Trevor Evans-Young, Hercules Mayor
City Hall
111 Civic Drive
Hercules, CA 94547
Dear Mayor Evans-Young:
I was very pleased to read that you and the citizens of your town have been able to keep Wal-Mart from plopping one of their behemoths down in your town. Good work! I hope this will set a precedent for other communities, although efforts to thwart big-box development are all too often unsuccessful. In Chicago they are taking a different tack in a similar sort of battle, trying to make it a law that large retailers offer a “living wage.”
A couple of the quotes in one news story about your efforts were unbelievable. A Wal-Mart attorney said: “Today it may be Wal-Mart but the question is where does it end.” Indeed, “where does it end” is the very question asked of Wal-Mart as their empire infiltrates every community! One of your longtime residents who did in fact want a Wal-Mart made the misguided statement about the business: “I know I can go there and get a fair price for a good product.” I’m not certain which usage of the word “fair” she intended, but it reads as if she means the fair that we use in describing something that’s just, as in “fair play.” While Wal-Mart is jumping on the organic product bandwagon, I think it may be a while before we see a “fair-trade” label on their merchandise. Someone is losing out, and most likely everyone is losing out except for Wal-Mart executives and stockholders.
Thank you for setting such a wonderful example!
Truly,
Liz Mann
