Walmart Files Petition for Election, So What's Next?

Months ahead of its August deadline, Walmart has submitted more than 6,000 signatures, 2,000 more than the 4,000 it needs to qualify for a November election this past Friday. Now the city has 30 business days to verify that those signatures are from registered voters in Milpitas.

County workers at the registrar of voters office will check each signature, costing the city $3-$3.50 to verify each one, according to City Clerk Mary Lavelle. If there are enough signatures to qualify for an election, it would cost the city and its taxpayers an estimated $215,700 on top of that. 

On Friday, Walmart sent a message to city officials in an email blast to customers that, "Upon certification, the City Council must decide whether to place the measure before voters or simply adopt the measure."

In addition, the press release included Robert Paedon, president of the Milpitas Chamber of Commerce, encouraging the City Council to adopt the initiative.

Councilmember Debbie Giordano, the only council member who voted for the Walmart expansion last summer, said approving the proposal because of the petition would set a bad precedent for future applicants who didn't get their projects approved.

Walmart could have reapplied again with the city, she said, but because they got the signatures to put the proposal on the ballot, "that literally is the only issue in front of me."

As for the cost to taxpayers, she said, "Whether it's fair or not fair, that's the instructions given on the books.

"Let the political process begin," she said.

Ron Lind, Milpitas resident for more than three decades and president of the grocery workers union UFCW Local 5—representing about 400 workers in Milpitas employed by Safeway, Nob Hill, Rite Aid, Lucky and Save Mart—said the move on Walmart's part was "ballot-box blackmail."

"Walmart should step up and pay for the election, given that they're ones that have been pushing to let the people decide," he said. 

There's going to be tremendous pressure, because of the city budget deficit, he said. "Hopefully [the City Council] will have to the courage to stick with their original decision, which was made for the right reasons."

Mayor Jose Esteves, who was not in office at the time of the vote last summer, said he would encourage his colleagues on the council to reconsider the issue.

"Our economic time is worsening, the commercial area where Walmart is located is having more store space vacancies, many people still have no jobs, and the city needs more revenue to support its services to residents," he said.

Salinas City Council found its city in a similar situation two years ago. It had adopted an ordinance to restrict big-box retailers from selling groceries on no more than 5 percent of its floor space. But Walmart gathered enough signatures to put a costly election referendum on the ballot, and the council repealed its decision.

California election code 9214 states that governments, like city councils, can do three things:

• Adopt the ordinance, without alteration, at the regular meeting at which the certification of the petition is presented.
• Call for a special election upon certification of the petition;
• Call for a report in which they will still have to make a decision within 10 days after it is submitted.