Wal-Mart says their supporters are silent

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- With Wal-Mart foes claiming to have gathered

22,000 signatures of voters who oppose building a store at the closed

Crest View campus, you might think no one supports the giant retailer.

Think again.

“There’s really nothing wrong with a Wal-Mart,” said resident Jim Martin,

who lives within walking distance of where the company plans to build a

150,000-square-foot retail complex on Talbert Avenue.

Martin said he not only looks forward to shopping so close to his home,

but he’s also sympathetic to the money crunch that compelled the

property’s owner, the Ocean View School District, and the city to welcome

Wal-Mart with open arms.

“You’ve got bills to pay, right?,” he asked.

City officials expect the store to bring in about $400,000 per year in

tax revenues. That’s on top of the $400,000 Wal-Mart’s developer, Arnel

Retail Group, would pay annually to the school district on a 65-year

lease, store spokeswoman Cynthia Lin said.

Martin isn’t the only resident who favors Wal-Mart, Lin said.

“Clearly there are some people who are against the project,” she said.

“[But] we’ve also heard from residents who are for the project.”

Lin offered a list of nine supporters, other than Martin. The list did

not include City Council members whom critics consider Wal-Mart’s

strongest supporters -- Ralph Bauer, Shirley Dettloff, Dave Garofalo, and

Pam Julien.

It remains to be seen whether the store’s friends outnumber its foes,

especially in light of the fact that at the Aug. 2 council meeting,

members of Crest View United, a group of residents dedicated to keeping

the giant retailer out of their neighborhood, announced they had

collected 22,000 signatures for a ballot initiative to rezone the site

from commercial back to residential. The county’s Registrar of Voters has

until mid-September to verify the petition, a city clerk said.

The Wal-Mart faithful aren’t as well-organized or as vocal as the

opposition, Lin said, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone.

“People who tend to speak out tend to be people who are against a

project,” she said.

Even if the signatures are verified, a special election may not be

necessary because Wal-Mart officials still haven’t decided whether to

build the store considering some “onerous” city restrictions placed on

Wal-Mart’s operation, such as limiting delivery hours, Lin said.

But if the retailer does move ahead with its plans, then company

officials would welcome the opportunity to argue Wal-Mart’s merits and to

let the voters decide, Lin said.

“The bottom line is we hope Huntington Beach recognizes that Wal-Mart has

contributed to other communities elsewhere,” she said. “Hopefully, we can

do the same thing here.”