Bill Ferguson in front of the Milpitas Public Library
My name is Bill Ferguson. I’ve lived in Milpitas’ Sunnyhills Neighborhood for 11 years.
The Wal-Mart Expansion is bad for Milpitas.
A Wal-Mart Supercenter drains shoppers away from neighborhood grocery stores. This has been shown time and time again in other cities where Wal-Mart has been allowed to do as they like.
Imagine, if the nearby Save-Mart closes. There will be a ripple effect. Other stores in that shopping center will suffer and may close. Now, what if this also happens to other near-by shopping centers? Abandoned centers leave holes in the center of our town. They encourage neglect and invite crime. This is bad for us all.
Also, Wal-Mart says the expansion will create jobs. They don’t mention the decent jobs that will be lost. And, they don’t tell you Wal-Mart jobs are low paying, part time, and without benefits. Replacing decent jobs with Wal-Mart jobs is not good for Milpitas.
We can protect our town and our local businesses. We can say no to Wal-Mart.
According to national averages, for every Walmart job “created”, 1.4 jobs is lost. Walmart claims to be creating 85 jobs. So, we can expect to lose 119 jobs. How does that help our community?
Simply put, Walmart is bad for local communities.