GILROY
– Worried they have lost the ear of Gilroy’s City Council,
anti-Wal-Mart activists are turning to the people who elected the
business-friendly dais.
A group comprised of union leaders, concerned residents and two
City Council members
– Paul Correa and Charlie Morales – has drafted a petition
calling for a vote of the people on whether a Wal-Mart Supercenter
should be approved in Gilroy.
GILROY – Worried they have lost the ear of Gilroy’s City Council, anti-Wal-Mart activists are turning to the people who elected the business-friendly dais.
A group comprised of union leaders, concerned residents and two City Council members – Paul Correa and Charlie Morales – has drafted a petition calling for a vote of the people on whether a Wal-Mart Supercenter should be approved in Gilroy.
The group is meeting again tonight at an undisclosed Gilroy location. Members will discuss strategies for the fledgling petition drive ending March 15, when City Council is expected to approve plans for the 220,000-square-foot discount retail and grocery store. A member of the group will present City Council with the petition that night.
“Everyone knows there are quite a few people in Gilroy who are concerned about this. It’s not just union folks,” said Ron Lind, secretary/treasurer for the United Food & Commercial Workers union. “We’re trying to send a message to Council members.”
A Wal-Mart Supercenter in Gilroy would be the first of its kind in Northern California.
Meanwhile, rumors about a soon-to-be-filed lawsuit against the existing Gilroy Wal-Mart on Arroyo Circle swirled this week.
Former Wal-Mart employee Pam Robasciotti said she was approached by a lawyer seeking workers who did not receive bonus pay after the local discount store surpassed expected profit margins.
Robasciotti declined to give further details after meeting with the lawyer late last week.Wal-Mart spokesman Gus Witcomb said his company had no knowledge of any such lawsuit. He declined to speculate on what the employees and the lawyer allege.
As for the petition, the message anti-Wal-Mart activists have for City Council is threefold.
In addition to the request for a ballot initiative in November, the group wants City Council to commission a new economic impact study to determine the affect a Supercenter will have on existing local businesses and workers.
The group also wants City Council to disclose the full traffic impacts of the Wal-Mart Supercenter, especially for east Sixth Street – a residential street used by motorists headed toward retail stores on the east side of town.
“Getting the Council to start a referendum is a long and detailed process,” Lind said. “But maybe this will be a push for Council to at least reopen the public hearing.”
Lind called the effort, which he hopes will garner hundreds or thousands of signatures, “symbolic.”
The petition drive has its roots from a Feb. 17 City Council meeting. That night, Council held a public hearing – the formal term for the airing of citizen comments – on the Wal-Mart proposal to relocate to the Pacheco Pass Center east of U.S. 101.
Council voted then, 5-2, to delay approval of Wal-Mart Supercenter for at least another 30 days.
The month-long continuance was issued so a number of pending questions and concerns could be addressed, such as how rules against overnight RV parking would be enforced and whether Wal-Mart would be willing to give more to local charities.
However, the public hearing was closed for good.
Unconvinced their concerns would be addressed by the city, the group of unionites and Gilroyans met for the first time following the Feb. 17 meeting inside an undisclosed Gilroy home.
UFCW President Roger Rivera said former Councilwoman and Gilroy First! member Connie Rogers had a large role in drafting the petition and organizing the drive.
“This was Connie Rogers’ idea,” Rivera said. “I think it’s a good thing that people are organizing and making sure the voice of the people is heard.”
Rogers would not comment for this story. Rogers said she was not willing to be the spokesperson for the group, but one would be appointed at tonight’s meeting.
Gilroy First!, the local get-out-the-vote group that met with controversy before the November election when its union ties were exposed, is not behind the petition drive, the group’s spokeswoman said.
“This is not a Gilroy First! effort,” spokeswoman Rose Barry said.
Despite the many hoops Wal-Mart is being made to jump through, many Supercenter opponents believe approval of the controversial project is a certainty.
Three Council members were prepared to approve the project Feb. 17, meaning only one other Councilman needs to vote yes. And only Correa and Morales have tipped their hat toward at best a potential no vote.
“You know I don’t like Wal-Mart,” Correa said Wednesday. “I don’t think we’re fully aware of the traffic and economic impacts. I’m prepared to vote no if those things never get answered.”
Efforts to stop Wal-Mart Supercenters are going beyond the Gilroy area. On Tuesday, Contra Costa County will vote to ban super-sized retail stores from getting built in unincorporated parts of the county.
Lind said he has approached Santa Clara County supervisors regarding a similar ballot initiative for the future.
Supervisor Don Gage called that effort “a waste of time” Wednesday.
“I have never heard of any request to build that kind of project in the county’s unincorporated land,” Gage said. “We’ve got other fish to fry here. We’ve got a $200 million budget deficit and we’re going to worry about a Super Wal-Mart?”
