Walmart Report

Blurbs 7-16-12

Walmart brings crime into a community, depending on your area anywhere from 100 to 600 responses a year. A call to the police department in your community, with the address of the Walmart store will reveal the amount of calls per year. You may have to inform the agency that the information is public, and you are entitled to such info. With up to 1500 cars a day per store you can imagine the traffic headaches as well as the criminals descending on an unsuspecting public. Car theft, auto burglary, assaults, robbery, car jacking, hit and run and worse are all things Walmart brings to communities.

There is a move underfoot to investigate the involvement of Walmart and Cal-Trans. Investigators have noticed a trend between freeway inter-changes and proposed Walmart locations. When Walmart decided to drop a million plus warehouse in the middle of the desert of Apple Valley, Calif. an inter- change was built. A seemingly unlikely place for such a project the residents thought, until they learned of the Walmart warehouse construction. A project which the city kept secret from the residents for almost a year. Investigators have noticed the same pattern of new inter-changes where Walmart intends to build. The cities of Menifee, Calif. Highway 215 and  Scott Road, Rialto, Calif. 10 Freeway and Riverside Avenue, Victorville, Calif. Highway 15 and  Nisqualli Road, Desert Hot Springs, Highway 10 and Indian, and others, all interchanges built just as the Walmart puppet company is performing a traffic study for the various cities. Traffic congestion is the main concern of residents, has Walmart found a new way of pay to play? Investigators are now checking other locations in California and may expand their investigation into other states where similar complaints have surfaced.For those of you that haven’t heard, Mike Duke, CEO of Walmart Stores Inc. filed his income tax for 2011. Due to the company’s income shortfall, Mike Duke only managed to make a mere $18.1 million. Mr. Duke has only been CEO since 2009. His base salary is a paltry $1.8 million but the rest is from his performance bonus. Poor Mike lost 25% from last year. Ironically 1.8 million is the same number of employees Walmart has. What kind of bonus or raises did the employees receive for the all the abuses put upon them.

The residents of Quartz Hill, Ca. have finally won their battle against Walmart. The community fought against the mayor and the city council for years. Even though the mayor insisted the Walmart would be built the citizens persevered and the retail giant left town. This is another story of a mayor and city council trying to do the bidding of Walmart and forsaking their constituents. This is also a story of how a community came together and fought to maintain their lifestyle. Many communities across the country feel they can’t beat Walmart. Quartz Hill is just one more example of what can be done when people stand up to Walmart, and the phony politicians who bow down to the Arkansas retailer.

In the latest issue of Consumer Reports there was a study done on the all the mainstream supermarkets across the country. The study included price, cleanliness, product knowledge, quality and politeness of the employees. Of the 52 market chains studied, Walmart came in at number 51, of the 11 markets in Southern California Walmart came in number last place. When are people going to learn that prices are not always the lowest at Walmart, what is important to most folks is also the quality and cleanliness of the store.

Quartz Hill, Ca. outside of Lancaster, is the latest city to turn their back on Walmart. Though the mayor and city council were all for the new Walmart Supercenter, the residents however did not share the mayor’s enthusiasm. The mayor repeated again and again that Walmart was coming to Quartz Hill. From 2006 until March of  2012 the residents fought and hired a land use attorney to help them. Finally a judge gave a ruling against Walmart, this is another city that though the politicians were willing to bend over for Walmart, the residents were not. When Walmart decides to enter your city, do not become overwhelmed, fight for your city and the quality of life you have worked for. People all over America have seen the devastation Walmart promotes. We have had enough of poor quality, low wages and tax-payer paid benefits from the worlds largest corporation. The time has come for Walmart treat their employees and customers with respect.  In Chicago where the unions were fighting to for a fair wage ordinance, Walmart in an effort to open their supercenter in the predominantly African American west side of Chicago asked the city for  $18 million in subsidies. Walmart also donated $75,000 to local politicians. The unions that fought against Walmart were labeled “racist” Walmart then donated 50 calculators and $1000.00 to the local high school. Walmart also ran a campaign against the council members who were opposed to them. By calling residents in the area and asking if they wanted jobs in their neighborhood, if the resident replied “yes” that call was routed to the council persons number.  Walmart likes to throw peanut size gifts out into the community to get their stores. Once Walmart gets what it needs, you will not hear from them again. This is a lesson that should be taught to politicians all over the country, those same tactics are still being used today by Walmart.

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