Emergency Community Rally at Farmers Market Building on Wednesday
The Sherman Heights community was alerted today- April 17th – to the surprise demolition taking place at the historic Farmers Market building, prospective site of a new Wal-Mart store.
Word spread rapidly through the surrounding community, and local residents will gather at 6 a.m. to protest Wal-Mart’s actions. Community members will rally to oppose the surprise demolition of this treasured local landmark and condemn the disrespect shown to the community.
WHAT: Emergency Community Rally objecting to Wal-Mart’s surprise demolition of the Farmers Market Building.
WHEN: 6 a.m. Wednesday, April 18th
WHERE: Farmers Market Building (what’s left of it), 2121 Imperial Avenue in San Diego, CA 92102
Community members will also call upon San Diego City Councilmember David Alvarez and San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders to issue a Stop Work Order for the site through the city’s Code Compliance Department until the permitting has been submitted to legal review. Leaders will outline the disrespect shown to the community and demand immediate intervention to stop work at the site.
CONTACT: Patrick Pierce – 619-807-0850 Cell
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow. They are not demolishing the building people! They are putting a new roof on it – a “green” roof for sustainability. Maybe next time try reading the press releases before trying to write a story. This is how good people end up looking stupid: bad stories like this!
John, please be informed before commenting, otherwise you end up “looking stupid.” They have demolished most of the building, at least the older part of the building. If you are not convinced, drive by there tomorrow. Walmart has lied to the community repeatedly, they had already stated the building would remain intact, and now half of the building is rubble.
Do some reading. The oldest parts of the building will remain intact while the entire building gets a new roof.
Also, Walmart never said they wouldn’t touch the exterior. If you want to go into a rat infested building with an unstable roof, keep praising the dilapidation of this once grand building. There are two options: 1. Bitch about it. 2. Read about it. You’ve made your choice.
As a side note, I worked for Walmart when they only paid less than a living wage and kept you from getting full-time hours to keep from paying insurance. They now average $13/hour for hourly full-employees and start at the same price the union stores do. Is that something we should commend them for? Probably not. Is it to be condemned? Certainly not.
John, I have been doing some reading about the construction/demolition. What I have read is at odds with your comments. http://tinyurl.com/7bv8gls
Thank you for the link. Unfortunately, it is a lot of conjecture, unrealistic expectations and rhetorical fluff. I assume this is what you are referring to:
“They didn’t say anything about tearing the building down, ever,” said Esther Peretto. “They said they were going to use the space, which makes you think the building, not the land.”
They are using the building, with realistic modifications – precisely as they said they would. What is going overlooked is that with the permits that the city acknowledges Walmart has, Walmart would be well within their legal rights to knock the whole thing down.
I can’t believe I am finding myself defending Walmart, but the arguments and rants being given are pathetic at best.
Maybe these facts will help:
http://www.walmartmovie.com/facts.php
John. I’ll tell you how good people end up looking stupid. Demloition truck and bulldozer demolishing an entire WALL, not roof. People believed Walmart when they said they would “only” be doing interior construction and agreed to not alter the exterior. Perhaps next time you can investigate further before you make some insulting comments.
Jo,
Take it from someone in position to really know the facts. Every piece of demolition performed on the Sherman Height Walmart was done to the exact measurement provided on the permitted demo plan that the city of San Diego approved. These measurements were confirmed by a city official at the request of all you hypocritical problem makers.
“In the Know” If every piece of deomlition performed on the Sherman Height Walmart was done to the exact measurement provided on the permitted demo plan that the City of San Diego approved, then the City of San Diego must have gotten a lot of money from Walmart to “approve” the demo b/c originally they said it would only be doing “interior” construction. So imagine everyone’s surprise to see “exterior” walls coming down. Am I saying that people got bribed to make this happen? You betcha. Do I have proof? No. But it is pretty much known that Walmart gets its way, one way or another. Have you seen the movie “High Cost of Low Prices?” I highly recommend you watch it so you familiarize yourself w/the way Walmart operates.