"Community activists" demand Wal Mart concessions...

...when real community members think differently.

The Living Wages, Healthy Communities Coalition released a list of demands to Wal-Mart, including:

• Walmart will provide free shuttle transportation to and from the nearest metro station to each DC store every 10 minutes.
• Walmart will provide $50/month in public transportation subsidies to each employee of its DC stores.
• Walmart will commit to responsible traffic alleviation studies and measures that promote walkability and increase the quality of life for residents.
• Walmart will work to provide secure car sharing and bike sharing at each of its stores.
• Walmart shall employ no less than two off-duty DC police officers on its premises at all times, stationed in locations determined by input from a community advisory board in the ward where the store is located.
• Walmart shall not sell firearms or ammunition at its DC stores.
• Walmart will pay every employee in its DC stores the DC Living Wage rate ($12.50/hour) or higher
• Walmart will employ at least 65 percent of the employees at each of its DC stores on a full-time, 40 hour per week basis.
• Walmart will not inquire about previous criminal convictions in its job application forms
• Walmart will fund workforce training programs for DC residents to be determined in consultation with a community stakeholder advisory council.
• Walmart will use first source hiring: at least 40% percent of its employees at each store will be residents of the ward where that store is located and at least 75% percent will be DC residents.
• Walmart will provide, on a per-store basis, ongoing funding for community funds controlled by community advisory councils

Luckily, Walmart will (of course) not sign such an absurd agreement, and there's nothing that the Living Wages Coalition can do about it.

Meanwhile, real community members, can't wait for the change:

Yvonne Williams, chair of the Board of Trustees for Bible Way Church—which has built hundreds of low-income apartments right across the street from the proposed Walmart, and is at work on 60 more—brought 50 signatures in favor of the project from local residents, and says they desperately need more affordable groceries than what they can get in CityVista Safeway and NoMa Harris Teeter.

“We’ve been praying for food in our neighborhood for 40 years,” Williams said. “We need Walmart here to meet the needs of our residents.”

More of that here.