Trying to bring an Apple Store to Hercules

Trying to bring an Apple Store to Hercules

Occasional Report No. 29

The Romero Council has done little (perhaps nothing) to attract the kind of businesses we would like to see in Hercules; so, Herculean Jojo Soriano has put together an effort to convince Apple to open an Apple Store here.  (Jojo requested letters of invitation to Apple, from the city manager and the five councilmembers; Myrna de Vera wrote a letter, the others didn’t respond.)

Awhile back, Jojo  created a website at which Herculeans can leave their names and addresses, as a show of support for bringing an Apple Store here. Jojo’s signature list (or, as he refers to it, petition) will be presented (along with Myrna’s letter, a letter from Jojo, and a “Hercules welcome packet”) to Apple CEO Tim Cook on September 4.  Jojo currently has over 1,000 signatures.   

If you, too, believe that an Apple store in Hercules would be congruent with our original vision of what Hercules should be, more congruent than another strip mall, then I urge you to add your name at Jojo Soriano’s website:   http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e5wcxr11h1w8jftb/a0113h6a3kia9/questions    You can read Jojo’s blurb for retail in Hercules at http://www.hercules2020.com/story.html

 I don’t know that this is very likely to succeed, but there’s surely nothing to lose by trying. If it works out, the result will be vastly better than another Willow-class strip mall, and unmeasurably better than another gated apartment community. This effort might also lead to other approaches, to other businesses we would like to have here, so that Steve Duran can stop sacrificing our properties to developers who want to build apartments, apartments that, as far as I can tell, nobody (other than boulerokins and Steve Duran) wants.