Fer cryin' out aloud...

Let Walmart take the space, provide stable employment and benefits, city taxes, and of course GROCERIES to the surrounding area and leave it be!

Honest to God the hatred for that company borders on insanity.

Dan

C'mon people leave it be! If you don't like Walmart then don't shop there you NIMBI's! Matt Sullivan say's we don"t need need another grocery store in town - what a hipocrate, they let that big Safeway move in down the street from Raley's. Don't you think that will hurt Raley's & all the small mom & pops stores? I didn't hear Sullivan's remarks about that move, did you??

Let the Wal Mart grocery store open!

Dan, I couldn't agree more. But, you wave some money in front of these union drones and watch them go nuts. They want a piece of the action with one of their organizations in place.

Here's the deal: Wal Mart is proposing using the space for the same purpose it was used before. Since the area is zoned and approved for a grocery operation, there's nothing to talk about.

These loosely organized contrarians would rather see a vacant building than a successful company that doesn't suit their utopian views. Just like the Occupy protestors, these elitists tilt at windmills with no solutions, just complaints. Any bets on violence and vandalism taking place once Wal Mart moves in? Spoiled brats.....

Way to go!!! I'm sure the majority of residents agree with you.

Right on Dan! I've already written the City Council and expressed that exact sentiment.

Walmart moves in and family grocers clsoe. Full time jobs go to part time jobs with no benefits. Walmart is disgusting.

As a Meadows resident, I used to have my boy hop on his bike to get me something in a moment. But the selfish, greedy, union thug mentality doens't want neighbors to have that right. This obsessive anti-american attitude makes me hate all unions....aren't there any decent individuals in the mob?

What? Which family stores were you thinking would 'clsoe' because of Wal Mart? Do you really think a family store pays benefits and offers perks that a larger company can provide? Whose full time job is going to part time? Don't work there if you don't want to...that's your right......but, stop with the nonsense that businesses will close or change for the worst because a company wants to put to use a vacant space.

Thank you Dan and the others saying just let Walmart move in for goodness sake! Enough already. My hatred of unions keeps going up the more I hear about this issue.

I do want to see a grocery store again in that spot but NOT Walmart. It will be boycotted by my family. Walmart sucks in every way, shape and form.

ODD, how this green council wants neighbors to START THEIR ENGINES for a grocery item, rather than allow a neighborhood market. Hyprocrites ! Bought and Owned by the unions ! What to do??? Side with green conservationists or union thugs ?

JR, please put down your iPad and get a grip. When you bought your Apple product, knowing that it was built in Chinese sweatshops, did it keep you up at night? How about your Nike shoes and sportswear?
Don't be a hypocrite...apply your righteous indignation equally. Why is an American success story like the Walton's family business so threatening to you people? Selective morals make you look like another bleeding heart liberal or a union goon. Which is it?

Let Walmart Grocery Open!

This is so ridicules. The real hold up for approval is being caused by UFCW Local 5 the union representing other grocery stores in the area including Safeway. I work at Safeway (why I sometimes wonder)and just the other day we had a local union rep in the store handing out fliers "encouraging" all of us to write Mayor Hosterman and the Pleasanton City Council and tell them how we all oppose the opening of the Walmart Grocery Store. Then they handed out little lapel buttons With Walmart Written on it and a big red line through it. Every time a Walmart opens and shows that it can be successful without the union behind it, it makes the unions just a little bit less powerful and right now, UFCW Local 5 is worried. I've seen first hand what the unions can do. Between them and Safeway corporate, they can take a fun enjoyable job of working at a grocery store, taking care of the citizens of Pleasanton, and really $%#@ things up.

So I say let Walmart in. And may they be successful and grow....without a union.

Interesting, how the point of topic is hijacked. The Pleasanton Weekly represented recently an article about "New Journalism" as its called, really isn't all that different from old journalism where editors insisted and readers expected truth and fairness in news reports. You can't expect that out of blogs..." the new topic doesn't express no Wal-Mart or union agenda. Certain bloggers do.

Right on Dan......Let Walmart open a grocery store where a grocery store used to be....what's the problem with that? Too simple for Matthew to figure out I suppose, as well as our World Traveling Mayor!

Pete,

The short answer is that the Council is setting itself up for a lawsuit because they are using the power of government to discriminate against Walmart (unlike regulating the type of business or function like serving alcohol or selling cigarettes) and the Council knows it. The City Attorney was asked to look into the matter because they're trying to discriminate legally. The facts will come out in the case that like businesses e.g. Fresh 'N' Easy, had no similar problem.

Council can't establish a policy or law that says only Walmart Neighborhood Markets gets their stuff reviewed by the public. The policy or law has to apply to everyone. It means that ANY grocery store trying to open in a location where a previous grocery store operated gets to be aired out at public hearings, essentially raising the costs to open that store. Yay, let's scare MORE business away. Good luck with having New Leaf open at Vintage Hills. Beneficial for Safeway Corporate, I suppose. Not so much for the rest of Pleasanton.

Walmart is opening in San Ramon too. HomeGoods is taking the former Borders space in San Ramon. Taking another vacant grocery store off the market is good for sales tax revenue. The grocery store will let residents decide where to shop. If you don't like a grocery store, don't shop there. The merchants at the vacant Nob Hill have suffered without a grocery store. Let your feet do the shopping. What "mom & pop" grocery stores do we have in Pleasanton? Is Gene's a "mom & pop"? 7-11 in this category? Who is Walmart hurting? Safeway? The prices & quality will dictate where I shop. Smart & Final is a great store.

Good posts, Stacey. To take our city leaders mindset a step further, you can predict other onerous attempts at discouraging businesses in the same manner as San Francisco.
For example, what's to stop them from instituting failed policies such as:
-A requirement for a 'living wage' (which is a circular argument since the costs of goods and services goes up as a result, leading to need for still higher wages, etc.)
-or a requirement for employers with more than 5 employees to provide healthcare and free daycare, transportation, 4 weeks PTO annually, etc.
Makes you wonder if there's a limit to their arrogance or ignorance....good thing there's term limits.

Steve,

No one has been proposing those policies so I don't see how they are relevant here. I think it is important for readers to understand that the Council bending over backwards just because its Walmart who submitted an application can have unintended consequences such as making it difficult for New Leaf to open (because any policy has to apply equally).

Stacey, thanks for your opinions. Have no rebuttal to your opinions... reading the minds of our elected representatives and staff is a gift, I applaud you. I don't have an alternative to that gift. When you have read the PUD and can comment, a reply would be forthcoming. Thanks, respectfully.

Stacey, it's relevant because making new policy is one way for council memebers to discourage employers like Wal Mart from setting up shop in town. I thought that was pretty obvious---of course, those policies don't exist now, but the council could drag them out because WalMart would be their ultimate target. Depending on how it's structured, it may or may not apply to other retailers.

I agree with Steve. It's like when we gave George Soros carte blanche in America after he destroyed the British pound. No telling what will happen in the future, but if unions are involved trust me when I tell you it'll be really bad.

Pete,

There's no point to reading the PUD because the application for an operating permit doesn't have any changes from past use.

Remember, from Jeb Bing's editorial?
"The city code allows businesses to sell their operation to others without public review if the new business is much like the old one. Many restaurants and downtown businesses do this on a regular basis."

It would be a nightmare to hold a public hearing every time a new restaurant wants to replace a restaurant that went out of business.

Even worse, requiring a public review if a business closed and wanted to reopen again months later: think Domus.

Trader Joe's is owned by a large German company, Fresh & Easy by a humongous British Company, yet these companies got permits to expand their store (Trader Joe's) or build a new store in an empty space (Fresh & Easy). What is so special about those companies that make our city council love them? Yet we have an American company, Walmart, that the city council wants to block. So, if they are successful in blocking Walmart, I guess we will have to drive over to Dublin where there is a friendly government/business relationship and do our shopping there.

Our laws allow businesses to "come in under the radar" because it isn't government's place to be deciding the market.

If the like business use of that location is viable, a company will apply for an operating permit there. No company has so far deemed the old Vintage Hills grocery store location as viable for that kind of business. The worst we can do is let the old Nob Hill location sit vacant for as long as Vintage Hills because government is trying to dictate its business use.

Is that the argument? My word... the truth be told by a newspaper. Talk later, thanks for feedback...really, appreciated.

I am the property manager of Meadow Plaza Shopping Center and a resident of Pleasanton. Since Nob Hill Foods closed in 2010 our center has been without an anchor tenant. We have worked hard to find a business to locate in the vacant building. We are very pleased that Walmart Neighborhood Grocery has stepped up.

Unfortunately, other chain grocery stores are now trying to organizing people to oppose the project at tomorrow night's City Council hearing because they don't want a new store in town (not even one that is replacing the former Nob Hill Market and is the same size). If you support the Walmart Neighborhood Grocery store coming to the center, please come to the meeting at 7pm at City Hall. There will be an opportunity for public comment at the beginning of the meeting.

If you have any questions about the project, you can contact Walmart directly at: 925.210.9107 or PleasantonWalmartMarket@gmail.com

Tom Foley
Property Manager & Resident of the Community

If it's strictly about Walmart not being union, why do the majority of us shop Costco? I see a real double standard in thought process. Oh it is so "in" to hate WalMar!! They are not phased by individual boycotting. Welcome to the neighborhood WalMart!

Yes, council is trying to find a 'discrimination' loophole.
Folks, stop referring to it as 'WalMart', which it is NOT !!
It's a grocery replacing a grocery. It's just too simple for these
radical, biased, political activists to justify discrimination....but they keep trying !

I drive from Pleasanton to center Dublin to shop at Sprouts, along the way make other stops in Dublin, but only because I'm going to Sprouts.. Recently, I find I pretty much just go to Safeway for my banking. Local shopping is Trader Joes and Fresh & Easy (between Sprouts trips. I would prefer stopping on Santa Rita and not go to Dublin. But, if the City doesn't want my money, OK. I'll keep driving to Dublin, and on the way I get my gas at Dublin Safeway...as long as I'm driving by there. Otherwise,I would get gas from my 2 choices on Stanley. But doing a day of Dublin errands is ok. I didn't do that before Sprouts...I can do either. Pleasanton's rich with tax dollars, doesn't need mine !

It was a grocery store before and it will be a grocery store again. More tax revenue and competitive pricing to Pleasanton = good. Unused retail space = bad.

The city of Pleasanton is worse than all the corporate BS I've had to deal with in my professional life. Forget Jersey Shore - we have our own reality show going on here.

Here are the two issues most important to our screaming local conservatives/Tea Party Members: (1) Defunding our public schools (while bashing teachers (2) Making sure Pleasanton gets a second Walmart. Let us remember that loud noises and incessant posting on the PW forum from local conservatives are the last cries of a dying breed. They are already the minority in Ptown (just look at voter registration).

See you at the new grocery store, sal. To address your claim about voter registration in town, I'll be out in front registering people to vote, but not in the same way that ACORN does-----I'll do it legally.
By the way, if you don't like counterpoints being posted to your leftist nonsense, stop reading them. Don't you have an occupy protest to go to or are you on the growing 'stay away' list?

Did anyone ever consider that Safeway and the unions are in cahoots over this? Both have everything to gain from stopping Walmarts' encroachment.

Not saying this is happening but our political leaders could be playing both ends against the middle; and that middle is us.

Dan

"Let us remember that loud noises and incessant posting on the PW forum from local conservatives are the last cries of a dying breed."

Yeah, right Sal. Tell that to the 16,000 voters in Nevada who voted for Romney. White is right, and old is bold!

Let Wal Mart open. Stop being so selfish and quit dictating people's livelyhood. Let those, who want to work and shop there, have their constitutional right to do so. Those of you, who don't want to shop or work there, then don't, but please Do Not punish the rest of the Community!

Have any of you written to the city council with your views on this?
I did! I wrote expressing my support of Walmart opening their Neighborhood Market and my reasons why I wanted it to happen.
I was totally shocked to get an email (probably a standard reply) from none other than Mayor Hosterman.
Her reply...."thank you very much for your support for the Walmart Neighborhood Market, let us see what we can do"
What the heck does that mean? I know what they will do. Everything they can to stop it.
I absolutely believe Wilbur saying that as a Safeway employee they are 'encouraged' to do whatever they can to oppose this.
I really hope that this city CANNOT stop this. I will be grinning from ear to ear every time I shop there when it opens.
Those of you who oppose it, well, just shop elsewhere. It's your choice. Me, I choose to save money wherever I can. And shopping at Safeway is not my choice.
This whole Walmart vs the city of Pleasanton is totally stupid!

I wrote to the city council telling them I was in favor of the new market. And I included a link the postings here. Told them to read all the postings and see how people feel about it.
Somehow tho I bet they didn't read it nor do they give a rats behind what we think.
We need a whole new city council....off with their heads!

I agree with Maggie: "More tax revenue and competitive pricing to Pleasanton = good. Unused retail space = bad." I can't believe there is an argument about this.

Unforeseen consequences... have we learned anything? Sorry this blog has run its course. To Property Manager: somehow calling Wal-Mart in the past with concerns, has landed on deaf ears. To say you found Wal-Mart to occupy Meadow Plaza... I don't know what to say. This Community has been my mentor for decades... every neighborhood interrelates with each other. Full disclosure is paramount.

The worst thing to look at is a vacant store front.

We don't need to try to stop a business that wants to move into Pleasanton and provide a service to the immediate neighborhood.

Pleasanton residents do not need to stop every large business that wants to service our community.

If you as a Pleasanton resident do not want to shop at the store, you have the right not to do business with them.

They do a great job in many communities.

It is nothing short of irresponsibility that our politicians are succumbing to politics and money in their attempt to placate their corporate and union constituencies, and I say that as a conservative and pro-business advocate.

Walmart, or ANY company for that matter, represents a micro-boom for that space and surrounding community. Heck, if Safeway wanted to get into that space I would have supported that move too, even though they're right down the street and they're union. It's THAT important.

I find it odd that this city can approve a smoke shop and TWO message parlors downtown, all within ~200ft of each other, and yet go through this scrutiny with Walmart.

Something is REALLY wrong in city hall

Jennifer, I know you sometimes read and respond to the forum. Don't you think now would be a good time for you to give us your thoughts and explain your policy?

Dan

MASSAGE....not MESSAGE!

Gah!

Dan

I think we have enough good people in the community who don't care a whit about a company's unfair labor practices to shove this down the corrupt tyrannical union-backed city council's throat. Why should I care about the quality of life of Walmart's workers, its high food costs (long distance hauling), and its foreign practices (using subcontractors who use child labor at the end of the barrel of a machine gun)? WE NEED A WALMART, AND THAT'S ALL THERE IS TOO IT. I SAY SO. IT'S A VERY PROFITABLE COMPANY. WHO CAN ARGUE WITH THAT ACCEPT DOPES? Anyone who disagrees are sock puppets for the unions. PS I hope Walmart carries a lot of high lead-content toys in the aisles so that our kids can have something to gnaw on as we save pennies on the dollar for stale broccoli and half-rotten blueberries. (I [heart] StevaDan.) PPS Some Republicans say I'm too conservative. Was Thomas Jefferson too conservative? I'm tired of some people calling me wacky.

Hey Pete,

So you're the blog cop?

People are voicing opinions and on this blog it seems overwhelmingly clear: Walmart should be allowed to take over that space, politics be damned.

Dan

For me, this is probably the most important issue facing Pleasanton since the first Walmart went up. Like Dan, I'm totally nonplussed by the presence of two, not ONE but TWO, message parlors. And then a smoke shop. Compared to Walmart, these are soooooo immoral. We have a clear consensus here in the community, because Dan says so and, like Steve says, he's no dope. This is nothing short of irresponsibility. I'm a conservative, but I'm not biased. Heck, they could put up a antebellum slave plantation there and I'd support it. The city needs the tax revenue, and these city council members are nothing but sock puppets for the powerful union checkout girls at Safeway.

Pete, I'll leave it in your capable hands to research unintended consequences as a public policy problem.

The Pleasanton Weekly provides the forum... as minute as my contribution is to your way of life, to anyones way of life... public speaking, as you know, is difficult. To express your concerns to an elected official, often times ends in disappointment because they do not always provide any useful feedback that can guide me/us/whoever. Your right Stacey... I'll take your comment as constructive criticism. I intended, with this topic, to involve both sides of the issue... to understand. Whatever the outcome from Council, I said what was needed, for me and my family.

With all the concerns about WalMart being non-union, did you know that Pleasanton's Raley's is also a non-union store, with the exception of the Pharmacy & the Meat department?
The entire rest of the store, and all its "departments", are non-union.
Any one have a problem shopping at the non-union Raley's or any of the other non-union grocery stores in town, which are most of them ? So what's the problem with another non-union grocery store coming to town?
Raley's doesn't want WalMart, because of its low prices that may cut into its high prices and sales. Safeway, probably for the same reason.
The space that WalMart is taking over is about 33,000 sq.ft.--just about the right size for a "grocery department". Raley's is about 65,000-70,000 sq.ft.--the new Safeway is larger. One reason Nob Hill left was that the space was to small to be profitable as a full service grocery store--but it would make an excellent "grocery department" for a larger store, like the near by Walmart.
Raley's & Safeway just don't want the competition, because they will loose on price, and price is important to a lot of people in P'town.

Steve from Bridle Creek makes a lot of good points, especially about how the overwhelming majority of the community supports our Walmart. There's a few sock puppet dolts and drones and "geniuses" who are opposed, but they're all union shills and don't count. The really smart people are for Walmart. And if they know what's good for them they'll petition our corrupt politicians, even though it won't do any good because the terrorist unionized checkout gals at Safeway have them under their union-stamped thumb. The local pols don't dare move for fear of alienating all the union goon shelf stockers who work at Safeway. They're worse than Owebama who wants so badly to tear down the business community for the sake of political greed. Their massage is so about irresponsibility.

A legislative act is referendable so you can collect signatures. These include zoning changes or Planned Unit Developments (PUD) or Planned Unit Development major modifications. Referendums can rescind approvals if enough signatures are gathered.

The Nob Hill site is a PUD so if they change operating procedures like allow opening 24 hours per day or all night deliveries, this would require a PUD major modification to change the current site PUD specifications.

A Conditional Use Permit (CUP) is not referendable or reversible. This is what California Splash was. Design reviews are not referendable.

The Home Depot was both a PUD and CUP thus it was referendable.

Stacey, I do believe the proposed new ordinance would only affcet grocery of 20,000 sq ft or more. New Leaf's potential location is less than this so it would not be affected.

Fact Checker,

Thanks, but what proposed new ordinance are you referring to?

How about proposing an ordinance that requires the applicant to disclose who they are when they apply?

We have another verbal participant as irritating, childish, and irrelevant as cholo. However, more mocking in attempts to make a mockery of the issues... a sxxt disturber. Sharon Angle on this thread, Tilly Libertarian attempting to trash Libertarians regarding the neighborhood market. Posing as Mittens regarding ourpleasanton.org. All a new union tactic.
Tiresome.

I don't want to sound like a snob, but these are the facts:
1. Walmart is gross and it smells like poor.
2. Seriously. You would buy food from them? Ew.

Who is Hosterman? One day she is protesting wars, supporting occupy movements, going green, and many liberal agendaes. Then she is supporting housing that ruins our hometown feel and gives some people the right to buy houses at cut rates. No one ever said a person has a right to live anywhere they want without paying going rates. No one says companies that pay only part time with no benefits should be allowed to move in. It will affect other retailers and groceries and drive them out of business. That is what Walmart does. Any challenges to this is challenging impacts it has every time it moves in, it is a fact. It is not union Mentality.

When I looked at this post earlier there were 64 responses...now there are 60!!!!
Where did the other ones go and WHY were they removed???
This whole City vs Walmart thing is just one more proof that this city council only cares about what they want.
I hope it gets to go with their Neighborhood Market and it does well.
Hey michaelfox...you think Walmart is a bad place to buy food.
Ever seen maggots on the lettuce at Luckys?? I have and when I told the clerk she said oh just flick it off!!!!!!!!!!!

Walmart should be allowed.It is one grocery store replacing another at the same location. Unions stink and they are trying to block this.

They are replacing a grocery store with a grocery store without expanding the footprint. This is a positive for 99+% of Pleasanton's approximately 60,000 residents, and a possible negative for other grocery stores and a few hundred unionized workers. The political leaders of the city need to do what's right for the majority of the residents and not panhandle to Safeway or a few vocal unionized labor supporters.

Steve D wrote: "and a possible negative for other grocery stores"

The other local grocery stores were positively impacted with new business when Nob Hill closed. If I were them, I'd want to do what I could to retain that new business too.

If Safeway wasn't in the back pockets (literally) of the mayor and her team this would not even be an issue.
Be interesting at the city council meeting tonight. Of course none of them will even respond to any speaker comments.

The unions are tearing down our country. They killed the car industry and the steel industry. They're killing our teaching industry. They oppress us with 25-cent on the dollar mark-ups that we are forced to buy at union held hostage grocers. Don't be fooled by the check-out girls and shelf stockers at Safeway and Luckys. They are all union thugs who want to deny you your right to fight for another Walmart. They'll stop at nothing. FOUR postings have already been removed from this site, obviously because of union hacking. The unions are infiltrated with foreigner slime. Without the unions we could have been the strongest country in the world, instead of the Owebama weaklings that we are, always ready to kowtow to a unionized teacher. The more Walmarts the better. What's good for Walmart is good for everyone, and that includes its benefit-less workers who live under interstate overpasses. Think where they'd be WITHOUT Walmart??????

Jack,

They can't legally respond to speaker comments of stuff that isn't on the agenda.

'Unions are bad, really really bad' and 'Sharon Angle' are the same trolling poster. Is it desperation to preserve or increase the union's membership or just plain schizophrenia? Maybe Wal Mart should at least provide mental health services for our currently unemployed leftist trolls. That would be incentive to support Wal Mart.....get a job and recover what's left of your sanity.

This is a very simple issue.

A grocery store chain is willing to open a new store at a site another major chain failed at. Are they crazy or what? What makes them think they will be more successful than Nob Hill? Let's encourage them. Maybe they will force the other grocery stores to be more competitive. At least they will provide a geographical choice. Maybe no one will shop there and they will go out of business. So what. It's their money.

Who loses if the new non union grocery store moves in? #1 is the union #2 Possibly the local Safeway employess #3 Safeway.

Who wins? #1 Pleasanton residents will have more choices #2 Tax base should increase. Less residents going to Dublin to shop. #3 Jobs created by the new store. #4 Stores in the shopping center will do better. (Increased Tax base in Pleasanton).

Here is the simplicity:

If you are with the union and/or employed locally by Safeway, you should probably be in favor of keeping the non union competition out of Pleasanton.

If you are for more shopping choices in Pleasanton and want to welcome businesses into Pleasanton during these diffcult economic times, you should be in favor of the allowing the non union grocery chain store to compete in Pleasanton.

I am for capitalism. Allow the grocery store to move in and take their chances. I am not even sure I will be shopping there. But I would like to have the option.

Yes, avoid all left wing loonery and stupidity. They are all union sock puppets. Follow Steve and Roger and Stacey and the other sane posters on this discussion board and don't be schizophrenic. Who are the union leftist thugs who are taking down my posts? Walmart is freedom. Walmart is our destiny. Unions stink! They really really do. They're bad. Really bad. The best way to fight corrupt unionist socialism is to put up as many Walmarts are possible. Restore this country to greatness, at a reduced cost to the consumer, which is YOU!

I perfectly understand why Mayor of Pleasanton can have a hard time to let such a huge competitor of SafeWay as Walmart to open its' grocery store in Pleasanton.
What I cannot understand why a simple question whether or not to open a new grocery produces such a huge amount of arguing.
The only possible negative outcome of the opening of the store is that it will eventually go out of business and the space will become empty again. Everyone who cares about the welfare of Pleasanton more than about the welfare of Safeway will agree to give it a try.
I personally would prefer to have Whole Foods Market as a new grocery store in the town. But, I afraid that, if Whole Foods will decide to try, the No-More_Grocery_We_Have_Safeway war can get physical.

If the new WalMart opens, does that mean that Pleasanton will have another Homeless camp at nite set up in their Parking lot (similar to Rosewood)? Surrounding neighbors must be concerned about that!

Unions are bad,

I agree with you that those who wish to use the power of government to impose their ideologies (i.e., socialism) on others is a concern that I and many share with you. But calling everyone who is a member of a union a "thug" is uncalled for. First of all, a thug is a criminal who breaks the law. Just because there's a history of Mafia involvement in the private labor unions doesn't make all union members criminals. There's no laws against putting up a website to express a viewpoint on this issue. Nor is there any evidence of criminal activity by the opposition to the Walmart Neighborhood Market, whoever they may be. I, unlike you, won't jump to any conclusion about who is behind the anonymous ourpleasanton.org website because it could just as easily be a non-unionized employee of Safeway doing it. Safeway unionized employees don't get a chance to influence who runs Safeway and are subject to the same market forces as the employer so they have every valid reason to be concerned about any loss of business Walmart represents. In this case, their interests align with corporate interests. It is unfair to be painting them with a black brush.

Perhaps your posts are being taken down because your comments are way out of line.

Let's get real. That Homeless camp is something that the union shils and sock puppets have been staging for years now. I'm just afraid that the unions are going to start getting physical. I went into Luckys the other day to complain about maggots on their lettuce and the union check-out girl told me to just eat them or shut up. I could see the threat of violence in her jaded union-glazed eyes, and so I ate all of them. That's all I have to say. Time for me to buzz off now.

This is truly a "no brainer", Walmart is a very successful grocer, I have had the occaission to shop one of their super store groceries, I found FRESH produce, FRESH meats, and poultry, FRESH baked goods, very wide selection of the most sought after brands of sundry grocery goods, clean well lit envioronment and dare I say it? Very reasonable pricing. As to the lack of Unions? Nobody is forcing the good people that work at Walmart to apply, and accept such employment. The opposition to this store whine about attrocious working condidtions, no benefits, etc. Either Walmart employees are pathetic, drones, or they find some real benefit to being employed by
this company. Walmart doe offers benefits to long term employees, as well as profit sharing to all employees. I do believe that Safeway, as well as union bosses are driving the opposition. Oh, and some of our snobbish too good for you neighbors. Let them open, and succeed or fail based upon service, quality, and value.

If the grocery store does not expand its operations to 24 hours or allow overnight deliveries, it will be okay. There are neighbors directly behind the store right over the wall and current conditions on the land do not allow deliveries and loading after 9 or 10 at night. There are also neighbors directly to the left of the store across the arroyo.

But if the store does not expand its operations to what was allowed by Nob Hill, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about.

If they change operating hours, then of course, all hell will break loose.

Robert said, "What makes them think they will be more successful than Nob Hill?"
Simple.....LOWER PRICES!

The bottom line is that our society has become a big box society.Home Depot and LOWES destroy a lot of small businesses.Costco,Best Buy,Safeway,Sports Authority,etc.The bigger you are the cheaper you can buy your goods and the cheaper you can sell them and the less we all pay for our stuff.How many of you who are complaining buy your food and clothes at the mom and pops and pay 20 % more.Safeway does not want the competition and I do not blame them for not wanting WM but it is survival of the fittest.How many mom and pops has Safeway put out of business???

Um Stacey..."unions are really...bad" is a sock puppet and pulling your chain.

Don't feed him (Genius, Phil, Dr Gator...)

Dan

I was not able to attend tonight's city council meeting but am watching it on tv right now.
What a bunch of lame comments from some of the people opposing Walmart.
One lady just said that it will be to close to the school. And all the talk about how it will hurt Luckys and Raleys...well, then they better lower their prices and be more competitive.
It is SO obvious that Safeway is a major influence with this city council. It's ridiculous.

Have you noticed how the PW just deletes posts on this site they don't agree with? This seems especially so if somebody says something they don't like about our Hippy Mayor or her two companions in looniness on the City Council. Jeb, your Chicago heritage is showing -- if you don't like it, you just snuff it.

Sick and Tired...I pointed out earlier that there were, at the time 60 replys and earlier there had been 64.
I ask why they were removed but of course I did not get an answer!!

Indeed, it would be helpful if the PW wrote a note explaining why the post was removed. They usually do, but the method isn't foolproof since the removal message can be spoofed. It would still be better than nothing.

In case you geniuses haven't figured it out yet, the stinking unions have been hacking into this site and taking down all the Walmart-is-freedom posts. By my count, 4 of the 64 posts have already been taken down, and still counting. If you place an asterisk after your name when you log in under 'Name', you'll be less likely to be hacked by the union sock puppets. Protect yourself from the union thug hackers with an asterisk after your name. Indeed!

Can you believe the Lucky's corporation spoke against the store.

Sniff, sniff, weep, don't let the grocery store open or I'll have problems and have to lower my prices to stay open and can't pay as many highly paid union workers...

So Matt closed the meeting tonight with in the future let's 'screw property owners'...at every level. Major investors probably won't want to buy and develop business in Pleasanton any longer. Mr Sullivan wants to meet next week to remove LANDOWNERS property rights in the future....a precursor to blight. So when one business closes, and nobody else wants to bother to jump thru city hoops,wasting valuable investment dollars, we'll have boarded up, dried up business like at Vintage Hils, thruout Pleasanton. Just how many decades is that space going to sit there. Matt really wants to create vacancy blight at the entrance to Pleasanton Meadows....screw the neighboring home owners. For now it's just let it sit and not have anything. But the serious threat to all, is that Matt is pushing to remove owner's future rights ! ! Truly a danger and threat to Pleasanton's viability and financial survival... Watch closely to each individual word in Matt's proposal next week....Luckily just for tonight, the vote was 3-2 against Matt's restrictions on properties.

The Planning Commission archived meetings are last represented as of 8-24-11 and before. I assume that the time after 8-24-11 through 2-7-12 has been the time that Wal-Mart was being reviewed and approved for Meadow Plaza site. Yet no referances that a citizen could research were available... how come? Maybe a Planning Commissioner could explain... maybe a past Planning Commission member could share insite to this blunder... up to 8 archived meetings unavailable.

Coming soon to Old Santa Rita Road... 7-11 the 24 hour convienance store. BRE Hacienda style appartments to follow.
Stop Union Greed... Matts a hero compared to your nonsense!

Was not able to attend the city council meeting last night. Could someone please give me a run down on what happened.
Was there any decision made as to whether Walmart will be allowed?
Thanks

So what businessperson would want to invest major money in building and land, knowing that if we had Matt's plan, when a tenant leaves, the city could render the location worthless. I'd say that pretty much tramples the idea of personal property rights.
BTW, FYI this replacement grocery is planning on keeping the same hours as the neighborhood is accustomed to!

How many years was Nob Hill in that location? I never heard one person complain about traffic, noise, congestion etc. when they were there. All the things that those that oppose Walmart are complaining about.
I really think that they will find a way to not allow this.
Loved the mayors comment about all the Safeway union members present, "I know you all"
But OF COURSE she does!!!!!!!

Differences,

Why would Lucky's not speak against it? Business will seek ways to minimize the competition to their bottom line. Beginning to look like crony capitalism...

People! It's just a grocery store going into an empty space! Would we rather have it sit empty? Come on....I'm pretty sure there are some people that just have too much free time on their hands and want to stir whatever pot is out there. Get a life and move on....it's just a food store going into an empty space THAT WAS A FOOD STORE!

Enough! Tell that to Sullivan and Cook-Kalio ! ! They need to get some perspective. They're not 'saving the world'....just let the folks be happy ! ! Get out of the way ! They sure remind us just how bad government power can be.

This City Council is sounding a lot like the Obama administration, they don't know how to create jobs either.

This email was circulating in our neighborhood during April 2011 regarding the existing city approvals for the grocery store for the Nob Hill location. These documents are all on the www.ci.pleasanton.ca.us/publicrecords website.

"First there was Ordinance 1035 for the original approval which was then overridden with Ordinance 1165 (original set of conditions) and Ordinance 1215 (permitted uses and conditional uses). The resolutions and ordinances in Laserfiche include some PUD major/minor modifications to the original conditions in PUD-84-4 for Ordinance 1165 that has the following conditions-

Condition 8 says there will be no deliveries between 10 pm and 6 am

Condition 10 says there will be no all night businesses allowed

Since the operating hours were in a PUD conditions, the Planning Dept would have had to process some sort of PUD modification (rather than a CUP) to modify the operating hours. It did increase the size of the medical buildings in Ordinance 1226 (attached), but that is it.

Other things in time sequence order --

CCMIN090385 Major Modification PUD-84-4-3M went to City Council on Sept 3, 1985 for a modification of permitted and conditional uses. In the minutes it says Ferreri, the property owner, originally had an agreement with the adjacent homeowners not to have convenience markets, liquor stores, arcades, bars any all-night type uses. Ordinance 1215 was adopted. The Ordinance 1215 lays out the conditional and permitted uses, but does not change the restriction of no 24 hour businesses allowed that was adopted in the original ordinance 1165.
CCMIN103084 Resolution 84-565 was the approval of the medical buildings. In it the president of the Pleasanton Meadows Homeowners Association, Mr. Harold Dixon, said that the staff report and letter from the developer says that no convenience or liquor stores or stores open 24 hours a day.
CCMIN082085 AP-85-9 Appeal of a program for sign program for medical building. Resolution is 85-404 (RES 85404)
CCMIN101585 PUD-84-4-4M Increased the size of the medical building.
CCMIN070588 PUD-84-4-5M Minor Modification be removed from the agenda at request from staff.
CCMIN071988 PUD-84-4-5M Minor Modification presented but no action was taken.
CCMIN082096 PUD-84-4-6M to designate bands and savings and loans as permitted uses. No action was taken."

When Nob Hill was open the store was full of groceries - when Walmart opens the new store it too will be full of the same groceries but at cheaper prices - what's the problem? The only difference between the two stores would be the name on the front and a few more cars in the parking lot, Get a grip Walmart haters - you pay more money for exactly the same product when you buy it at Safeways, Luckys and Raleys - that's just a fact.

@"Get a grip Walmart haters - you pay more money for exactly the same product when you buy it at Safeways, Luckys and Raleys - that's just a fact."

Actually, that's not true. In fact, Walmart's foods are more expensive than what is offered at most other large grocers. They offset the higher grocery prices with inexpensive teashirts with high lead content logos that are made with forced child labor in China. So, when you go shop for eggs, maybe you'll be able to pick up a nice toy make-up kit at reduced price for your daughter that was manufactured in China at gunpoint.

Hey, and we get to pay higher taxes to compensate for Walmart's refusal to give health care to its workers. Such a deal! It's the price of freedom! Realize the dream!

@ George - do you not own anything made in China? Apple products for example? The same little toy make-up kit that's reduced in price for my daughter that you mentioned is usually sold at all the other grocery, toy and drug stores - not just Walmart but probably sold cheaper in Walmart. Does that mean you'll not shop at a store that sells products from China? Buying the exact same grocery products in Walmart would cost a lot more to buy from Safeway - just saying.

Safeway, Raley's, and Lucky's all sell stuff that's also made in China. Anyone checking up on their Chinese labor practices? Like Apple's factories, many of those factories make the same stuff for other corporations.

Should have added: The problem is not unique to Wal-Mart.

Well, if Safeway and Raley's and Lucky's sell Chinese goods too, then problem solved!!! International human rights groups only single out Walmart's alleged inhumane labor practices because, as it doesn't take a genius to know, all human rights groups are nothing but the sock puppets of Safeway's union thug shelf stockers. Same too with domestic human rights groups and corrupt class action suit lawyers. Walmart gets all the attention because everyone is in the pockets of Safeway's union robot butchers and floor sweepers. Just look at how they've hacked this site!

Looks like mittens has yet another identity. Wonder if George is on the same meds as mittens, Jane, slippers, unions are bad, etc.?

Pleasanton is building many low income houses. Wouldn't it make sense to have a low income grocery to help low income residents?

No one said a thing about Safeway's new store horning in on Raley's business, yet people will complain about the Walmart grocery store. Do you all just want empty storefronts? Wouldn't you rather have tax revenues go up in town? What about the people who live nearby - don't they deserve to have a place to get groceries without driving far? Sheesh.