Walmart=Social and Economic DEATH

(A copy of a letter I wrote to Richmond City Council members)
Dear Honorable Richmond City Council Members:
Please do not allow Walmart to do business in Richmond. Please review my list of reasons below. Richmond has many un-tapped extant revenue resources and there are better ways to generate income for necessary City services than through the parasite Walmart. Walmart’s bottom line influence is not toward profit for anyone as I’ll prove below. Profit for Walmart=economic disaster for Richmond and Northern California. Generate income in mature logical, sensible and responsible ways, such as by a new municipal tax on property transfers in Richmond worth greater than $1M. Tax the wealthy--those who earn greater than $200,000 annual household income on an inflexible progressive gradient. Invite fiscally solid green or socially progressive businesses that will train or use skilled workers and have a commitment to worker rights. Help develop energy and utility alternatives to bring utility costs down for Richmond business and residents. We don’t need business that seeks special rights to grotesquely expanding profits above those of it’s workers. Learn from other cities in the US and abroad that have creatively and progressively climbed out of their fiscal doldroms. Sustainable green business is the real long-term wave of the future and are or will be Wall Street darlings given the ever more delicate world environmental picture and global warming. Invite smaller business that treat their employees better, pay living wages and full medical benefits. Invite business that provide compensatory deferments and property tax revenue to the City to improve all effected municipal infrastructure. Attract business that will pay repeat and consistent business, sales and income taxes. Fully end all corporate loopholes currently extended to Chevron/Texaco and other oily toxics producing backward businesses. This will bring in a huge amount of money. If they leave, they’ll have to FIRST pay to clean up their mess. This will help Richmond, too. Either way, a courageous Richmond wins. Invited business should not ask for special tax deferral dispensations before they even lay a cornerstone brick. This is bad policy for the community of Richmond. Raise the minimum wage in Richmond to a living wage. This has worked to solidly stimulate city economies wherever it’s been tried in the US and abroad. This would immediately bring more revenue to the city and improve the small business climate here. Business isn’t going to run away from any municipality in the Bay Area. Courageous, sensible leadership is needed. We don’t need “representatives” who embrace consistently failing neo-liberal/neo-con reaganomics. Transparent city government, community-based and interactive planning is key to long-term municipal fiscal health. Health, education and infrastructure maintenance services are rights for all citizens of every city everywhere. No more poor mouthing from elected and appointed representatives at municipal or any other level of government. We mustn’t tolerate this smoke screen by the rich and corporate who are NOT the masses. We know the money is still there in Richmond and that the rich are getting richer while the poor suffer more. We don’t have to accept this state of affairs in Richmond, California.
Here’s why you must keep Walmart out of Richmond:
Walmart obliterates competition and forces other existing good municipal tax paying businesses out of business. This is proven over and over again wherever Walmart has appeared consistently creating a persistent RETAIL DESERT.
Walmart demands a pre-condition of preferential tax treatment from each municipality it does business in, which negatively effects the net revenue benefit to said municipality when you look at the big picture and the bottom line. A large number of other businesses unable to compete even if they do provide better quality products and services and better pay for their workers to recirculate in the local economy paying your wages--stop doing business. Therefore, they stop paying taxes to the same municipality, your wages, as a direct result of the existence of Walmart in that community. Walmart consistently generates a form of small and mid-sized BUSINESS BLIGHT.
Local, state and federal property, income and sales taxes are significantly decreased by the existence of Walmart due to the extremely low wages of nearly all Walmart workers. Walmart workers are not going to be property owners. Walmart and other such wage slavery unskilled service business that employ large numbers of un-skilled service workers at poverty wages consistently creates a WAGE BLIGHT. Workers who make less money and have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet are at un-avoidable costly medical risk due to stress injuries and illnesses. Since they have no adequate health coverage from Walmart, the municipality will be forced outright to pay extra for Walmart worker healthcare through already stressed and shrinking public service resources. Walmart will accelerate the eventual total collapse of such public service resources. These new, even poorer Walmart employees/Richmond residents will help, nearly on their own due to their large numbers, to erase any possible net revenue benefit to the City of Richmond public coffers from having Walmart do business here.
Walmart forces wages for workers in whole communities downward rapidly through poor example. "Hey, if Walmart can get away with paying someone $6.50 an hour and force them to do unpaid overtime, then I guess we can force our workers to work harder and longer for less compensation." This happens everywhere Walmart goes. You never hear of Walmart improving a general economic picture in a net fashion for larger communities like Richmond as part of a larger metro area. This is why Alameda County, Contra Costa County and the City of Oakland have taken firm legislative steps to reject Walmart.
Walmart will greatly increase the already difficult Richmond traffic and pollution burden. Walmart’s presence does not not generate enough tax revenue given all other revenue stream blockages that Walmart creates, to cover needed infrastructure maintenance over time. This is another potential way that Walmart squeezes and likely may fully collapse an already difficult City budget situation.
Walmart is vehemently anti-union and encourages other businesses to be anti-union by it’s very existence and effectiveness in impoverishing it’s own workers and keeping them weak, divided and without a voice. This cuts city revenue streams, economic stability and ALL community morale DEEP.
Walmart is well documented to consistently and in nearly every store everywhere force it’s slave waged salaried and hourly workers to work overtime for FREE. Walmart’s advance guard is obviously not going to tell you this bit of truth when they take City decision makers out to lunch on Walmart’s dime and offer their clever Walmart lobbying services to a publically unpopular City government.
SUMMARY:
Bottom line, Walmart is a PARASITE that costs Richmond more money than it brings in the short-run, mid-term and long-run. It’s disastrous and hugely irresponsible fiscal and social policy to invite Walmart in.
Walmart will cost your mid-sized community–Richmond--vastly more money than it generates in the relative short term. Walmart will then ever more acutely cost your community’s citizens and City coffers more in the mid and long term fiscal outlook.
Uphold or create any a new municipal legislative resolution possible to block Walmart like Oakland as Walmart will definitely add to Richmond’s problems and doesn’t provide any solutions that won’t cost more in every sense very soon after it comes to town. Support and work to enhance and strengthen the somewhat weak ban on big box stores that Contra Costa County already has on the books.
If you want to make Richmond more a bedroom community for the near-homeless and soon-to-be homeless, let Walmart in. I don’t think Richmond can afford more services to this population than it already provides based on current revenues. That’s the effect this parasitical big-box has nearly everywhere it goes.
With the passage of Bush’s Medicare (Medi-fraud) bill last year, you’re municipality has already taken one of many recent large fiscal hits by losing the ability to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for retired and current municipal employees.
In addition to "Medi-fraud" by Bush there are Schwarzenegger’s ridiculous state fiscal cuts, endebting our future generations to support the government now, the Federal budget cuts to come. There is always, of course, the ongoing lack of taxes paid by Chevron and Texaco. If you bring Walmart in, the expenditures for medical costs for citizens will go up–guaranteed. Richmond can not afford another hit to the City wallet now. Don’t make this mistake. Research this yourselves, please.
There is no net benefit to bringing Walmart here. I recommend seeking out Richmond politicians who get political contributions or assistance from newly hired former Walmart lobbyists or other perks from Walmart as they try to push their way into our community. Walmart will also threaten us with costly lawsuits should we resist. However we must resist. The cost will surely be more to let them in than to fight! Don’t let these pro-globalization neo-reaganomics parasitical vultures wiggle into this City, please.
Do the right thing. Ban the voracious parasite Walmart and all other big-box discount stores unless they pay LIVING WAGES, FULL MEDICAL BENEFITS, RETIREMENT, MUNICIPAL TAXES and INFRASTRUCTURE expenses incurred due to their development and ongoing operations. This is not impossible in any California municipality. This is particularly possible for a city with a port, shipyard, gorgeous climate, great views, land, existing industrial infrastructure, location-location-location, etc. Business is not running away from California and certainly not ultimately from anywhere in the Bay Area. Just look at our real estate market and you know what I say is true. California continues to be the world’s fifth largest economy for many good reasons. Stop legislating in un-realistic fear of the neo-con juggernaught.
Business will, of course, most often try to get something for nothing or worse. This is why we need separation of corporation and government. This has to begin at the local level. People and community really do come before business and particularly before special corporate “rights”. Walmart is the master of getting something for nothing in the US and is now the US’ largest employer. How humiliating in the US to have the largest employer be a completely un-democratic slave-wage corporation that relies >70% on international slave labor living under terror abroad for it’s manufactured goods. Don’t be stunned into stupid decisions that will add to our problems. You can do better and we expect you to. Wake the hell up!
Sincerely yours,
Frank Snapp
Pallas89