Hercules officials and many residents say they envision the former company town becoming like Sausalito or Tiburon

Nice to have such high visions but Hercules will never come close to Sausalito or Tiburon even without Wal-Mart. Interstate 80 runs through Hercules and the San Pablo Bay is impassable for boats because it is so shallow for a mile out to the channel where the oil tankers run and dock for the neighboring refinery in Rodeo.

"I don't want to have anything ghetto around me and my family,''

You are already surrounded by the ghetto. Rodeo it’s neighbor the lowest housing in the area and Pinole with Terra Linda tract host the most crime for the area. I’ll bet this person goes to the nearby ghetto to do their shopping.

But opponents repeatedly have criticized the company's business practices, calling the company "predatory,'' and saying they would prefer trendy grocery stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's or Andronico's, and specialty shops like those in Berkeley's swank Fourth Street district.

Andronico’s will never go to Hercules, but they might get Trader Joe’s if they pay them. Whole Foods used to be called Canned Foods, which was started by hippies who sought out damaged canned food and sold them at a discount. I used to shop their in the 70’s when I worked in Berkeley, but haven’t been there in years and I would put money down that they will never go to Hercules either. They all have nothing on Wal-Mart in the business practices claim and I’ll bet there wages for employees are the same without benefits and stock options that Wal-Mart offers.

The so called small town of Hercules is just another string of many towns in the East Bay where there borders are only established by a sign, otherwise you would never know what town you are in and being next to a refinery where often the warning sirens have gone off to warn the community to stay indoors because of possible heath concerns is not going to attract tourist or high end businesses.

With that being said (for the people here who don’t know the area), I think Hercules should have the right to not want Wal-Mart in their town. After all they are surrounded by giant department type stores less than a mile away where they do there shopping (in the ghetto), but I think Hercules should go about it another way and some residents should drop the trash talk like they are above it all.