A [referendum] is being circulated in opposition to the City Council decision to approve a Development Agreement with Wal-Mart. If we can collect signatures from 10% of the registered voters in Rosemead, the Wal-Mart issue will be put to the vote of the people in a future election.
Today, there's acrimony between many Rosemead residents and the Rosemead City Council. This [referendum] is an opportunity to put the issue to rest. Let the people decide.
We need help from everyone interested in a democratic reappraisal of the City Council's decision. If you would like to help gather signatures, contact the petition group (in order of current availability): Susan Young, at 573-0465; David Stewart, at 573-4247.
If you want to sign the petition, drop by the meeting on Thursday night, or look at the calendar for special events (there will be few of these).
Deadline
When's the deadline to sign?
Will you be tabling somewhere this weekend perhaps?
Inquiring minds want to know!
Info
The nominal deadline is the 12th, but our goal is to complete our work by the 7th.
If you would like to help out with store petitioning, call me at 626-288-8016. I will stand with you at a store. Right now, all our enegry is in precinct walking, because it produces the most reliable signatures.
Meeting Place?
I'm trying to find out where the Amber Wood Public Room is... And I mean address and cross streets, not "in the middle of the complex." The information is hard to find on this website.
Regarding the letter about paid signature gatherers
My friend told me Rosemead PRIDE is sending out mailings saying that the people collecting signatures are paid by a union. This is a bald-faced lie. The people collecting signatures are all registered voters in Rosemead volunteering. We've been very specific about this, and you can ask any gatherer. We can legally use paid gatherers, but we have not.
By the way, we'll be at the St. Anthony's carnival to gather signatures. Thanks to everyone there.
Unfortunately, a lot of people have not responded to requests for help. Perhaps it's because PRIDE is sending out these lies, making it look like we're being funded by another organization (while, at the same time, not revealing that the PRIDE group probably gets Wal-Mart money for those mass mailings, and that the Chamber of Commerce is partly funded by the City of Rosemead). We are not.
When PRIDE was collecting their signatures, were they paid gatherers? I don't know the answer. Ask them.
As for union help - we have gotten concrete support from them. They paid to print one batch of signs, and they have paid for the photocopying of these petition forms we're using, because they're pretty thick. They are helping out, but the residents have paid out a lot more money for signs, photocopies, mailings, and stamps, not to mention hundreds of hours of volunteer time. I'm sure some people are wearing out their shoes, walking from door to door.
The unions are upset about Wal-Mart, for many reasons, if they want to get involved, okay. There are a lot of union members in Rosemead, and they have every right to get involved. Likewise, local businesses have a right to get involved. The same goes for the various representatives and people who want to run for office. Some people don't like their labor standards overseas, in places like Honduras. Some people even have issues with the City Council, beyond this issue.
There are no laws saying that only specific people can be upset about Wal-Mart, in a specific way.
The "sit down and shut up, everything is fine" attitude has no place in society. We're all adults, and have freedom to have a say in our own lives.
Likewise, there's no rule that says we have to be happy with how the City Council makes its decisions. The law says if voters are not satisfied with a decision, a referendum can be demanded by petition. That's all that's happening. Someone said this is only the second referendum in Rosemead in thirty years -- if this is true, it tells you how important this issue is to people.