Tonight, the Hercules city council unanimously voted to purse the power of eminent domain to buy 17 acres of land from Wal-Mart.  Wal-Mart has been trying to build a superstore on the bayfront parcel, despite the overwhelming response from the citizens of Hercules to not have such a store built there.  Wal-Mart officials says that there are people in the community that say a Wal-Mart will benefit the community, but as it stands right now, that is in the minority.

Right now, Hercules is only a 10 minute drive away from two (2) Wal-Marts: One, north in Vallejo and another east in Martinez.  Plus, one is being built at Hilltop Mall in Richmond, only 5 minutes away.  There is no absolute need for such a store in Hercules.

The bayfront location is better suited for more upscale retail and dining... not a fucking Wal-Mart.  Hell, I wouldn't mind a Fry's sitting there either, as there is only one Fry's store in the Bay, north of Fremont.... and that's the Concord store.

On Sunday, we had dinner at Macaroni Grill at El Cerrito Plaza, which is a 10 minute drive south on I-80E.  Now there's an awesome development.  Traffic is horrendous, due to the lack of modern road infastructure, but it's fucking nice for West County.  (Well, I consider EC not really part of West County, since it's generally tied more with Albany and Berkeley).  If we could get something like that there, that would be sweet!

Some people may have remembered my sarcastic post about how Hercules wants to be like Walnut Creek.  Well, having second thoughts about it, I'm figuring developing something like WC may just weed out the ghettoness that Hercules is sometimes associated with.  And for once, maybe I can go to my own downtown and check out guys :P

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