What an Election!

Accept Rosemead Wal-Mart for What It Is

Re "Wal-Mart Foes Claim Win in Rosemead," March 10: Regarding the proposed, though unwanted, Wal-Mart Supercenter in Rosemead: It is common for Wal-Mart ads to describe the store as "a good neighbor." What kind of "good neighbor" elbows its way into your community when the community has vociferously objected to its presence?

Rosemead still has the feeling of a peaceful little town. Its people understandably object to the imposition of a gargantuan, unadorned box surrounded by traffic, noise and litter. Take your neighborliness outside California, Wal-Mart. We respect the will of the people here.

Eileen Bigelow

Whittier

As a student, I can say that I do not understand the principles of business. However, as a teenager, I realize that we are biased against the things we cannot accept. Lately, the talk of the town regarding the construction of Wal-Mart has gotten to me. Sure, there may be many who disagree, but perhaps they have not come to realize that Wal-Mart will help Rosemead grow and prosper. It is an opportunity to give the unemployed jobs, to stop commuters from going to Wal-Mart in bordering cities.

If we have allowed Wal-Marts all over the world to be constructed, why won't we allow this one? Many families would love to have a place to work where they can make minimum wage. They are not as well off as others, but they would like to get there. Not everyone hates Wal-Mart. Nevertheless, it will be constructed, and we can do nothing about it. We shall just accept it for what it is: an opportunity.

Winnie Jaing

Rosemead

Winnie

Gee, Winnie, as a student, you say you don't understand the principles of business, but you obviously know enough to support your employers in this Wal-Mart ordeal (which you clearly do not understand).

Rosamiada

This comment is probably a little too late.

Anyways, in response to Winnie's comment, what I find disturbing is the fact that she states that families would love to work at Walmart and make minimum wage. In reality, families HAVE TO work at Walmart and make minimum wage because decent paying jobs are scarce especially at a time when Walmart forces it's manufactures to move overseas. This outsourcing has got to stop.

I've written gotten about five letters to the editor published in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Unfortunately, I sent one in a few days before the Winnie letter appeared. Figuring they would not publish another letter from me, I did not bother sending in a reply. But I did compose one. It is pasted below:

Written March 19, 2005
I think it’s great that you’re willing to publish letters from teenagers [March 14, letter from Winnie Jaing]. I’m all for encouraging political participation. I also think letters to the editor can serve an educational purpose. For Ms. Jaing, I suggest several lessons. First, the Wal-Mart is NOT a done deal. Laws such as the California Environmental Quality Act require the completion of detailed environmental impact statements before a project such as the proposed Wal-Mart can be built. If the study fails to note all significant impacts, or if it fails to note adequate mitigation for these impacts, the project can still be stopped. Of course this makes sense, because a poorly conducted environmental impact statement deprives the voters, the planning commission, and the city council of an adequate basis for determining whether the alleged benefits of this project will, in fact, outweigh the costs.
Second, I would note that the proposed location is poorly chosen, and an adequate environmental impact statement would have dramatized this. It is separated from residential areas by a narrow two-lane road. It is across the street from one elementary school, and about ½ mile from two other schools. There are currently no other retail activities occurring within ½ mile of the site, and the nearest significant retail development is a mile away.
Third, car access to the proposed development is poor. During rush hour, traffic already gridlocks at the nearby corners of Walnut Grove and San Gabriel Blvd. Cars trying to travel just the 150 yards or so from that corner to the Pomona Freeway may be trapped for several traffic light cycles.
During holiday shopping periods, traffic attempting to get from the Pomona freeway to the Montebello Town Center mall already backs up all the way down the ramps to the freeway. Add in the 14,000 daily trips that the Wal-Mart-sponsored EIS suggests this new development would generate [an estimate that many suggest is far too low], and traffic and pollution in the vicinity would become intolerable.
The current members of the city council refused to give the voters of Rosemead a straight up-or-down vote on the issue. One would hope that the results of the recent municipal election, in which the two opponents of the Wal-Mart gathered record numbers of votes and finished well ahead of the incumbents on the ballot, while a write-in candidate finished ahead of two city council incumbents that were on the ballot, would serve as a wake-up call.