CITY MEASURE WOULD SINGLE OUT WAL-MART IMPACT ANALYSES SOUGHT.Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer After years of debate, the Los Angeles City Council  The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. will consider a
measure today that would effectively single out Wal-Mart and make it
prove that opening a superstore su·per·store n. A very large retail store that stocks highly diversified merchandise, such as groceries, toys, and camera equipment, or a wide variety of mechandise in a specific product line, such as computers or sporting goods. selling groceries and merchandise would not economically harm neighborhoods where stores would be located. The council on Tuesday approved a committee report on the proposal, which would require developers to pay for an analysis on whether a superstore would eliminate jobs, reduce wages or impact neighborhood businesses. The ordinance would apply to large stores that sell general merchandise and groceries but warehouse clubs - such as Costco or Sam's Club Sam's Club is a membership-only warehouse club owned and operated by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. History The first Sam's Club opened in April 1983 in Midwest City, Oklahoma in the United States.[1] Sam's Club is named after Sam Walton. - would be exempt, so Wal-Mart would be the only business affected. ``What we are doing is giving flexibility to communities to determine what should be in the neighborhoods,'' said Councilman Eric Garcetti Eric Garcetti (born 1971) is the son of former Los Angeles county district attorney Gil Garcetti, and was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 2001. He was reelected in 2005. , who has been pushing the proposal. ``We don't have to choose between low prices and decent wages. ... We've invested too much in developing good jobs in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. to let these questions go unanswered.'' Los Angeles officials dropped plans for an outright ban on such stores, faced with the prospect of legal challenges or even an election. Earlier this year, Inglewood voters rejected a measure that would have allowed Wal-Mart to skip some steps in the planning process. Mayor James Hahn For the Iowa politician, see . James Kenneth "Jim" Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American politician from the Democratic Party. He was the Deputy City Attorney (1975-1979), City Controller (1981-1985), City Attorney (1985-2001) and Mayor of Los Angeles, California said he supports the City Council proposal as a way to determine if a proposed store would help the city. ``The standard is simple: Is it a net gain to the community or not?'' Hahn said. ``This ordinance would ensure that a superstore project would add to a neighborhood's economy and quality of life, not detract from detract from verb 1. lessen, reduce, diminish, lower, take away from, derogate, devaluate << OPPOSITE enhance verb 2. them.'' Wal-Mart representative Peter Kanelos, who previously called the ordinance ``redundant,'' today hailed it as better than an outright ban. ``Wal-Mart intends to continue to reduce costs for Los Angeles consumers,'' he said, and to ``create jobs in the city and contribute to the community.'' City News Service contributed to this report. Rick Orlov, (213) 978-0390 rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com |
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