Angry citizens in San Marcos, California are organizing to stop a second Wal-Mart in the city from being built in the middle of a highly residential area. Local sprawl-busters submitted this report: “The San Marcos City Council held a ‘workshop’ on Wednesday,May 28, 2003 to discuss the upcoming ‘vote’ to change a dedicated residential area to retail (i.e. Wal-Mart). Only a scattering of residents received notification of the meeting on Friday, May 23 (yes, Memorial Day Weekend) but with the help of neighbors and friends delivering flyers, we got over 100 concerned citizens to attend. The Traffic Commission for the City reported that a switch from residential (1200 homes) to a Wal-Mart would actually decrease the amount of traffic to the area. A group of concerned citizens have formed the ‘Meadowlark Community Coalition’ to inform and rally hundreds of homeowners in the immediate area to have a united voice at the next and final meeting prior to the City Council voting on June 9, 2003.” Another resident who attended the meeting sent the following email: “If you wanted the true feel of the proposal for the second Wal-Mart in San Marcos, you should have been at the City of San Marcos’ public workshop yesterday evening. I would hardly say that feelings were “mixed”. 100% outraged might possibly capture the atmosphere more appropriately. The biggest complaint was that this is a residential area, with residential traffic, without the eyesore of a commercial building, commercial trucks, commercial lights, commercial traffic, commercial garbage, and so on. What was comical was that even the developer admitted that there were no single family homes being built next to the proposed Wal-Mart. A nice contradiction that it “adds” value to the community, and an admittance that sales of such home are easier when separated from a commercial property. The city indicated that they are trying to serve the public in the area. Well I say they should serve the public by listening to them!!!! Are they listening? There are many who will fight tooth and nail to ensure that our communities are not raped by bureaucrats & big business. We can easily patronize Wal-Mart in Vista or the new site off Nordahl, if we desire. We don’t want commercial property in our neighborhood!! Save it for commercial areas.”
For more information on the battle in San Marcos, contact [email protected]
