Mark Workman is Now Testifying

He is being questioned by City Attorney Laura McAloon. Apparently, this is somewhat unusual.

She is asking him to clarify some things that were raised during the Wal-Mart case.

BOMBSHELL!!!!!

We've all known for a long time, but now the numbers have come out. An independent economic analysis firm did a fiscal impact study of Pullman (as PARD has been whining about for months) that is being testified to at the moment.

The results are shocking:

The Pullman economy is losing nearly 50%, or $92 million in retail sales leakage annually due to residents shopping outside of Pullman, mainly in Moscow.

That equals $780,000 in annual sales tax revenue lost to the city of Pullman every year!!!!!!

Wal-Mart will go a long way towards allowing us to stop that leakage and NOT harm our existing businesses. Wal-Mart could easily add $500,000 EACH YEAR in sales tax revenue to Pullman.

So the question, "Is Wal-Mart Good for Pullman?" Has just been answered. YES IT IS!!!!

PARD should immediately withdraw its appeal in the best interest of Pullman. It's time that we rise up and demand they do so.

We're Back in Session

Picking up where we left off with traffic.

It's interesting that while the gas station will be built later, it IS a part of the application.

That's Lunch

The hearing will resume at 3:30 PM.

Still plenty of time to come by after work and school to make your voice heard. We need fresh voices, as all the PARDners from last week are signing up to speak again, sometimes twice.

Stormwater and Traffic

Wal-Mart's experts are testifying how the stormwater plan goes above and beyond what is required by the city, I'm sure at considerable extra cost to Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is also going to spend 3/4 of a million dollars on improving traffic around the store.

Currently, the Wal-Mart traffic engineer is rebutting PARD's "expert" from this morning.

Wal-Mart certainly does make an impressive case. I doubt there has been any other developer in Pullman that has gone to these lengths. There is no absolutely no evidence to support the contention that Wal-Mart is trying to "destroy" Pullman.

"I Don't Want to Go There"

Dean Logsdon's response when asked if he wanted to comment on PARD's testimony about Wal-Mart attracting the "lower class".

Wal-Mart Begins Its Case

First witness is Dean Logsdon, the site designer for the Wal-Mart developer, CLC Associates. They've been looking at Pullman for 3 years.

Dean went over the history of the zoning and Comprehensive Plan and the rationale for the choice of location.

He then went over the design of the site. Our Wal-Mart will not be the garish neon monstrosity that the opposition has portrayed.

Advantage Wal-Mart!

Wal-Mart attorney cross-examined PARD traffic engineer. The engineer was just hired two weeks ago. He has done no study or analysis of his own on anything. He hasn't seen all the data yet. So in other words, a whole of supposition and suggestion, but no violations of standards or code. The PARD engineer could not testify to any traffic impacts caused by Wal-Mart.

PARD's Final Witness

PARD's last witness has just finished testifying. He was a nervous young traffic engineer from Oregon. He tried to discredit Wal-Mart's traffic study, but it was dry, boring, too fast, and hard to understand. No smoking gun or slam dunk for PARD.

Mark Workman's Turn

After introductory remarks by the Hearing Examiner, Mark Workman is giving a staff report and explaining his rationale in reaching his SEPA and site plan decisions. It's excellent, citing every PARD objection, and then laying out the city's rebuittal: economic impact, business practices, traffic, the cemetery, emergency access, etc., etc.

The Hearing Has Started

At 10:34 AM. Probably about 80-85 people. Looks like a lot of supporters have showed up again.

We're almost underway

About 50 people are in the Council Chambers awaiting the start of the appeal hearing, counting media, attorneys and others.

There's still plenty of room. Come on down!

This Is It

Your last chance to make your voice heard on Pullman's future is today in the Council Chambers at Pullman City Hall, starting at 10:30 AM.

The writing is on the wall. Development is already being planned for the Moscow-Pullman Corridor and Moscow. If we miss the train, there will be no going back. Start picking out your favorite program that will be cut from the City budget.

I will be live blogging from the hearing all day today. Keep checking back for updates.

Thursday 4-Fer #4

Here’s your final Thursday 4-Fer, ending with the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Kudos to Steve McClure for publishing a “rebuttal”, so to speak, to last week’s front-page story on Maryland’s recent health care legislation effectively aimed only at Wal-Mart. Maryland is going to force Wal-Mart to spend the equivalent of 9 percent of its payroll on health insurance programs.

As you have probably heard, Washington’s ‘Rats (as Ray so eloquently puts it) are not about to be out-liberaled by anyone, so there are proposals now afoot in Olympia to mimic the Maryland law in the Everblue State. Meanwhile, if they want to copy another state, this is the legislation they should be considering The Daily News story gave Wal-Mart’s side of the issue:

At a news conference Wednesday, regional Wal-Mart spokeswoman Amy Hill called Washington’s version of the measure purely political.

“It does absolutely nothing to address the rising costs of health care and it does absolutely nothing to take anybody off the uninsured rolls,” she said.

Representatives from state business groups agreed, saying the proposals could drive employers from the state and be broadened to affect struggling small businesses.

“We are a necessary employer, and we should be valued and taken care of, not attacked,” said Jan Teague, president of the Washington Retail Association.

Hill declined to say what percentage of its payroll Wal-Mart presently spends on health benefits in Washington or nationally.

She did say that the company’s 16,000 workers in Washington are all eligible for benefits, even if they are not full-time employees.

A statement distributed by the company said more than 615,000 of the company’s 1.3 million workers are covered by Wal-Mart health plans

Well, it’s pretty easy to connect the dots. A recent Seattle Times story (thanks WSUStretch!) mentioned the “secret” reports that have been prepared for legislators on who the employers are with the highest number of employees on state-funded health care programs. A similar study, mistakenly released three years ago, said Wal-Mart had 341 employees on Basic Health (one of the two state-funded programs along with Medicaid). 341 out of 16,000 is 2.1% of Wal-Mart employees on Basic Health. The recent Global Insight study reported that only 2.3% of Washington Wal-Mart employees are on Medicaid, the lowest number in the country. That’s what all the fuss is about??? I’d be willing to wager almost every company in Washington has at least 2% of its employees on Medicaid or Basic Health.

This is no more than a witch-hunt aimed at forcing Wal-Mart to either unionize or go broke.

Thursday 4-Fer #3

The Whitman County Gazette has just proven to me that it is by far and away the fairest of our three local papers (counting the Tribune and Daily News also).

In today’s issue, reporter Joe Smillie demonstrates what true journalism is all about. In a story about the Wal-Mart appeal hearing, he quotes extensively from PARD’s “expert” witnesses and public comments. But rather than simply parroting what the PARDners had to say, Smillie applies the “BS Detector” of critical examination and gives the other side of the story.

For example, Smillie mentions Deirdre Sommerlod–Rogers testimony about how since Wal-Mart appeals to those of lower socio-economic status (boy, that’s going to play well in Colfax and Whitman County) and to youth, the police are going to be drained by having to go to Wal-Mart all the time. Rogers also worried that if Wal-Mart builds a Supercenter in Moscow and with one already in Lewiston, the Pullman store might be closed.

To quote from Smillie, “Rogers had plenty of anecdotal evidence, but mentioned no specific case studies”. OUCH!!

Smillie brought out a number of other good points, none of which made it into the Tribune or Daily News, including:

Most of the [PARD's] experts also brought up the fact that the city of Pullman failed to conduct a fiscal impact study before approving the site plan. Neither Washington nor Pullman law requires such a study.

In his opening statement, [Public Works Director Mark] Workman said, “I don’t think Wal-Mart should be subject to any different rules than any other development projects.”

Presently, the Moscow Wal-Mart has 205 employees. The store’s personnel director said about 75 percent of employees work there full time and receive benefits. He pointed out that part-time employees, those who work less than 24 hours per week, are eligible for benefits after two years of service.

Can any other employer say that of its part-time employees? Not WSU, that’s for sure. But we'll see no petitions against them. Even mad dogs won't bite the hand that feeds them.

Thursday 4-Fer #2

Lo, how the mighty have fallen.

In today’s Daily Evergreen, Citizen Hosick was quoted as saying that “the proposed Wal-Mart has caused a division between people in Pullman”.

Contrast this to PARD’s cocky press release from last May:

Round One: The Battle for Public Opinion is Over. PARD Has Clearly Won that Battle.

In my opinion, a couple of dozen hardcore blowhards in ponytails and tie-dyed t-shirts do not constitute much of a division. And any such "divisions" that Pullman is currently experiencing have been caused by PARD’s irresponsible rhetoric over the past year. Remember, these are the people that have been publicly saying that our cemetery is going to be desecrated, kids and grandmas are going to be run over and killed, the low-class rednecks are going to start a crime wave, our public schools are going to be destroyed, and our economy ruined.

In reality, it’s Round 15, and the Hearing Examiner is about to administer a ten-count to PARD.

Thursday 4-Fer #1

Terry Day had another great letter in the Daily News today blasting PARD. His words are so eloquent; I don’t need to add anything to them:

Pullman must play by the rules

The morality play being acted out on the public stage in Pullman illustrates the broad moral corruption that permeates our larger society. At the national level, both political parties are rife with corruption. American corporations are riddled with corruption.

Now comes the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development with moral objections to the Wal-Mart Corp., hypocritically asking city officials to commit the immoral act of violating the law.

The city must process Wal-Mart’s application according to ordinances existing at the time the application was filed with the city. It would be illegal for the city to change the rules in midstream.

This is fundamental not only as a matter of fair play, but of long-established law. Were I to file a request for a permit to build a house, the city has to play by the rules existing at the moment I filed. If my application conforms to city ordinances, neither city staff nor council could change the requirements, no matter how much they may dislike me personally, or what I propose to build, regardless of how many citizens may protest.

Asking city officials to break the law is, plainly, simply, indisputably immoral.

And, frankly, I don’t understand why the hearing officer permits legally irrelevant testimony at hearings.

So why is the city providing a forum for PARD’s hypocritical moralizing?

Terence L. Day, Pullman

We don't want big businesses anyway.

From today's Daily News:

The world's largest retailer [WalMart] is among the targets of the Washington state measures, which would force companies with more than 5,000 workers to spend the equivalent of 9 percent of their payroll on health insurance programs.

Our leaders are at it again, trying to make Washington as business unfriendly as possible. In this case we want to get rid of what is left of Boeing in Washington. We should also try to get Microsoft to move to California.

HOLY SMOKES!!! I just figured it out. For a long time I thought our state was anti-business and anti-growth and anti-roads. With all thebusinessess like Boeing, Microsoft, etc we have ahundredss of thousands of people living in the Sound region. But with all these anti-business stances the state makes, they are working towards a goal. I guess most of us are too dumb to see the goal, but I now see it. You can count me as one of the smart ones.

The goal is to move all the large companies out of Washington. Then the smaller companies that feed off the larger companies will dry up. Leaving very few people in Washington. Once the population decreases, the roads and the cities will be perfect. We wont need new roads. We wont need to cut down more trees for more living space. We wont need to do anything as our state will be a perfect little commune.

Yay for Washington... Ummm, anyone know were a petition for the State of Eastern Washington is?

For Stephen Cooke: Real World 101

To amplify a bit on Scotty's post about Professor Stephen Cooke and where professors in general (such as PARD) get all these nutty ideas about economics, I present some quotes from a column written a few years ago by economist Arnold Kling with thanks to Dale Courtney:

Academic life offers an almost unique mixture of high autonomy with low risk. The position of tenured professor carries perhaps the lowest risk of job loss of any occupation in America. Meanwhile, as my college economics professor Bernard Saffran was fond of pointing out, being a professor means not having a boss. Your day-to-day teaching and research are free from bureaucratic oversight or management supervision.

For the rest of us, autonomy and security tend to be mutually exclusive. In fact, the trade-off between risk and autonomy is perhaps the most emotionally wrenching issue that we face in our careers. Among people who have worked for large organizations, is there anyone who has not at some point had the urge to quit and become an entrepreneur or a consultant, in order to escape the dysfunction of office politics and the prison of bureaucratic inertia? At the same time, is there anyone who has not felt the restraining hand of the stability of a paycheck and the security of health care coverage, leaning on you to go back and put up with your boss a while longer?

The writer Bill Whittle argues provocatively that the issue of responsibility constitutes an important political divide. Whittle and I are on the side that emphasizes personal responsibility, while those on the left would tend to downplay personal responsibility in favor of group responsibility or other "root causes." I found it interesting that while the economic analysis of outsourcing posted by economist Brad DeLong was similar to mine, DeLong drew an implication for government to spend more on infrastructure and education, while I drew an implication for individuals to be more adaptable.

Those of us who have spent considerable time outside of academia can relate to Whittle's statement that "Freedom is the Platinum Visa card. We alllll want one. Responsibility is the credit rating. Not so much enthusiasm for the kind of discipline needed to earn one of those." To most of us, it is common sense that freedom and responsibility go hand in hand. On the other hand, college professors, who enjoy so much autonomy with so little insecurity, can lose sight of the significance of responsibility.

At some level, economists are aware that corporations are not single-objective monoliths. We have coined the term agency problem to describe the conflicts within a corporation -- primarily the conflict between shareholders and managers. However, the pervasiveness and significance of these sorts of problems is largely under-estimated. Academic economists fall easily into the habit of treating the corporation as an individual, when in fact -- as shelves of management books can attest -- a large business organization is like a dysfunctional family.

People on the political left, and academics in particular, have an inordinate fear of large corporations. They see no hope for smaller economic units, which they believe will be crushed by the giant corporate steamrollers. Instead, my experience has taught me that large corporations have very limited competence. One of the few academic works that captures the comparative advantages of smaller firms is Amar Bhide's The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, which I cited extensively in my own book on bootstrapping.

By the same token, the academic left has an inordinate faith in government efficacy. They assume that if government policy means well, then it will be executed well. Those of us who have spent time in government are more keenly aware of the obstacles to effective performance that exist within the bureaucracy.

Many academics share the adolescent fantasy that government would be terrific if only the right leaders were in charge. They think that all of our problems would go away if only "the people" could get their way over the "special interests." Their model of politics is the old Jimmy Stewart movie "Mr. Smith goes to Washington."

A good way to cure the adolescent fantasy is to spend time in government. Up close, it is hard to tell the people from the special interests. The crusaders for more low-income housing turn out to be construction companies. The campaign for energy independence and clean-burning fuel turns out to be a plea for a subsidy to benefit a large ethanol producer. Conversely, those of us arguing against drug price controls do so not because we are industry stooges but because we believe that markets incentives lead to better treatments and cures.

Call an Ambulance!!!

Stephen Cooke of Moscow has lost his mind! In his letter to the editor of the Daily News...

Provide no subsidies to Wal-Mart. Second, adopt and enforce a "big-box" ordinance that makes Wal-Mart conform to community standards. I recommend the city adopt the emergency ordinance permanently. I also would include a requirement for big-box stores to pay the prevailing Latah County retail wage plus 10 percent or about $20,600 per year. Third, I would encourage all consumers to avoid shopping at Wal-Mart or make it the store of last resort.

This strategy has the following advantages. We gain the additional retail or avoid the loss in retail that the absence of a Wal-Mart store would represent. The additional retail traffic will help the other local retailers.

We also gain the additional job opportunities for students and other workers Wal-Mart provides. The suggested wage requirement addresses both the problem of unfair labor practices and predatory pricing by Wal-Mart. Third, low-income consumers gain an increase in real income by shopping there.

Finally, if enough of us refuse to shop at Wal-Mart, we are sending a message that we do not support a corporation that runs roughshod over the rights of workers, input suppliers, and exporters.

He wants Wal-Mart to pay more for employees and have no one shop there except for a last resort... BUT they will provide jobs to people and supply low-income people with a good place to shop. Do you see the problems I see with his statements? If WalMart is forced to pay a higher wage than any other store, then they very well would need to charge more for items. That means they would not get shoppers and the "well paid" employees would lose their jobs...

Wow. I am losing my mind just trying to comprehend the lunancy!

"Three cheers for the free enterprise system"

John Irby is quickly becoming my favorite local columnist. I love his not-too-subtle yet ultimately benign and thoughtful brand of satire. In today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News, John's column takes a playful swipe at PARD and the current Pullman Wal-Mart controversy. Of course, I'm sure some local left-winger that takes him or herself way too seriously will write in and complain, just like when John wrote about the Apple Cup and hating Huskies.

Quick: Name the “Godfather of Soul” – James Brown, of course. Brown, as most know, also owns the titles of “Soul Brother No. 1” and the “Hardest-Working Man in Show Business.” But Brown has nothing on Glenn Johnson, the “Hardest-Working Man on the Palouse.” Unless you are new to our rolling lentil fields, or have possibly been spending all of your waking moments as a “pardner” in subterfuge or propaganda campaigns, you have likely heard of and admired Johnson. He is a professor in the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication and “Voice of the Cougs.”

I used to share nearby office real estate at Washington State University with Johnson. A fine, friendly, moral man he was (and is). But we parted office environments when I took a part-time administrative position, necessitating an office change, and he was elected a part-time (full-time for him) administrator. He became mayor of Pullman.

He’s a good mayor, but it is fun to poke and prod him on the issues du jour.

Take, for instance, his request in last weekend’s Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

“The Pullman City Council is accepting ideas, goals and suggestions from its citizens and organizations through Jan. 31. Suggestions may be mailed to Mayor Glenn Johnson’s office …”

It prompted me to check the city’s Web site where I found the following statement about citizen feedback: “One of the worst things an organization can do is to request input and then ignore it. If your feedback is positive, we will make sure that the appropriate individuals receive positive reinforcement. If your feedback is negative, we assure you that your complaint will be investigated and hopefully resolved to your satisfaction.”

I think my feedback is positive, but whatever it is I feel assured it will be handled appropriately. Here’s my 2006 goal suggestion:

I’d like a place in Pullman where I can purchase a 99-cent ice scraper. A while back after our first big snow, I found the scraper for my truck was missing. I immediately blamed my kids. So that morning I borrowed a scraper from my wife’s car. But by the time I was able to shop after work, not a business in Pullman had a cheap scraper. I could only find an $8.95 deluxe model at an auto parts store. No, thanks, I said, spending an additional $3 in gasoline and car wear-and-tear to drive 16 miles (roundtrip) to purchase a simple but effective 99-cent ice scraper.

There are other items I’d like in this store; some might be for sale in Pullman but would probably require an arm and a leg to purchase. They include “Andy Griffith Show” sleep pants; Sponge Bob fleece hats; table tennis balls, paddles and nets; Larry “Get-R-Done” Valentine chocolates; a yoga Pilates mat; Pullman and Moscow high school stadium blankets; a Venus fly trap plant; bamboo tiki party torches; a Tinker Bell poster; a cardio hip-hop CD; bubble-gum flavored teeth flossers; a “Madagascar” movie-themed kid’s table setting; a memory-foam ThermoPedic temperature-controlled smart pet bed; and Valentine cards with matching tattoos.

That kind of stuff, clearly, is important, especially with four kids. But I might even be able to do without some (or all) of it if this store, or some existing business in town, would just sell caffeine, sodium and carbohydrate-free, no calories, one-liter carbonated and flavored water for 50 cents a bottle.

It would be just dandy if this new business could be a one-stop shop. Take for instance the newest supermarket in town. It is great to shop there and then fill-up with discounted gasoline, a reward for being a loyal shopper.

Mr. Mayor, I make this suggestion based on my belief in free enterprise – the freedom of private businesses to operate competitively for profit with minimal government regulation.

If such a business is allowed in Pullman, I will continue to shop at local businesses providing good customer service on products I need at fair prices. I can’t, for instance, see myself not trading at such businesses; the employees at the large chain tire store where I shop provide such great service I bring them candy every Christmas.

Anyway, thanks for listening and I know you will take my suggestion seriously. Keep up the good work.

And thank you John, for providing a little light-hearted perspective amongst all the fury over Wal-Mart.

Let's Get the Rumor Mill Cranking Again

The Hawkins Companies brochure for their Highway 270 & Airport Road development now lists "Shopko" as a "Neighbor". All the other neighbors listed are on the Moscow-Pullman Highway. Hmmmmmm. If a Supercenter is approved in Moscow, that would leave their old location on Warbonnet Dr. in Moscow open. Would ShopKo fill the void that Wal-Mart leaves behind? Or is ShopKo going to build next to Lowe's? Or is Hawkins Companies just casting the net of neighbors wider? After all, ShopKo is Pullman's lone offering to the mix of retailers.

Hawkins Companies list of clients has the following quote from WinCo:

“WinCo Foods, Inc. has worked with Gary Hawkins and the development company on about ten development opportunities in addition to several projects that were brokered by them. During that time, they were undoubtedly the BEST firm our company has ever used, which is a strong statement. I say that because their honesty and integrity has shown through in every detail.”

– Paul A. Simmons
VP Retail Development
WinCo Foods, Inc

Could WinCo be moving into the new development at Highway 270 & Aiport Rd. along with Lowe's. Why not? What better way to compete with the two new Supercenters than to move to Washington, where there is no sales tax on most food items, as opposed to Idaho. The best of both worlds, low prices and no tax.

Of course, Citizen Hosick will demand that Wal-Mart pay to study all of this before the Pullman Supercenter can be approved.

There You Go Again

Cynthia "Impartial Private Citizen" Hosick has yet another letter to the editor printed in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News titled "Impact study needed for Wal-Mart":

There is absolutely no way to determine whether or not Wal-Mart will have a positive effect on Pullman’s economy without a full fiscal impact study, most wisely one that covers the entire retail region that includes both Pullman and Moscow. But there are plenty of studies that do define the negative impacts of Wal-Mart in cities like Pullman and Moscow, and tons of anecdotal evidence. What?? That's doubletalk. PARD can't have it both ways. They can't cite lack of a fiscal impact study against Wal-Mart and then use their own self-admitted anecdotal "evidence". And there is much more positive anecdotal evidence if they want to go that route.

Anecdotal case in point: Cheyenne, Wyo., has a population very close to the population of Whitman and Latah counties combined. Wal-Mart in Cheyenne built a new super center last spring to the rear of the old Wal-Mart, which was then torn down. The super center opened sometime during the summer. Last week two Cheyenne grocery stores closed. What does that have to with the price of eggs in China? How many businesses closed last week nationwide? How many businesses have opened in Cheyenne since the Wal-Mart Supercenter came in? This is the worst kind of factual cherry-picking. I can point to half-dozen other towns off the top of my head where other stores have moved in after a Supercenter opened. The problem with the use of such "evidence" is that there is no linkage between cause and effect. For example, one of the shuttered supermarkets was Econofoods, owned by the Nash Finch Company based out of Edina, MN. Nash Finch got in trouble with the SEC and shareholders a few years back and was almost delisted from NASDAQ. In 2004, the multi-billion dollar company announced that it was closing ten underperforming Econofoods stores to improve profits. Earnings per share had much more to do with the Cheyenne closure than anything else. Do we really care about the strategic moves that national “behemoths” make? Don't cry for "Mom and Pop". It's about Wall Street, not Wal-Mart or Main Street. Econofoods had only been in Cheyenne for about six years anyway, Nash Finch having acquired the location from another grocery chain.

Whitman and Latah counties comprise a long-established retail region. We need to know what will happen if two Wal-Mart super centers open. What does a Moscow Supercenter have to do with anything? Whitman and Latah Counties are two completely different, competing retail regions. What's good for one will likely be bad for the other. How do you study that?

We need to know if this region can sustain a Lowes and a Home Depot, as well as our current building and hardware businesses. And this affects Wal-Mart how? How is that Wal-Mart's (or Pullman's) problem? Is she honestly advocating that Wal-Mart fund a study about what OTHER retailers in OTHER jurisdictions may do?

We need to know if Wheatland Center, the Palouse Mall and Eastside Marketplace won’t gradually darken if there is a strip mall in Whitman County just outside of Moscow, and a big-box mall on the Troy Highway. Sorry, I'm laughing too hard to type. What planet are these people from? The only thing that is "darkening" is the level of intelligence in this debate. And the Wheatland Mall? Sheesh. Where was PARD when Safeway up and pulled out and left that big store there dark? I think Safeway should put a park or low-income housing there. And I hope Citizen Hosick, as a long-term Pullman resident, would be much more concerned about what happens in Pullman instead of the Palouse Mall and the Eastside Marketplace. I may sound a bit provincial, but I personally don’t care how a Supercenter in Pullman will affect the Palouse Mall or the Eastside Marketplace. What I care about is the fact that tens of millions of Pullman’s taxable retail dollars are being exported over the state line every year, and all PARD can do is to continue offering anecdotes, rumor, distortions and false information. Don’t they care about our schools, parks, libraries, streets, and emergency services?

Pullman finally has two days available for a real public hearing, in conjunction with the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development appeal of the SEPA and the site plan of the proposed Pullman Wal-Mart Supercenter. If you were not able to testify at the hearing Friday, come to City Hall for the final hearing day at 10:30 a.m. Friday. Let the hearing officer know that this project needs a lot more planning. This project?????? Which one???? Hosick mentions several. HELLO!!!!?????? THIS IS A HEARING ON WAL-MART IN PULLMAN. Go fight the Lowe's development and the Moscow Supercenter on your own time but don't waste ours. Please, Citizen Hosick, please be sure to mention this to the Hearing Examiner again on Friday. I want to see his reaction when you object to a Wal-Mart in Pullman because it didn't conduct a fiscal impact study on two unrelated projects in two other jurisdictions.

An Embarrassment of Loons

There’s a bevy of quail, a gaggle of geese, and a cast of hawks. Based on field observations Friday, I have coined a new ornithological term: an embarrassment of loons.

Submitted for your approval: some reports from various observers at Friday’s Wal-Mart appeal hearing you didn’t see in the Daily News:

Parking lot at Gladish Center was full at 10:15 AM.

About 100-150 present at the start of the hearing. Crowd was easily two-to-one in favor of Wal-Mart. There was an older gentleman who, when asked at the sign up sheet, if he cared to make any comments, said something like, "Hell yes! I want to say that no one can tell me where to shop and what stores can open in Pullman”. Humorously and perhaps predictably, Wal-Mart supporters sat on the right hand side of the auditorium and PARD supporters sat on the left.

Mark Workman made a great case on behalf of the city.

As expected, PARD trotted out WSU professors as “experts’ to testify. They were a real joke. Very little of PARD's case had anything to do with Pullman and the specific building site plan. We heard a lot of “hot air" yesterday. PARD only questioned the decisions; they did not at any time try to provide proof for their beliefs. It was as if they say it, it makes it all true. As one attendee who left early noted, "My capacity for gasbags was less than I'd imagined."

Deirdre Rogers, Assistant Professor of Justice Studies at U of I, testified that because of Wal-Mart's low prices, they attract people from the lower end of the socioeconomic scale and it's been proven time and again that those low income people are usually criminals. A number of people walked out at that remark. Also, after the bars close 18-to-24 year olds always come to "hang-out" at Wal-Mart. They will cause "extra" crime in the well lit parking lot. Unless we have some way to stop this behavior we are doomed. But don't we already have two large groups of these age people in the area [HINT: WSU & U of I]? If we don't shut down areas where all these people gather, we are in for a serious crime wave. She also testified that Wal-Mart allows RV's to park over night in their lot. It was her contention that when RV's get together, drinking is the result. It was a real knee-slapper.

The Hearing Examiner asked Rogers if any of the "crime studies" she cited were relevant to PULLMAN. Of course, none of them were. Touche’!

The only new information revealed is that the ground-penetrating radar survey of the cemetery by EWU has concluded that it is highly unlikely that anyone is buried outside of the boundaries.

James Krueger spoke about Wal-Mart lights shining in EVERY window in Pullman. His research (or someone else's research) has found that light leads to sleep deprivation in deer and sleep deprivation leads to a loss of testosterone which leads to a loss of sex drive in bucks. Apparently then, the Wal-Mart Supercenter will lead to an impotency epidemic in Pullman.

So let's string together Rogers' testimony and James Krueger’s testimony that Wal-Mart lights will shine into every window in Pullman. RV's are going to park overnight under lights so bright that they will shine into every window in Pullman. It's easy to understand why they will be drinking. They certainly won't be sleeping.

It was pretty much an open mike. About 1 PM, PARD ran out of things to say. Their continuous rehashing brought about a tired change in what they were saying. PARD was allowed to go on their crazy tirade unimpeded. Like a two year old that goes to sleep while throwing a major fit. At the 2:00 PM lunch break, they were running out of speakers and they were re-running themselves. The transcripts should provide lots of entertainment.

After the lunch break, a house mother from one of the Greek houses spoke for Wal-Mart. She said that her college students desperately need the jobs that Wal-Mart will provide. That she would like to do her shopping in Pullman. Her sister is disabled and Wal-Mart is the only company that has been willing to give her sister a job.

A man who lives on Military Hill said that Wal-Mart has the right to build, he would like to shop in Pullman, and he is tired of leaving town to shop. He pretty much gave the free enterprise, free choice speech.

Both of these Wal-Mart supporters inadvertently sat with the PARD group and when they made their statements, they gave them from the PARD mike, right in the middle of PARD. It was great!

A young gentleman was that spoke about being property owner that adjoins the Wal-Mart site but that was VERY moving. He said that he was in construction trade and dealt with the city planning staff and had VERY high praise for them. Carroll Hayden said in closing that “…instead of the trucks and bucks going to Moscow, the BUCKS & Trucks need to start to stop in Pullman.”

R. B. Olson, a Pullman developer, was given a tremendous round of applause following his emotional testimony in favor of Wal-Mart.

TV Reed just talked. He didn't seem to say anything. If he did, no one seemed to listen. YAWN!

Don Orlich ranted about Wal-Mart desecrating the cemetery and cutting down all the "old growth" trees. Apparently, clear-cutting can be added to Wal-Mart's list of offenses now.

Jason Rogers complained about having a fine view of the cemetery and now he will only be able to see Wal-Mart. He also complained about “depriving our children of stars at night” because Wal-Mart lights would be too bright. He also said that a real estate expert, he couldn't remember who, said that houses near Wal-Mart lose 20 per cent of their market value. He demanded Wal-Mart cut him a check.

Apparently, PARD thinks Wal-Mart delivery trucks will be coming from Moscow. A truck driver, who was sitting with the PARD group, explained how difficult it would be to maneuver a semi on to Fairmount which would lead to more backed up traffic. He also refuted the idea that WSU students would be hired by Wal-Mart because everyone knows students won't keep a schedule and Wal-Mart insists on employees working a specific schedule, usually 8 hours.

Cynthia Hosick explained how difficult it would be for the delivery trucks to make the corner at Main and Bishop. She was conceding at that point and was making revision suggestions.

Nella VanDyke said she would be buried in Colfax instead of Pullman if Wal-Mart was allowed to build.

PARD members said a few times that Wal-Mart should be required to promise that if they vacate their building, they will tear it down and turn it into a park. One person doesn't want a park; they want low income housing put there.

There was never any mention of the 10,000 signature petition or the "Nineteen Pullman Merchants" petition, which was interesting.

PARD finally wound themselves down to accepting Wal-Mart but wants to put berms, concrete walls, sound barriers, etc. to protect from sight, noise, light, odor pollution that a Wal-Mart “will no doubt bring”.

The first hearing was over before 6:00 PM. The hearing examiner stretched it out as long as possible to give everyone a chance to speak and finally no one came forward.

So, after meeting every week for the last year, after press conferences, petitions and propaganda films, all the "best and brightest" blowhards of the College of Liberal Arts could do is recite studies they found on the Wal-Mart Watch web site, spread unfounded and ridiculous rumors, and prove once and for all that they are arrogant snobs who despise the people they are supposedly trying to "save". The most original objections they could come up with are that the deer population will decline and there will be a critical shortage of Viagra in Pullman.

An embarassment of loons indeed.

"Suppose they opened a Wal-Mart, and no one came"

I don't agree very often with liberal Lewiston Tribune columnist Jim Fisher. For example, in a column in today's Tribune, he writes:

I don't like the way it exploits its workers, whom it has the nerve to call "associates," and I don't like the way it treats the surrounding community, which is often expected to provide benefits for those workers the company does not... Squeeze your product providers to sell to you at the lowest possible cost, such as by manufacturing in Lower Slobovia, and then squeeze your "associates" by paying them peanuts so that consumers can benefit from rock-bottom prices...If this is the market economy at its best, the market economy has a lot to answer for to civilization.

That's just a left-wing urban legend. Wal-Mart is just like any other retailer in that regard, better than some, worse than others. And Fisher states further:

I will never understand, for example, why residents of a town like Lewiston crowd the parking lot of the Wal-Mart here. Maybe I'm presumptuous, but I would bet most of the people who do that are working stiffs themselves. Yet every dollar they hand to Wal-Mart is more than a vote for the kind of business the company runs. It is a dollar kept out of the hands of better employers, often based here in town, with more humane business practices.

Apparently Fisher is among those intellectual elitists who think people actually care about "globalization" and "humane business practices" when they shop. Those "working stiffs" he refers to shop at Wal-Mart because a Global Insight study recently showed that Wal-Mart saves working families $2,329. All they care about is that Wal-Mart lets them experience more of the American Dream.
However, I give Fisher full credit for being realistic and not drinking the same Kool-Aid the PARDners have been handing out up here on the Palouse:

Where have those residents of the Palouse who are trying to stop Wal-Mart from building new superstores in Pullman and Moscow been? The region already made its choice about whether it wanted Wal-Mart or not.

It said it did.

Consumers voted with their feet, and their pocketbooks. The Wal-Mart near the state line on the Moscow-Pullman highway has been there for years. If people had chosen not to shop there, can anyone believe the company would want to replace that store with two bigger ones?

Fisher elobarates further:

But the fact remains that if most people in Pullman, Moscow or any other city really did not want Wal-Mart in their town, it wouldn't be there, or at least remain there. Trying to accomplish by city ordinance what could be, and should be, done by consumer choice strikes me as un-American.

At least we Americans say we want to be able to make our own decisions. We don't want government telling us we can't own guns, drink whiskey, smoke cheroots in the great outdoors, speak in tongues on Sunday morning, watch dirty movies, order fries with that, crawl in bed when and with whom we choose, write blogs, pierce our navels, tell the editor or even the president off (I hope that last one is still legal).

Asking government to legislate Wal-Mart out of town is the equivalent of pleading, "Stop me before I shop again."

Amen Jim. PARD, are you listening?

That Liberal Media, Part Two

Again, PARD comments in italics, supporters comments in bold:

Wal-Mart in the cross hairs

By Michelle Dupler, Daily News staff writer

Don Pelton said if residents want to know how a Wal-Mart super center would affect Pullman businesses, they can simply walk down Main Street or Grand Avenue and ask, “Does this store carry something Wal-Mart would carry?”

“You can run an impact study quickly,” Pelton said. “Just walk in and look at the inventory and see what’ll be affected. It’ll take a couple of hours.”

The notion of a fiscal impact study on the proposed 223,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pullman was at the heart of a daylong public hearing Friday at the Gladish Community and Cultural Center. The hearing was convened to weigh the merits of two appeals the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development filed against Wal-Mart’s site plan and State Environmental Policy Act checklist.

About 200 people came and went throughout the day. They heard PARD members, many of whom also are university professors with expertise in topics covered in the hearing, testify about studies that show the hidden ways Wal-Mart may cost a community money.

The public also joined the debate, which at times was passionate but always was civil.

“I think there was a very strong case for the city’s obligation to do a fiscal impact statement,” said T.V. Reed, a PARD board member. “The people testifying made it clear the national trend shows (the impact of Wal-Mart) would be negative.”

A fiscal impact statement would identify the specific effects Wal-Mart may have on Pullman, including whether the store would create jobs, whether other businesses would be harmed or helped, and whether Wal-Mart’s alleged low wages and lack of employee benefits would put a drain on taxpayers by pumping more people into government social and health services.

A study from University of Illinois showed a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Chicago put smaller stores in the neighborhood out of business, said Annabel Kirschner, a Washington State University professor in community and rural sociology. Kirschner said she has been following academic literature about Wal-Mart for more than 20 years.

“Many of these studies show a negative impact on the community,” Kirschner said.

The same study also showed Wal-Mart workers nationally earned an average of about $13,000 per year, which Kirschner claimed put them below the poverty line if trying to support a family. She also was concerned about recent reports in the media that Wal-Mart forces workers to put in extra hours “off the clock.”

Claiming that Wal-Mart should be kept out of town because it pays low wages is a false issue, said Dan Dornes, a Pullman resident and professed Wal-Mart supporter. He believes Wal-Mart mostly would employ students who already are earning minimum wage in many businesses.

“I think the record is clear they would be providing jobs and benefits above what is here now,” Dornes said.

University of Idaho criminologist Deirdre Sommerlad-Rogers testified about studies showing Wal-Mart attracts crime and therefore puts a drain on local police services. She pointed to the example of a Wal-Mart store in Lodi, Calif., that took up four times as much police time as other retail stores because of shoplifting and the high number of car thefts in the parking lot.

Pelton and others argued a Wal-Mart would do more good than harm in Pullman.

“The average Wal-Mart store does $80 million a year in business,” said Pelton, a retired business professor. That could add a lot of money to Pullman’s sales tax revenues.

Resident Carol Hayden reiterated the idea much-touted since Wal-Mart filed its application in October 2004: a super center in Pullman will stop residents from taking their tax dollars to Moscow.

“I want the truck and the buck to stop in Pullman,” Hayden said.

Other issues raised in the hearing included the proposed store’s proximity to the city cemetery and the traffic the store will generate throughout the city.

The traffic study commissioned by Wal-Mart as part of its application showed the store will generate more than 11,000 extra trips on Bishop Boulevard each day. That number is an underestimation, said Robert Bernstein, a Seattle-based traffic engineer hired by PARD.

He said the study does not take into account national data that shows Wal-Mart stores tend to generate more traffic than competing discount department stores, and does not account for additional traffic during the busy holiday shopping season in November and December.

Wal-Mart stores “kind of create a wall of traffic along the street,” Bernstein said. “The impacts need to be analyzed.”

The hearing will continue at 10:30 a.m. Friday in the council chambers at City Hall. Wal-Mart’s attorney will have the opportunity to rebut evidence presented by PARD. Additional public testimony also will be taken.

Daily News total a bit more balanced: 9 PARD paragraphs, 8 pro-Wal-Mart, but the number of anti-Wal-Mart words are much higher, 384 versus 215. Be sure to write a letter to the editor telling Michelle Dupler how much you appreciated the "balanced" coverage.

Steve McClure had a relatively fair op-ed piece. He stated:

Twelve months from now, the folks in Bentonville, Ark., will have a pretty good idea what people on the Palouse think of Wal-Mart.

We expect they’re going to hear plenty. The only real debate is whether corporate execs at the world’s largest retailer will hear it through the two proposed super centers in Pullman and Moscow or pass it along in a corporate memo as a market that got away.

The answer to that question is elusive since the people here aren’t speaking with a single voice.

Since the first super center was proposed for Pullman more than a year ago, the presence of Wal-Mart has generated some heated opinions. When a second super center plan was unveiled in Moscow a couple of months ago, the volume on the argument has only gotten louder.

There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground, and our editorial board is as divided as the community on the issue of Wal-Mart super centers.

Steve McClure strikes me as a level-headed conservative, so he might be a supporter, but I get the distinct impression that Murf Raquet and Virginia Henderson are against Wal-Mart.

In any case, it was totally inappropriate in my opinion to both put a story about Wal-Marts 3,000 miles away in Maryland on the front page of the Daily News, run a column by PARD on the day of the appeal hearing with no opposing viewpoint, and then today run that ridiculous cartoon showing Wal-Mart as King Kong destroying Pullman and Moscow while PARD and "Moscow Business" try to stop it in their little fighter planes. They should have shown a plane with "BREO" written on it trying to shoot the PARD plane down. But, as usual, BREO gets no mention in either paper. It's just PARD, PARD, PARD, PARD. That's an acronym I'm looking forward to not seeing anymore.

That Liberal Media, Part One

I have italicized all the PARD quotes, supporter quotes in bold:

Proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pullman prompts lots of talk

By DAVID JOHNSON of the Tribune

PULLMAN -- Dan Smith said he plans to spend thousands of dollars shopping at the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter here.

But Robert Grunewald said he'd probably sell his plot in the Pullman Cemetery for fear of being buried adjacent to a Wal-Mart loading dock.

Annabel Kirshchner testified that Wal-Mart has a history of driving local businesses out of town and paying employees a pittance in wages and benefits.

But Dan Dornes said he thinks Wal-Mart will bring in new shoppers and employees won't suffer any more than some working at Washington State University and other Pullman businesses.

So it went Friday during a 10-hour public hearing on an appeal lodged against the City of Pullman by a group opposed to Wal-Mart's plans for a 250,000 square-foot supercenter on 28 acres adjacent to Bishop Boulevard.

"Would you want to spend eternity at the ass-end of a Wal-Mart?" asked Grunewald, who together with his wife, Marjorie, told hearing examiner John Montgomery that the city's cemetery -- and the people buried there -- deserve better.

Most of the testimony centered on requests from residents and members of the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development (PARD) that the city conduct an in-depth study on the fiscal impact of a new Wal-Mart on other local businesses.

Other PARD concerns include health and safety issues, potential encroachment on the city cemetery, and flood and pollution dangers from storm runoff.

Montgomery, a Spokane attorney, was appointed by the city to make a decision on whether to uphold the city's determination that Wal-Mart had satisfied environmental and infrastructure concerns, had met construction conditions and is cleared to start building.

Company representatives have indicated work could begin this spring.

If Montgomery sides with PARD on the appeal, the city would be forced to reassess the situation.

City Attorney Laura McAloon told the Lewiston Tribune that the city is charged with considering infrastructure, zoning and other construction matters, not fiscal impacts on other businesses.

But T.V. Reed, a spokesman for PARD, said a Wal-Mart Supercenter warrants more concern on the part of city officials.

"We have never dealt with a project of this scale," he told Montgomery. Reed said there's a "desperate need" for government to protect the integrity of the community.

James Krueger, a neurobiologist at WSU, warned that the supercenter, with its huge bank of lights on a hill at the south end of town, could result in sleep depravation problems for surrounding residents. He called for a "thorough" analysis of the situation.

The same concerns voiced here have been echoed 8 miles away and across the border in Moscow, where Wal-Mart has proposed building a second supercenter.

Several Pullman residents testified that putting two huge stores so close together sounds like a recipe for at least one going under and a community left with an empty retail cavern.

Wal-Mart officials have already indicated they plan to close their current store located in Moscow if the supercenters are built. Moscow officials continue to work on an ordinance requiring conditional-use permits for big box stores.

"We are anxious to preserve the quality of life here in Pullman and avoid the blight of empty buildings," Robert Grunewald said.

Kirshchner compared the advent of Wal-Mart to the arrival of a business elephant in town. She said a zookeeper must make different arrangements to keep an elephant compared to a mouse.

But Smith turned the analogy around, suggesting that "a zoo full of mice won't get any visitors, but a zoo full of elephants will."

Dornes said he recently went downtown and assessed the local business situation.

"I found myself hard pressed to find any businesses that would be impacted," he said. He suggested that the biggest negative impact of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pullman would be for towns such as Moscow, Lewiston, Clarkston and Spokane that might lose shoppers.

The hearing is scheduled to resume Friday at 10:30 a.m. in the Pullman City Council chambers.

That's 10 PARD paragraphs (283 words) to 5 (125 words) for Wal-Mart supporters. Nothing like good "balanced" coverage.

Waving that HONK for Wal-Mart sign

It has been some time since I was out with my sign HONK for Wal-Mart waving it. Sorry one and all, I have been working on a web store Gifts 4 All Occasions that has been taking a large piece of my time. I told myself I had to get down and do some more waving before the hearing today. Two things happened today that were very off the wall. 1st - I got down to Main & Grand at about 8 am and it went sort of like the last time until about just before 9 am. A dapper gentleman was watching me from across the street under the awning so as not to get rained on. The strange thing was he stood there for 2 maybe 3 cycles of the stop light, and just watched me. Then he came across the street and confronted me saying that he almost got in a wreck due to all of the "HONKING". He went on to tell me that it was the law that the use of ones horn other than a emergency was against the state law. I told him that I did not think that was the case. He asked me to move on down the street out of the 'main' intersection of town. I told him I was going to stay put until around 10:15 am. At this point he threatened me and said that he was going to call the city police. I told him to do what he had to do, but I was going to stay until asked to leave or the time came when I had head out. He left and went back across the street and into some office just across the street from where I was. I kept seeing city police cars go by. Some of the patrolmen would nod or wave as they went by as they had been doing since the time I had arrived and the previous times. I just kept expecting them to stop at any moment and ask me to leave, but they did not. So did he or did he not call, that is the BIG question? Well that wraps up that one. Now the 2nd - At just before 9 am I had this young college girl stop by with her BIG umbrella and draw me into a 'chat'. Asking "why I could get anything I wanted at any store in Pullman already so why do we need a Wal-Mart?" I told her that it was up to Wal-Mart to decide if they wanted to invest their money in our community, it was their business. Then she promptly told me that it was all junk made in 3rd world countries. I went on to explain to here it was the same 'Crest tooth paste' or Rubber-Maid plastic ware, etc, etc... that was at any other store. She went on up the hill. but low and behold at about 9:45 am she showed up yet again. She promptly trotted out the same lines as before. During all of this exchange with her it was laced with 4 letter words and when some people would "HONK" she would either flip them off or give that person a thumbs down sign. I told her that was not very lady like and that we could 'chat' without all the superlatives, we could do this like "adults".
Well, I was done with my sign waving and I was off to the hearing just up the hill. When I got in and settled and the session started one of the first speakers for PARD was none other than our 'dapper gentleman' from above. He was the notorious Matthew Root PhD. We have come full circle it seems. Hope you went by and honked waved or gave me a thumbs up this nice rainy morning. IF I missed you today hope to see you next week, if so lay into those horns.

Congratulations Pullman!

The crowd at Gladish Auditorium this morning for the Wal-Mart appeal hearing was between 100-150. Estimates have pro-Wal-Wart supporters outnumbering opponents by a 2-1 margin.

When will PARD finally get it? 9,641 signatures on some petition mean nothing. The Wal-Mart mail survey last year showed a 2-1 ratio of support, the City Council election was closer to 3-1 and now we have today. When you ask full-time PULLMAN residents, the numbers come out about the same everytime.

Pullman is lost. We're not worthy of your efforts. Go save Moscow now.

Failing the Smell Test

Next week, I intend to address at length “Baghdad Chris” Lupke’s unhinged rants that appeared today in both the Daily Evergreen and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News (I’m so glad we have no liberal bias in our local media, aren’t you? When is the last time a POSITIVE story outside of Washington and Idaho about Wal-Mart made the front page?).

A couple of things he wrote, however, are outright lies and need to be refuted.

First of all, in the Evergreen, Lupke said the city’s revenue shortfalls “were caused precisely by the vote of those who now erroneously suggest that Wal-Mart would be our panacea”. That is libelous tripe. In the Daily News he amplified that statement by saying “Supposedly, a Wal-Mart in Pullman is going to replenish the municipal tax coffers in the wake of ill-advised initiatives that have drained our city’s revenues”.

That’s right, all of us Pullman Wal-Mart "promoters" got together with Tim Eyman and the evil old bastards in Arkansas seven years ago to figure out a way we could bring in Wal-Mart to Pullman to set Lake Erie on fire and steal from our grandmothers. This is PARD’s answer to our sales tax leakage problem: Blame it on the Wal-Mart supporters.

Secondly, he wrote in the Daily News, “The city of Pullman, for example, recently announced plans to boost utility taxes to pay for the storm water runoff caused by paving over this vast tract of land.”

No!! The city has to raise utility rates to cover expenses related to improving the city’s sewage treatment plant to address higher pollutant standards promulgated by the Department of Ecology. I quote from a front page Daily News story on January 2:

"Eliminating those pollutants to the satisfaction of the Washington State Department of Ecology could cost local government a lot of money. Some of that money will have to be recouped from residents as utility fees, said Mark Workman, Pullman's public works director."

You think the city would raise rates for something not even built yet? Absurd. If you want to blame anybody, blame the environmentalists, not Wal-Mart. Speaking of "vast tracts of asphalt”, how many do you figure there are altogether up on campus. Does it not rain on them as well? What was that Napoleon? “Friggin idiot?!”

This was the man, remember, that chafed at statements made about PARD by Chuck Millham and demanded the Daily News do “fact checking” before publishing. Lupke's steaming pile of bovine fecal material doesn't pass the smell test.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter Begins

Last November, we awakened from Judy Krueger's Nightmare on Main Street.

I guess it is fitting then that today, Friday the 13th, begins the final chapter in our long drawn-out battle with PARD over Pullman's future.

If at all possible, go to the appeal hearing today at Gladish Auditorium and show your support. The hearing starts at 10:30 AM.

How Many Union Reps and Professors Does It Take To Engineer an Intersection?

This could be a preview of what we are in for the next couple of weeks.

Wal-Mart announced plans to build a Supercenter over in Mount Vernon to replace its existing store. The usual suspects (i.e the United Food and Commercial Workers union and local snobs) started a group called “Livable Mount Vernon”. They marched in front of city hall with signs to show their displeasure.

Ultimately, the city issued a Mitigated Determination of Nonsignificance (MDNS) in reply to Wal-Mart’s SEPA checklist on March 9, 2005. The MDNS was appealed by the Washington State Department of Transportation and the UFCW Local 44 on March 18. A Hearing Examiner conducted a public hearing on the appeal on March 21. The Hearing Examiner rejected the appeal.

A city council meeting to approve the Wal-Mart application followed the appeal. About 75 union members rallied outside the council meeting holding signs reading “Livable Mount Vernon” and giving short speeches. More than 100 people crammed into the room to hear the council’s decision that didn’t come, even after 5 hours of deliberations. Early on, the WSDOT announced that it had dropped out of the appeal following traffic mitigation plans negotiated by the city, Wal-Mart and the WSDOT. The UFCW, predictably, was not happy with the traffic agreement. Here are the minutes from that City Council meeting. You can read for yourself the hysterical position the union was left in after WSDOT backed out, trying to come up with “expert” witnesses to testify about traffic. My favorite quote goes as follows:

Mr. Tilghman provided further comment on behalf of the Union. He has reviewed the MDNS, the concurrency narrative, the traffic analysis and staff reports and it is the Union’s contention that the MDNS does not adequately address the SEPA requirements and the proposed adjustments to the Hoag/LaVenture and Hoag/Continental intersections do not meet the concurrency requirements. The reports are neither clear nor concise, nor do they address the analysis that has been made. Mr. Tilghman’s professional qualifications were discussed and it was ascertained that he is not an engineer by training or license.

I can’t wait to see all the “expert” witnesses PARD tries to trot out tomorrow (Why, I have 20 years experience teaching ultra-left wing subjects, blah, blah, blah, bow down before my knowledge of small business economics, traffic and cemeteries!!). Judy Krueger’s husband will probably testify on how light causes sleep deprivation in mice. It will be a hoot.

I also like this, but Wal-Mart supporters WILL be at our hearing.:

Don Gordon, Mount Vernon resident, brought testimony in favor of the proposal. He stated that the majority of the residents of Mount Vernon were not at this meeting because they did not appeal this decision and were in support of the applicant’s proposed project.

Another council meeting was held on May 17, 2005. I’ll let the Skagit Valley Herald continue from here:

Mount Vernon clears way for Wal-Mart supercenter

BY BEVERLY CRICHFIELD STAFF WRITER

City Council OKs plans, with road improvements

MOUNT VERNON — With little discussion, City Council members gave Wal-Mart the thumbs up Tuesday night to move forward with plans to build a 207,000-square-foot supercenter west of the freeway north of Lowe's.

But the council also is requiring the developer of the Freeway Drive Plaza project, which includes Wal-Mart, to complete about $1.4 million of road improvements.

Once the new supercenter is completed, Wal-Mart will vacate its current discount store east of the freeway, near Safeway.

As part of Tuesday's unanimous decision, the council also denied an appeal by the local food workers' union of the city's environmental review of the project. Councilman Dale Ragan abstained from voting.

"It's sad," said Susan Riedel, another opponent who has been doggedly following the Wal-Mart project and who lives just west of the proposed project site.

Wal-Mart supporters smiled and nodded in approval when the council votes were tallied.

"Wal-Mart is a good company and treats us right," said Nancy Thomas, community involvement coordinator with Mount Vernon's Wal-Mart store.

Tuesday night's meeting was a continuance of last week's five-hour council hearing to consider the project and appeals by the union and the state Department of Transportation.

Traffic has been the central focus of concerns about the project, which includes the supercenter and other retail stores on a 30-acre site at the corner of Freeway Drive and Stewart Road.

The union asserts that plans by the city and developer to improve several nearby intersections, including Hoag and LaVenture Road and Hoag Road and Continental Place, will not adequately handle the additional traffic generated by the project.

The state said the city's traffic impact analysis, as part of the environmental review, should have included the congested College Way freeway interchange. City officials had said the city codes exempted the interchange from a review to examine whether additional traffic to the development would cause traffic flow to drop below the city's acceptable level of traffic service.

As a result of the state's appeal, the state, city and developer have spent the past month hammering out an improvement plan for the interchange that the state says will make traffic flow more smoothly.

The plan calls for:

-Widening the northbound freeway off-ramp and building a 400-foot-long right-hand turn pocket — three times as long as the current right-turn lane to keep traffic turning left from blocking the right-turn lane.

-Widening the southbound off-ramp and building a 400-foot-long left-turn lane.

-Paying to install new traffic controllers at the traffic signals, whichwill allow better synchronization of the traffic lights along College Way, Market Street, Freeway Drive and Riverside Drive and improve traffic flow.

-Installing cameras at the north- and southbound freeway ramps to help the state remotely control the traffic signals in case of backups and heavy traffic flow.

-Paying the state up to $45,000 for improvement construction, design and review costs.

The state agreed to drop its appeal when the council decided to require the improvements as a condition of building the project.

The developer, Pacific Northwest Development, also has agreed to make improvements to Freeway Drive and Stewart Road in front of the Wal-Mart project and pay the city $115,000 to restripe the Hoag and LaVenture roads and Continental Place and Hoag Road intersections to better accommodate traffic.

All of the improvements must be finished before Wal-Mart can open its new store.

The council said the proposed improvements to local roads, construction conditions of the project, including limiting truck traffic east of the College Way freeway interchange, and environmental review and mitigation process met all city and state requirements.

Some city residents had complained that they weren't allowed to make comments on aspects of the project other than the traffic impacts, council member John Cheney said.

But Cheney said residents have future opportunities to help change the city's codes and allow the city to consider impacts other than traffic for similar projects.

"Stay tuned to the creation of city ordinances in the future and make sure they encompass the thoughts and considerations you think should be on the table," Cheney said.

So now we've seen the UFCW footing the bill in Mount Vernon and Mill Creek. Why doesn't PARD just come and out and embrace their union comrades? Could it be that anyone can see through the UFCW's crass self-interest by claiming to be "experts" on traffic (or whatever is convenient) and putting defeating Wal-Mart before any kind of rational thought or logic. They don't care about traffic any more the towns they supposedly are "protecting". They're just furthering their own agenda. The UFCW is practicing the same "scorched earth" policy they accuse Wal-Mart of promoting. And the local bleeding-heart liberals and elitist smart-growthers get duped into going along for the ride.

Does all this sound familiar? It should, except for the really fast resolution to the appeal. What's happening now in Pullman comes right out of the UFCW playbook. But remember, this was a MITIGATED DNS in Mount Vernon, much worse than what the Pullman Planning Department issued. That ruling was a finding of nonsignifiance, with only minor issues requiring no major mitigation. I don't think Wal-Mart will have any problems with the appeal hearing. The burden of proof is all on PARD, and they have nothing. They can't go in there and argue about sweatshops in Bangladesh or lawsuits or any of that other propaganda. If it does come before the Pullman City Council, then I really have no concerns.

Downtown Parking

From today's Daily News:

To the dismay of several business owners, the Pullman City Council again is considering eliminating downtown parking on Grand Avenue.

Traffic flow on Grand Avenue has been an issue since 1993, when the city first commissioned a study that showed congestion could be alleviated by taking away some on-street parking.

Doing so would, without a doubt, hurt Pizza Pipeline who have a lot of quick in and out business. I also noticed today that a new Loading Zone was added in front of Pizza Pipeline and the Cordova Theater. April points out that even with parking within a few blocks it is still an issue with many people. When I bought my four-wheeler down there and when I bring it in for service, I am not going to park two blocks away and push it to her shop.

If PARD wants to fight for downtown this is an issue they should take up. I wonder what it would be like downtown without those spaces close to the businesses they serve. I wonder if Pipeline and some of the other business who need the quick in-and-out business would find a new place to move their business? If I was the owner of Pipeline I would surely move elsewhere.

Will there also be an increase in speeds through downtown? Will not having all the parked cars on the side of the road cause people to feel more comfortable in increasing their speed?

As much as I hate the traffic through the downtown area during Pullman's infamous "rush-hour" it is not to the level where I avoid it at all costs. I just realize that my commute will be an extra few minutes when going across town.

MASSIVE ENCROACHMENT ENDANGERS PREDATORY BEHEMOTH!!!!!!!!!

"T.V. Rerun" and "Baghdad Chris" have just released the following missive to the media:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 12, 2006

Contact:

Christopher Lupke (509) 335-2755; clupke@yahoo.com
www.pullman-ard.org

T. V. Reed, tv_reed@pullman-ard.org


FINALLY, AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PULLMAN RESIDENTS TO HAVE A VOICE:

WAL-MART HEARING BEGINS FRIDAY

Pullman, WA – This and next Friday, January 13, 2006 and January 20, 2006, hearings will be held to allow Pullman residents to voice their opposition to the proposal to build a MASSIVE (First pointless hyperbole) Wal-Mart Supercenter (Mall) (Glad they mentioned that. It will remind people again how we lost the Palouse Mall because of a previous generation of anti-growth radicals like this) of close to 250 thousand square feet a mere eight miles from an existing Wal-Mart. It has taken over a year to get this hearing, which comes at the behest of the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development (PARD), a grassroots movement made up of Pullman residents (Read professors) who would like to see the city grow in ways that are sensitive to the makeup of the community (What gives them the right to determine that?), embellish the retail options already here (Huh?) , enhance the natural landscape that is characteristic of the town (A dune-shaped store?) , and are mindful of broad community sentiment (Wake up and smell the coffee. Give up your pointless appeals as your ideas were rejected by nearly a 3-to-1 margin by voters last November.)

Other Cities Question Wal-Mart's Impact

Recently, the nearby town of Moscow, Idaho, facing its own big box ONSLAUGHT (Second pointless hyperbole), embarked on a series of town meetings to debate (Right) the pros and cons of RAMPANT (Third pointless hyperbole) development. Those in Pullman who favor more community involvement look across the border with some envy, noting that such community gatherings should have happened at the beginning of the process instead of near the end. (So move there already. I thought this was about Pullman, not Wal-Mart in Moscow. Why is PARD helping the anti-Wal-Mart movement in Moscow if that is the case? It’s comparing apples and oranges anyway. The land in Pullman was already zoned for the purpose and in the Comprehensive Plan. The Moscow Supercenter requires a rezone as well as being under the provisions of an “emergency” big box ordinance) The lack of public input and communication from the city government of Pullman has lead to the dissemination of much false information and rumor, particularly regarding the impact that Wal-Mart will have on the community. (That’s a slam on us. Hooray!! We’ve gotten to them!) Many independent studies, including some commissioned by Wal-Mart itself, have shown that the big box BEHEMOTH (Fourth pointless hyperbole) can have a negative effect on the economic climate of towns like Pullman and Moscow and can be a drain on its social services. (Uh, no more so than other retailers. Has PARD looked at how many Dissmores, ShopKo and Rite-Aid employees use public assistance? How about the benefits at the mom-and-pop stores?) Impoverished Wal-Mart employees account for more than half the public health supplements to the working poor in many states, including Arizona and Wisconsin. These facts have been reported by local and national newspapers on a regular basis. (Only as liberal lies and exaggerations. In Washington State, only 2.3% of Wal-Mart employees use Medicaid.)

Hearing to be Held on Two Consecutive Fridays

The hearing begins on Friday morning, January 13th at 10:30 am in Gladish Community Center, 115 NW State St. (on Sunnyside Hill near downtown Pullman) and will continue on Friday the 20th in the City Council Chambers. The meetings will be presided by Spokane attorney John Montgomery, appointed as Hearing Examiner by the City of Pullman. The structure of the hearing is outlined on the City of Pullman website, and allows for opening arguments and expert testimony both from the City of Pullman and from PARD. This testimony will be followed by an open public comment period for all who wish to speak out (on issues relevant to the SEPA and site plan approvals ONLY.) which may extend until the second Friday session. Wal-Mart will have an opportunity to present its rebuttal to the appeal and each side will receive time for a closing argument. According to the City of Pullman, the Hearing Examiner is expected to rule by the end of January. (We can only pray.)

Grave (HA!!!) Issues Surround the Debate

The four primary issues that concern PARD are: the health and safety issues involved in situating a project SO LARGE (Fifth pointless hyperbole), 250 thousand square feet with a 1000-car parking lot, across the street from an elementary, a junior high school and an assisted-living community for the elderly and next to the new hospital in Pullman; potential ENCROACHMENT (Sixth pointless hyperbole) on the cemetery adjacent and behind where the Wal-Mart supercenter is slated to be built; flood and pollution dangers from the MASSIVE (Seventh pointless hyperbole) amount of storm water runoff caused by paving such a LARGE (Eighth pointless hyperbole) tract of land; and the failure of the city to follow its own guidelines in conducting a study of the likely fiscal impact of the project on the city's economy (So the city requires economic impact studies of all new businesses opening in Pullman? I have previously rebutted all these frivolous claims).

Wal-Mart Protests Abound in Face of Multitude of Offenses

Many communities like Pullman and Moscow around the United States have been rising up in opposition to Wal-Mart and the "one-stop shopping" business model it openly advocates. (No the union-backed Wal-Mart Watch and Wake Up Wal-Mart groups have been fruitlessly doing that. Funny, there’s no mention of organized labor or PARD’s appeal for donations on those websites anywhere in this press release.) Documentaries have been shown on PBS and CNBC (Always the leaders in objective news coverage) that highlight the way Wal-Mart's PREDATORY (Ninth pointless hyperbole) business practices can destroy local businesses and illustrate how Wal-Mart EXPLOITS (Tenth pointless hyperbole) labor in third world countries to garner windfall profits at home. Wal-Mart is also the most-sued corporation in American and has been found guilty of an array of offenses including compelling employees to continue working after clocking out, ENCROACHING (Eleventh pointless hyperbole) on employees' lunch hours, and hiring undocumented workers through surrogate companies. They currently are engaged in the largest class action law suit in the nation's history for discriminating against female workers. (See my latest post about that)

Possible Outcomes

The results of the hearing are largely in the hands of the Hearing Examiner (and facts and the law, thank God) and could range in possibilities from an outright denial of the project on the grounds that it violates the Pullman City Comprehensive Plan and city codes and ENDANGERS (Twelfth pointless hyperbole) the health and safety of residents to a scaling down of the project to buffer the street and cemetery areas. (Uh, what about the possible outcome that the city made the correct decision and PARD is full of crap? That is the most likely outcome if this is the best argument they can make.) Requiring Wal-Mart to pay for a fiscal impact study is another possible outcome, given the fact that Wal-Mart has agreed to do this elsewhere when compelled. (What if it said Wal-Mmart would benefit Pullman? Would PARD give up? I don't think so. It's a smokescreen, like everything else in this release, and has nothing to do with Pullman)

The Palousitics BS-O-Meter yields the following results:

MASSIVE
ONSLAUGHT
RAMPANT
BEHEMOTH
SO LARGE
ENCROACHMENT
MASSIVE
LARGE
PREDATORY
EXPLOITS
ENCROACHING
ENDANGERS

So PARD’s favorite words drawn from Kennedy’s Thesaurus of Liberality appear to be “MASSIVE ENCROACHMENT!!!!!!” Nothing like a fact-filled, rational press release. I'd like to think the media would laugh at something so breathlessly silly, but they'll probably lap it up.

Lawsuits and Straitjackets

I continue to be astounded at the inability or unwillingness of PARD members to use simple logic. For example, a letter in today’s’ Moscow-Pullman Daily News from Leilani Alamillo, wife of PARD Labor Outreach Coordinator and WSU Comparative Ethnic Studeies Professor Jose Alamillo, who used a book called “Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers’s Rights at Wal-Mart” in one of his classes last semester:

I have frequently been asked the question, “Why is there so much opposition to Wal-Mart?” The answer is that the company is too big.

Tom Forbes wrote a letter to the editor (Opinion, Dec. 12) stating Wal-Mart is no different from other companies. He compared a lawsuit penalizing Wal-Mart for $172 million with similar lawsuits from Starbucks for $18 million and Rite Aid for $25 million. But look at the numbers, $18 million and $25 million are not even close to $172 million. Wal-Mart is the No. 1 retailer in the world. It has too much power over the suppliers and has forced the closure of businesses that don’t play by its rules.

Wal-Mart has grown so large it is abusing its power. I wouldn’t mind if Wal-Mart was a store that I could choose to not shop at. My fear is that Wal-Mart will become a monopoly in Pullman and limit my choices.

I also have been asked the question, “If Target was planning to build in Pullman would there be the same opposition?” The answer is no. I think Pullman would welcome Target with open arms. Wal-Mart cannot be compared to any other company. Because of its size and power, it is in a class of its own.

First of all, there is not “so much opposition to Wal-Mart” in Pullman. Do you see Judy Krueger and Gary Johnson on the City Council? I rest my case.

And the company is “too big”? How about the U.S. government? They get sued more than Wal-Mart. Does that make it “too big”? In that case, welcome to the Republican Party! I wonder what operating system Ms. Alamillo uses on her computer? Windows XP maybe? Is Microsoft “too big”? The U.S. government and the European Union thought so when they filed anti-trust lawsuits against it. Does she frequent Starbucks? They have over 7,000 stores in the U.S., 3 in Pullman alone. McDonald’s? 2 in Pullman. Let’s petition against them for closing down Burger King!! And who is Ms. Alamillo to determine what is “too big” anyway? What she really means is that Wal-Mart has been “too successful” without the involvement of labor unions, who get no piece of the pie to support Ms. Alamillo’s liberal Democratic causes. I hope she never owns a business that gets “too big” or “too successful” in someone else’s eyes. Letters like this from PARD only drive more mainstream Pullman residents against them.

I stated in my letter to the editor that Wal-Mart was PROPORTIONATELY no better or worse than any other company. I wasn’t talking about raw numbers, just the fact that other companies violate labor laws too. But since she says look at the numbers, let’s do just that.

The $172 million Wal-Mart lawsuit affected 116,000 current and former California Wal-Mart employees. The $25 million Rite-Aid suit involved 3,000 California managers and assistants. Hmmmm. Let’s see. That’s about $1,500 per Wal-Mart employee versus $8,333 per Rite-Aid employee involved in the respective lawsuits. Wal-Mart doesn’t seem so bad in comparison, now does it? And she states further that Wal-Mart is in a class of its own because of its size and power. Wouldn’t that apply to lawsuits as well? It’s a complete non sequitur. According to her then, we don’t have to be outraged about violations of labor law unless the company is “too big”. If ANY company, large or small, Wal-Mart or not, gets out of line they should be punished.

I challenge her to name ONE supplier that was forced to close SOLELY because of Wal-Mart. Just one. And so what if they try to contain their costs from their suppliers? What successful company doesn’t? A little real-world business experience outside the ivy-covered halls of academe might do some of these PARDners a world of good.

In addition, Wal-Mart fights lawsuits more aggressively and settles less often than most other companies. This, combined with its deep pockets as the world’s largest retailer, explains both the higher number of open suits and higher judgments. Wal-Mart obviously believes that ultimately this will save them money by reducing the number of frivolous litigation brought against them (dozens of lawyers across the United States now specialize in just suing Wal-Mart) and it fits with Sam Walton’s philosophy of “What did we do wrong?” But as you can see, there is a PR price to pay for Wal-Mart’s strategy.

“I wouldn’t mind if Wal-Mart was a store that I could choose to not shop at. My fear is that Wal-Mart will become a monopoly in Pullman and limit my choices. “ What a laughably absurd statement. The problem we have now is that everyone in Pullman is leaving town to shop elsewhere. Why would Ms. Alamillo suddenly not be able to choose not to shop at Wal-Mart? Will there be armed (and presumably non-union) Wal-Mart guards posted at the border with Idaho? Just keep going to the Co-Op, Costco, or wherever. And you talk about “limited choices”? How about ShopKo?? Is that not a monopoly? How about Safeway and Dissmores?? Give me a break.

The only thing Alamillo says that is correct is that Target would be welcomed with open arms. Of course, the putrid hypocrisy of that statement is overwhelming. A Target would have EXACTLY the same SEPA and site plan issues that PARD is now appealing against Wal-Mart (i.e. there will still be traffic and the rain would also fall on Target’s parking lot). This is just PARD’s way of again trying to negotiate their “Anybody but Wal-Mart” position with the town. “Oh, you lame capitalists insist on big boxes. Okay, we promise we won’t fight Target. Just please no rednecky, non-union Wal-Mart”.

This is one of the most pathetic examples of rationalizing an indefensible viewpoint I have ever seen. These “smart-growthers” who are so against “suburban sprawl” and “crass consumerism” are now trying to pander it to us in a different form. I’d respect them so much more if they just stuck with their guns and remained dead set against ANY big box store. The PARD “Target Gambit” (played previously by T.V. Reed and Janet Damm) just proves they are the mindless running lapdogs of the UFCW and SEIU.

Ms.Alamillo does not address my point about sales tax leakage. No one in PARD has an answer for that. What supreme arrogance. Who in the hell are Ms. Alamillo and her comrades to deny us our desperately needed sales tax revenue and determine where we can or cannot shop? Who are they to single out one company that they don’t like because of their radical ideology? I’m sick of them all and I can’t wait until they have to eat their words and skulk around our new Supercenter.

Too Big is not a Reason

I have heard this before and today in the Daily News I heard it again. The reason why Wal-Mart should not come to Pullman is that it is too big. The company is too big. That is the silliest reason I have heard. It would be like saying their company colors are ugly.

Leilani Alamillo was the writer of the letter to the editor in the newspaper. After after claiming that WalMart was too big and powerful. He made a claim that WalMart forced businesses out of business without offering an evidence. Then he said look at the figures of Tom's lawsuit values. WalMart has 172 million in lawsuits whereas Rite Aids is only 25 million.

Look at his statement that WalMart is so big, so big in fact that it should not be allowed in Pullman, I decided to compare those numbers with the company Income statements. I went to the 2005 financial statements for yearly income for each company.

Then I compared the income to the lawsuit value as reported by Tom Forbes. This gave me a figure. I am sure a few people will be shocked. But in terms of Income, Starbucks, is almost five-times worse than WalMart.

COMPANY - INCOME - LAWSUIT VALUE - PERCENT OF INCOME
Starbucks - $6,369,300,000.00 - $18,000,000.00 - 0.28%
Rite Aid - $16,816,439,000.00 - $25,000,000.00 - 0.15%
WalMart - $287,989,000,000.00 - $172,000,000.00 - 0.06%

Anyway, I just had to say something. I could not sit back while people make statements like "WalMart is too big, therefore we don't want it in Pullman."

You Get The Growth You Deserve

For an event that was supposed to rationally discuss the possible effects of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Moscow, some quotes from the story in today’s Moscow-Pullman Daily News about last night’s forum show surprisingly little relevant or truthful information was divulged:

Fact

“People are only thinking about dollars when it comes to Wal-Mart”

What should they think about? Must be nice to not have to think about costs, budgets, taxes, or prosperity. If you disagree with Wal-Mart’s practices or it’s just beneath you, then don’t go there. But why punish an entire town? Wal-Mart will continue its “evil ways” unabated whether a Supercenter opens in Moscow or not. There are plenty of other less-discriminating towns out there begging for jobs, tax revenue, increased choice and lower prices.

“Many local college students get through school with jobs and low prices”

Refer to the recent Global Insight economic study of Wal-Mart.

“The low prices benefit the poor”

Ditto.

“It’s completely inappropriate for us to target one business. It’s about freedom of choice…Whose right is it to tell you where you can or cannot shop?”

Amen, brother! Refer to the United States Constitution with any questions.

“We may wake up and find that we have a Wal-Mart (on the border) with a whopping amount of business and all of the sales taxes going to the state of Washington and the county of Whitman”

Refer to your common sense here. I would hate to see the liberals triumph,but we’ll be happy to take your money and jobs over here as the “smart growthers” run Moscow into the ground.

Baloney

“The only thing worse than having a Wal-Mart is not having a Wal-Mart”

Huh? Even my 12 year-old didn't get that.

“It exploits people”

People voluntarily working and getting paid an agreed upon wage on the next Donahue.

“If I can make a profit from knocking over grandma and stealing her wallet”

My personal favorite. Every time a Wal-Mart opponent speaks like this, it makes me smile as it turns mainstream people against them.

“They are wrong”

Hard to argue with an intelligent, well thought out, factual statement like that.

“They are breaking the economy”

Riiight. I think Wall Street, the stockholders, and Global Insight would disagree here.

“They will destroy the economy of the United States”

America, America. As Burke said the last refuge of a scoundrel is….

“Personally, I want to strive toward truth, beauty and goodness”

I thought the the Miss America pageant had moved to Las Vegas.

“Wal-Mart uses sweatshops in Bangladesh to pay factory workers $2 a day. The company pays 14 cents for a toy that is sold for $14 in their stores”

How about a little attribution for a wild accusation like this? Makes sense to me. Someone in Bangladesh is not getting a “living wage”!! Let’s ruin Moscow’s economy, hurt our students and seniors, and throw almost 200 people out of a job in protest!!! My grandmother used to call this “cutting your nose off to spite your face”. In any case, who knows? $2 a day may be a lifesaver in Bangladesh. What if they used to make $1 a day?

“She believes in a free market, too, but disagrees with many of Wal-Mart’s practices... We have the right to tell (Wal-Mart) no”

That’s like being a little pregnant. There’s no such thing as a little freedom. Either you have a free market or you don’t. The alternative is socialism, where others (government, academics, labor unions, etc.) make the decisions for you.

“She expects Wal-Mart to continue the trend of running both stores one or two years until they drive out the competition — then closing one and leaving the other empty”

What competition? Target? Costco? Fred Meyer? Oh wait, those are in Spokane and Lewiston. They should hold forums there too.

“We’re talking about two super centers within eight miles of each other. That’s predatory.”

No, that’s fair. And that’s eight miles PLUS two states, two cities, two counties, two school districts, two hospital districts, two fire districts, and two water and sewer districts apart (I’m sure I forgot something). Why do we have two hospitals within eight miles of each other? What’s the alternative? One town gets screwed on sales taxes like Pullman has for the last 30 years. We should thank God Wal-Mart is choosing to open Supercenters in both Moscow and Pullman versus Whitman and Latah Counties. Only Moscow could have this kind of discussion. Our local intelligentisia can only preemptively send our tax dollars over the border, as we have no Wal-Mart yet.

“The cost of living is extremely high. We have a high quality of life"

Whaaat? That must be a typo or a misquote. Otherwise, BJ Swanson was arguing against herself. How can you have a high quality of life when the cost of living is extremely high (which we all know it is both in Pullman and Moscow)? Wal-Mart will increase quality of life by reducing the high cost of living. Of course, if you are a university professor or bank executive, the high cost of living may be no impediment to a high quality of life.

Remember, there’s ALREADY a Wal-Mart in Moscow. They are just going to add a grocery store, tire and lube center, optician, gas station, etc. You’d think the Apocalypse was upon Moscow. But what do you expect from a forum sponsored by the Moscow Civic Association, which is ultra-liberal and actively opposed to Wal-Mart in any form?

I prefer the less liberal-biased story that was in the Lewiston Tribune. Joel Mills reported that “one unidentified speaker said that there were probably far more people shopping at Moscow's current Wal-Mart during the forum than actually attending the forum”. The crowd applauded. There may be hope after all. The general consensus of the forum was for Moscow to hold its collective nose and have a Supercenter. Who knows what the anti-growth Moscow City Council will do though.

So we in Pullman got a little preview of the leftist, negative, anti-everything nonsense we can expect the next two Fridays. Bring your hip waders.