws By Kelvin Wade From page A11 | June 06, 2013 | Leave Comment Vallejo resident Anthony Cardenas, 52, became a local hero after painting his own crosswalk near his home on Sonoma Boulevard at Illinois Street. Cardenas claims the busy street is dangerous for pedestrians, so he painted the crosswalk and earned himself an arrest for felony vandalism and trip to jail for his trouble. Mr. Cardenas makes me want to place my tongue firmly in cheek and take matters into my own hands to make things safer. Have you ever had idiots zoom down your street in complete disregard for kids in the neighborhood? I’d love to creep outside at 3 a.m. with some cement and make my own speed bumps. The next time the speedsters come flying down my street, they’d make a sunroof with their own heads when they hit my new speed bump. BAM! Problem solved. Last week, my friend Nedra Polk asked me to write about the condition of Clay Bank Road between Air B...
Read more

The reason I've ditched my earphones at night

Monday, August 26, 2013 FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA Accident convinces me to ditch my iPad By Kelvin Wade From page A7 | August 22, 2013 | 4 Comments I’ve been an insomniac for years. I used to embrace my insomnia by putting on a pot of coffee at night and doing some of my best writing while the stars were out. I wrote about having a sleep study a couple of months ago and one of the things the analyst told me is I have to stay off my iPad in bed. That hasn’t happened. But recently, my girlfriend Cathi stumbled upon a cure for my nightly iPad habit. So there I was in the middle of the night in bed with earphones in listening to an awesome version of Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Live and Let Die” while pummeling various victims in “Words with Friends” on my iPad when I heard a boom. I turned on a lamp and saw my Beagle, Theo, panting at the bedroom door. I thought he’d jumped against the door to get my attention. Lately, he’s had to go out a lot at night (a dog with the bladder of a mouse...
Read more