Here's something you might be interested in.
I find it interesting that the Democratic Party is supporting David Alvarez after his failure to stand up to one of the Democratic Party's biggest adversaries---Walmart.
In fact during District 8 Councilman David Alvarez' less than 3 years in office he has supported the construction of at least two Walmarts in his district.
Residents remember very well Walmart's egregious disregard for the community of Barrio Logan when they destroyed their historic and beloved Farmer's Market without a demolition permit.
The illegal demolition was one of the MOST egregious acts of betrayal of the "neighborhoods" and the law this city has ever seen and Alvarez did NOTHING but meaningless posturing to address it. He may have requested an "investigation", but he never took any meaningful action to hold them accountable and even welcomed Walmart with open arms afterwards.
Here’s the statement Alvarez gave to VOSDlink text filled with classic political doublespeak:
"...in regards to the location on Imperial Ave, I requested that the City Auditor investigate whether the permits were procured inappropriately."
How often do politicians "inquire" about a matter as a means of posturing to the public that they care while they take no real meaningful action? This just sounds a lot like Toni Atkins when District 3 citizens were pleading with her to do something about the illegal demolitions happening in our district. She acted like she cared, even demanding "an investigation"--of course during her 8 years in office she never actually took any action to change the policy and the situation continued to get worse.
Of course David comes from the Toni Atkin's school of political doublespeak where you mirror the concerns of the citizenry pretending you are on their side while you act on behalf of the big interests behind closed doors. It's why she came out immediately to endorse him.
And he may have requested an investigation, but he never officially opposed the project!
In fact in his April 2012 interview on KPBS, Alvarez goes to bat supporting a store "like" a Walmart in the neighborhood.
“Absolutely, the community is, overwhelmingly, in support of a grocery store coming in to the community,” he said.
So again Alvarez says BOTH...he wanted an investigation into their illegal demo but also supported something "like" a Walmart...in other words....he supported Walmart.
“They were moving on a path without trying to engage the community,” he said.
Ummm, how bout they were "moving on a path without any concern for the law and with blatant and intentional disregard for the community"?
Then KPBS inquired whether it was too late for Walmart to win the battle.
“Absolutely not too late. Let’s get down to business. Let’s all stand together when you announce the store is opening,” he said. Yes, let's all stand together and welcome this store that ignored the law and intentionally and knowingly destroyed the historic heart and collective memory of the neighborhood.
At any rate, Alvarez apparently has promised the big unions he will change behind the scenes because now they are dumping big money into his campaign.
BTW I was at the LAPA debates last night and Alvarez claimed the $100,000 he had raised was from "grassroots $5 and $10 donations", when he knows darn well the 100k in 2 weeks was from big unions and the affordable housing developers that make big bucks off of his brand of faux liberalism. I found this comment by him to be quite indicative of his dishonesty, lack of integrity and his true MO.
In fact, Alvarez has not done anything to fight Walmarts in his district while he claims he supports "neighborhoods".
In 2012, Alvarez issued this statement about the opening of a Walmart at 575 Saturn Blvd:
“I am pleased to see an anchor tenant move into this building that has been vacant for several years. I believe having a successful business here will assist in the economic rejuvenation of the community and will help serve the residents retail needs.”
When a big interest comes in and destroys a neighbrohood you can always call it "economic development". Walmart was so pleased, they even included Alvarez’s statement on its site.
Regardless of how Alvarez presents himself to the community, Walmart has been VERY pleased with him and this should be a BIG concern to us. Here’s a statement the company sent to VOSD:
"Walmart values the opportunity we have had to work with Councilmember David Alvarez on the South San Diego and Neighborhood Market stores in his district and appreciates the help he has given us in working with the community to create jobs and increase access to fresh, affordable food. We have received positive feedback from the community on both stores and look forward to continuing to serve the residents of District 8."
Toni Atkins also loves to address her hypocrisy with the phrase "It's complicated". "It's complicated" is code for I am going to pretend to care while I act for big interests. So it should come as no surprise that Alvarez now claims his feelings about Walmart are "complicated".
So seriously why would we elect someone to be mayor who can not even stand up to special interests like Walmart for his own district? And before you throw out his recent vote on the shipyards consider that was not a vote AGAINST a special interest, it was a vote FOR a special interest -- the developers that want that land.
If Alvarez can not understand how egregious Walmart has been in his own community, how can we expect him to understand bigger issues that a strong mayor would need to handle?
I find it interesting that the Democratic Party is supporting David Alvarez after his failure to stand up to one of the Democratic Party's biggest adversaries---Walmart.
In fact during District 8 Councilman David Alvarez' less than 3 years in office he has supported the construction of at least two Walmarts in his district.
Residents remember very well Walmart's egregious disregard for the community of Barrio Logan when they destroyed their historic and beloved Farmer's Market without a demolition permit.
The illegal demolition was one of the MOST egregious acts of betrayal of the "neighborhoods" and the law this city has ever seen and Alvarez did NOTHING but meaningless posturing to address it. He may have requested an "investigation", but he never took any meaningful action to hold them accountable and even welcomed Walmart with open arms afterwards.
Here’s the statement Alvarez gave to VOSDlink text filled with classic political doublespeak:
"...in regards to the location on Imperial Ave, I requested that the City Auditor investigate whether the permits were procured inappropriately."
How often do politicians "inquire" about a matter as a means of posturing to the public that they care while they take no real meaningful action? This just sounds a lot like Toni Atkins when District 3 citizens were pleading with her to do something about the illegal demolitions happening in our district. She acted like she cared, even demanding "an investigation"--of course during her 8 years in office she never actually took any action to change the policy and the situation continued to get worse.
Of course David comes from the Toni Atkin's school of political doublespeak where you mirror the concerns of the citizenry pretending you are on their side while you act on behalf of the big interests behind closed doors. It's why she came out immediately to endorse him.
And he may have requested an investigation, but he never officially opposed the project!
In fact in his April 2012 interview on KPBS, Alvarez goes to bat supporting a store "like" a Walmart in the neighborhood.
“Absolutely, the community is, overwhelmingly, in support of a grocery store coming in to the community,” he said.
So again Alvarez says BOTH...he wanted an investigation into their illegal demo but also supported something "like" a Walmart...in other words....he supported Walmart.
“They were moving on a path without trying to engage the community,” he said.
Ummm, how bout they were "moving on a path without any concern for the law and with blatant and intentional disregard for the community"?
Then KPBS inquired whether it was too late for Walmart to win the battle.
“Absolutely not too late. Let’s get down to business. Let’s all stand together when you announce the store is opening,” he said. Yes, let's all stand together and welcome this store that ignored the law and intentionally and knowingly destroyed the historic heart and collective memory of the neighborhood.
At any rate, Alvarez apparently has promised the big unions he will change behind the scenes because now they are dumping big money into his campaign.
BTW I was at the LAPA debates last night and Alvarez claimed the $100,000 he had raised was from "grassroots $5 and $10 donations", when he knows darn well the 100k in 2 weeks was from big unions and the affordable housing developers that make big bucks off of his brand of faux liberalism. I found this comment by him to be quite indicative of his dishonesty, lack of integrity and his true MO.
In fact, Alvarez has not done anything to fight Walmarts in his district while he claims he supports "neighborhoods".
In 2012, Alvarez issued this statement about the opening of a Walmart at 575 Saturn Blvd:
“I am pleased to see an anchor tenant move into this building that has been vacant for several years. I believe having a successful business here will assist in the economic rejuvenation of the community and will help serve the residents retail needs.”
When a big interest comes in and destroys a neighbrohood you can always call it "economic development". Walmart was so pleased, they even included Alvarez’s statement on its site.
Regardless of how Alvarez presents himself to the community, Walmart has been VERY pleased with him and this should be a BIG concern to us. Here’s a statement the company sent to VOSD:
"Walmart values the opportunity we have had to work with Councilmember David Alvarez on the South San Diego and Neighborhood Market stores in his district and appreciates the help he has given us in working with the community to create jobs and increase access to fresh, affordable food. We have received positive feedback from the community on both stores and look forward to continuing to serve the residents of District 8."
Toni Atkins also loves to address her hypocrisy with the phrase "It's complicated". "It's complicated" is code for I am going to pretend to care while I act for big interests. So it should come as no surprise that Alvarez now claims his feelings about Walmart are "complicated".
So seriously why would we elect someone to be mayor who can not even stand up to special interests like Walmart for his own district? And before you throw out his recent vote on the shipyards consider that was not a vote AGAINST a special interest, it was a vote FOR a special interest -- the developers that want that land.
If Alvarez can not understand how egregious Walmart has been in his own community, how can we expect him to understand bigger issues that a strong mayor would need to handle?