Dear Randy: Wal-Mart Super Center

Read the latest news about the super-store expansion: 

You can call up , send emails all over, and reach out in many directions in looking for an answer to a local problem or help with an issue- or we can get that question right to , and he can use his resources and local government know-how to get the best answer around.

Send your questions or comments on any topic, preferably a local issue, to steven.bartholow@patch.com, or leave it as a comment below, and we'll pass it onto Mayor Voepel. He's agreed to shoot for answering one a week, so let's get those questions coming!

Q: What is your position on the future of the Super in Santee?

A: I am new to having a 'Dear Randy' column, other than answering a gazillion calls, Emails and letters over the years at . So far it seems to me that the question to answer ratio is lop-sided. It takes a whole lot more answering to match a question.

Here it goes: [Name removed], nice hand grenade to throw at me on a Monday morning pal.

The to me, in the context of UNION, NON-UNION. Union folks do not like the way WalMart does not use union workers, so any , is looked upon as a direct threat to the Union movement. In general, The Non-Union folks could give a fig about Union workers, if it saves them money and stretches the family dollar.

I am generally mildly pro-Union in the context of protecting American workers from losing jobs to foreign countries.

In the WalMart Super-Store arena I support the Super-Stores because they will profoundly save families money in the essential food cost area. Because WalMart is non-Union and operates on a fantastic volume, they are expected to compete with the large (, Albertsons, etc.) and take a large market share.

Other non-Union stores such as ,  etc., are also cutting into the Union Store Chains.

So for me, I will always put my bets down on saving Santee Families as much money as possible and take my lumps with those in organized Labor, that are afraid to, or can't compete with the private sector.

Respectfully,

Randy Voepel

Mayor, City of Santee