A City’s Return to Fair Play

The Anaheim City Council did the right thing Tuesday night by clearing the way for a Gigante USA supermarket at the Anaheim Plaza shopping mall. The vote reversed a troubling city Planning Commission ruling that would have prohibited the Mexico-based grocer from opening its first store in Orange County.

That’s all the late-night talk show hosts would have needed: a city hall so out of touch with its constituents that it bars a Mexican-owned grocery store chain from selling a wide assortment of tamales, tortillas and other items in a city where Latinos are the largest demographic group, accounting for 47% of the population.

The Planning Commission’s wrongheaded move prompted everything from charges of racism to questions on whether the North American Free Trade Agreement has any teeth. In the end, the council’s vote reinforced the danger of government using its power to try to engineer the look and feel of a community, as well as the necessary role that free enterprise plays in society.

Cities generally shouldn’t be dictating what kind of retail businesses belong in shopping malls. Granted, there is considerable pressure to approve department stores and other retailers that generate significantly more sales tax revenue than a supermarket. Anaheim also was right to question whether Gigante’s request for a liquor license would swamp a neighborhood already awash in beer, wine and liquor outlets. But Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons sell plenty of Budweiser, so why pick on a grocery store where the beer sales might be slanted more toward Tecate than Coors?

The Planning Commission had no business suggesting that Gigante wasn’t the right kind of store for Anaheim Plaza. That smacks of a Big Brother mentality that should have been put to rest years ago. Consumers, not the government, should determine whether Gigante’s business booms or busts.

The positive news flowing from the Gigante flap is that Orange County political activists who rarely share the same stage closed ranks in protest. Nativo Lopez, co-director of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, an organization that assists Spanish-speaking immigrants, stood side by side with Curt Pringle, a former Republican speaker of the state Assembly and one of five candidates for mayor in Anaheim in November.

We’ll see whether political alliances formed during the Gigante debate lead to anything more than a mutually beneficial photo op. But, at the least, Anaheim managed to wipe some huevo from its civic face.