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Thursday, September 2, 2010
Mayor in favor of Nestlé water bottling plant
by Kathleen Haley, published on October 7, 2009 at 9:34AM
Storyline: Sacramento City Hall / Politics
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Mayor Kevin Johnson spoke favorably about the Nestlé company’s planned water-bottling plant and addressed other local issues at his weekly meeting with reporters on Tuesday.
Nestlé water bottling plant
Johnson praised Nestlé’s plan to set up a plant to bottle and sell water from the American River, saying the plant will create jobs.
“I knew that this would bring about 40 to 60 jobs in our community and that’s a good thing,” he said.
Johnson also said he wished he could have been more involved in the process of bringing the plant to Sacramento, but noted that the city manager’s office has jurisdiction on the issue.
But Councilmembers Kevin McCarty and Lauren Hammond disagree. They said they want the City Council to get involved in the issue. McCarty has called Nestlé’s plan “a sweetheart deal.”
Mayor praises “the soup guy”
Johnson had sympathetic comments for Daniel Pont, the owner of downtown’s La Bonne Soupe, who became ill and was hospitalized following the county’s closure of his restaurant. Sacramento County health inspectors cited cockroaches as the reason Pont’s soup and sandwich shop was shut down last week.
Pont plans to reschedule another county health inspection and then open the shop again early nex´t week, Johnson said. “If you have not been [to La Bonne Soupe], I would encourage everyone to go,” Johnson said, referring to Pont as “a treasure in our community.”
Seattle’s public transportation
When Johnson attended the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Seattle last week, he scoped out the city’s downtown scene. Johnson is observing the downtowns of various cities to gain ideas for revamping Sacramento’s downtown.
He said he admired Seattle’s use of public transportation in its downtown. Johnson pointed out that Seattle’s downtown features buses, a monorail, light rail, a subway system, Amtrak and other transportation methods.
“It just shows you when cities do it right, how pivotal public transportation is and the role of pedestrians,” Johnson said.
Photo by Anthony Bento.
Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.
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Internet article also reads that they are investing in building a cereal plant in Switzerland. I thought it was an American Corporation and Western Europe has tight regulations on big businesses. They are owned by Genera Mills, which is apparently a multi-national corporation, so maybe that is where the decisions are made. Anyone know?.
http://www.mp3lyrics.org/m/mdc/radioactive/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHHTaHv4JYo
Inspired by the fact that the grazing fields of dairies near Hershey, PA, where Hershey's gets milk for their milk chocolate, was downwind from 3 Mile Island, resulting in milk that showed elevated levels of radioactive iodine and cesium isotopes.
http://www.vueweekly.com/article.php?id=9856
All anyone needs to do is take a look at our surrounding reservoirs to know that bottling up our potable water and shipping it away in massive quantities for private gain is a bad idea. Because it is not just the water IN the bottle, it is the water that is taken to make the bottle, which is something like 50 times over what the bottle actually will end up holding.
For Sacramentans concerned about this issue, the documentary "FLOW: FOR THE LOVE OF WATER" details the backroom political corruption and practical insidiousness of water repackagers like Coke, Pepsico, and ... you got it, Nestle, which is the subject of an AG investigation and intervention regarding a water dispute with the city of McCloud, near Redding. Nestle's tactics are covert, and they no doubt have been carrying on very quiet, behind the scenes negotiations with City staff here in Sacramento, including with this mayor, who once again proclaims a benefit where the prospects are dim, especially with regard to a paltry number of jobs that never seem to materialize elsewhere Nestle has operated, and has incurred the wrath of citizens affected by their overuse of municipal water systems and natural aquifers, harming both environment and community in their wake.
Please reference this morning's SNR Editorial here, http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1295558, and the group ''Save Our Waters Sacramento" here... www.saveourwatersacramento.org ....
Hopefully Nestle will take the hint and leave... and take KJ with them...
Bottled water is one of the worst things for the environment.
Nestle is also a company that has a long history of significant ethical issues - from encouraging mothers in developing countries to give their babies formula over their own breast milk (and telling them that it was better for their babies) to extracting water against the will of people in Brazil to labor rights violations in the Philippines to recently buying milk from the farm owned by the wife of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, one of the worst dictators in Africa.
Is this really the kind of company that Kevin Johnson feels is a good fit for Sacramento?
It's disturbing that Kevin Johnson thinks this is a good idea.
It's even more disturbing that Kevin Johnson that wants more power so (in his own words) he could have been more involved in bringing this plant to Sacramento.