EL MONTE >> Residents are finally getting what they’ve been asking for.
Walmart is coming to El Monte.
For more than five years, residents have implored the City Council to bring the retail giant to El Monte. They’ve bashed city leaders for not doing enough to attract it. They’ve lamented that El Monte can’t get what neighboring cities have.
Tuesday night, they won. After a nearly five-hour hearing, the City Council voted 3-2 to grant Walmart various zone and general plan changes to allow the construction of a Walmart Supercenter near the northeast corner of Valley Boulevard and Arden Drive.
Unlike in most cities, the fight over Walmart in El Monte was never about the labor practices of the world’s biggest private employer, or its potential effect on mom-and-pop businesses, though a handful of those voices were heard at Tuesday night’s meeting.
In El Monte, Walmart came to embody the city’s economic well-being.
“Please remember, our city of El Monte almost went into bankruptcy. El Monte needs help,” resident Patricia Galindo told the council. “El Monte needs change and growth badly. … I believe Walmart can help bring some of the change El Monte needs.”
El Monte first started courting Walmart in early 2010, hoping to bring the retail giant to a lot partially owned by the city at Santa Anita Avenue and Valley Boulevard. The city’s now-defunct redevelopment agency even offered Walmart $7.7 million in sales and property tax subsidies, and would have heavily subsidized the cost of the property used in the project.
But the deal fell apart when a property owner refused to sell a duplex near the site.
Since then, at council meeting after council meeting, the public drumbeat for Walmart has never subsided.
Though the public asked for Walmart by name, the outcry was about something larger, Mayor Andre Quintero said.
“What they want, frankly, is retail, and we haven’t done enough as a city to bring an infrastructure for retail,” he said.
Quintero was one of the two council votes against the project. The other came from Councilwoman Norma Macias, who is running against Quintero for the mayor’s seat. Macias did not return calls for comment.
Quintero said his objections were based on the project’s location, which is currently zoned for manufacturing.
“We have lost more than 5,000 manufacturing jobs in the city, good, well-paying jobs,” he said. “I think taking the property, losing 17 acres of manufacturing space in perpetuity, is not a good public policy choice for us.”
The property formerly housed one of those manufacturers, Ball glass company, which closed in 2007. Walmart bought the property, near the El Monte DMV office, after the earlier proposal fell through. The project required no city investment.
While the project has enjoyed broad public support, including from the city’s union representing police officers and the chamber of commerce, some residents raised concerns Tuesday often raised about Walmart: that it pays low wages, buys cheap products from polluting overseas manufacturers and puts local stores out of business.
“I hear Walmart is going to make El Monte great again. … I don’t understand how the quality of these jobs is going to benefit our residents,” said resident Alfred Mendoza.
The store will employ approximately 300 workers, according to a staff report.
It will generate an estimated $623,000 annually in sales and other taxes and fees, while costing the city approximately $115,000 for public safety and infrastructure maintenance, according to the report.
Before approving the project, the council asked Walmart to reduce its hours from 24 hours, as the store had proposed. The retailer agreed to be closed from midnight to 6 a.m., except for from Nov. 15 to Jan. 15, when it will be open 24 hours a day.
The council also raised various concerns about potential traffic issues raised by the project, particularly along Arden Drive.
While Walmart, as a condition of approval, is required to contribute $273,000 to various traffic improvements in the area, the council questioned whether that would be enough to address pedestrian safety concerns in the nearby residential community. Members revised a condition to require future traffic monitoring and possibly require Walmart to contribute to additional traffic improvements.
They also prohibited Walmart from selling weapons and ammunition.
By: Rebecca Kimitch
Pasadena Star News
