Can We Afford "Smart Growth?"

A new UW study of Seattle housing prices says "No":

Between 1989 and 2006, the median inflation-adjusted price of a Seattle house rose from $221,000 to $447,800. Fully $200,000 of that increase was the result of land-use regulations, says Theo Eicher — twice the financial impact that regulation has had on other major U.S. cities.

What land-use regulations you say?

A key regulation is the state's Growth Management Act, enacted in 1990 in response to widespread public concern that sprawl could destroy the area's unique character. To preserve it, the act promoted restrictions on where housing can be built. The result is artificial density that has driven up home prices by limiting supply, Eicher says.

And who is it that pushes for these onerous regulations?

According to the Wharton study, cities such as Seattle that have high median incomes, high home prices and a large percentage of college-educated workers tend to have the most land-use regulations.

Sjoblom says that makes sense: "People with higher incomes want the kind of amenities that regulation provides," he says. "If you're a homeowner and growth controls are imposed and housing prices shoot up, you're grandfathered because you own the place. In theory people will say it's [rising prices] a bad thing, but in practice it's not hurting them."

[...]

In the final analysis, Eicher believes Seattle's regulatory climate exists because its residents want it. "My sense is land-use restrictions are imposed to generate socially desirable outcomes," he says. "We all love parks and green spaces. But we must also be informed about the costs. It's very easy to vote for a park if you think the cost is free."

Ah, now I see. The same old unholy alliance of left-wing no-growthers and selfish NIMBYists.

Pullman suffers from the same sort of problem as Seattle does to a lesser extent: artificially high home prices created by regulations created by snobby eltitists. For example, the PARDners say they want affordable housing while at the same time pressing for even more restrictive land use regulations. And let's not forget Cheryl Morgan and the League of Women Voters who also work to do everything they can to make development more difficult in Pullman.

"Clarkston Wal-Mart plans steaming ahead"

Meanwhile, kookless Clarkston will have a Wal-Mart Supercenter summer after next...

From today's Lewiston Tribune:

Wal-Mart could open across the street from Costco in Clarkston by June 2009.

That's the prediction of Jim Martin, Clarkston public works director, who has been working with the nation's biggest retailer on its plans to open a super center there.

Much is taking place behind the scenes, even though little activity is happening at the proposed 26-acre site on Fifth Street that has yet to be purchased by Wal-Mart, Martin says.

Consultants with the big-box chain continue to follow the schedule that's been developed in communication with city officials and has been happening for about a year, Martin says.

Wal-Mart has completed a traffic study. Comments about the study are due soon from the Washington Department of Transportation and the architecture and engineering firm USKH, Martin said.

The city of Clarkston hired USKH with money from the Lewis-Clark Metropolitan Planning Organization, Martin said.

The city will look at the information provided by all those parties and then negotiate with Wal-Mart about what kinds of changes it will require.

City building officials also will be sending out notices to agencies such as the Department of Ecology and Fish and Wildlife as part of following the State Environmental Policy Act. Those agencies will be invited to comment on any additional pollution Wal-Mart might create, such as more lighting, noise and car exhaust. The city might request additional mitigation based on those remarks, Martin said.

But Martin doesn't expect any of those steps in the process will present major obstacles. The property is located in a zone that allows big-box stores and he's not aware of any significant environmental issues. "The consultants for Wal-Mart do not leave any stone unturned. They've been going over the property with a fine-tooth comb."

Once Wal-Mart gets its building permit, which could be as early as June, Martin expects it will take between 12 and 18 months to complete. "This isn't their first time at the prom. So I don't imagine it will be a slow process."

Opening super centers in other communities has taken longer.

Wal-Mart has discussed seeking a super center site in Lewiston since at least 2001, but any steps the retailer has made toward that goal have never been made public.

In Pullman, Wal-Mart has acquired 28 acres in the 400 block of Bishop Boulevard. Plans for a super center there were first announced in October 2004, said Pete Dickinson, city planning. But plans for the store continue to be stalled in litigation.

Three judges in Washington's Division III Court of Appeals in Spokane heard arguments in the case on Dec. 19. Typically the judges take three to six months to issue their opinions, according to an employee in the office of the court's clerks.

The case involves an appeal by the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development of an initial decision by the city of Pullman to allow the super center.

Wal-Mart also examined opening a super center in Moscow, where it already has a discount store. But that idea was put on the back burner because it found the city's process for a proposed site too cumbersome.

The recent shift in Moscow's city council doesn't seem to have changed Wal-Mart's stance. "We'd still like to serve our customers there with a super center, but at this point, it's kind of on hold," says Karianne Fallow, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart in Boise.

Farther north, in Hayden Lake, the process has been complicated too. City Manager Jay Townsend estimates Wal-Mart has been working on its plans for at least five years.

Initially Wal-Mart wanted to locate on two parcels of land, but only one of them was zoned for the development. The city denied a request to rezone one of the parcels after a packed public hearing, and Wal-Mart went back and redid its design so it could use a single parcel, Townsend says.

Doing so is costing Wal-Mart hundreds of thousands of dollars in mitigation, such as replacing a sewer lift station that has to be moved and creating an additional travel lane on U.S. Highway 95, Townsend says.

The city of Hayden also successfully negotiated with Wal-Mart to make the facade of the store tan and brown with rock veneer instead of the standard gray with red, white and blue. The idea is to blend with the rustic flavor Hayden Lake is trying to develop as part of a revitalization project. "We wanted something that was going to fit within the community itself," Townsend says.

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The Mirror Has Two Faces

I also agree with others who have written in before on these issues who have complained the driving all the way from Pullman to the sprawl area where Hawkins would wish to build is a waste of gas and not environmentally sound.

- PARDner Christopher Lupke, online comment, Moscow-Pullman Daily News website, January 30, 2008

Burma seems to have forgotten there is a Wal-Mart seven miles away. If she has trouble getting there, I’d be happy to do the neighborly thing and take her. She has a right to shop for shoddy sweatshop-made goods if she wishes.

- PARDner T.V. Reed Monday, letter to the editor, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, January 1, 2007

10. We already have a Wal-Mart 7 miles away, and a new Supercenter is being planned for Moscow

- "Top 10 Reasons a Wal-Mart Supercenter Would Be Bad for Pullman," PARD Poster at 2005 National Lentil Festival

While we understand some people in Pullman who think it only fair turnabout to gain sales at the expense of Moscow, for a number of reasons that is highly unlikely to happen. Moreover, at a time when the Pullman and Moscow governments are seeking to cooperate on a number of projects, including responsible development of the Route 270 corridor, this is no time for store wars to ruin good will.

- PARD Position Paper

The Hawkins "sprawl area" to which Lupke refers is directly adjacent to the existing Wal-Mart that the PARDners direct folks to, as well as the Moscow businesses which they are so deeply concerned about.

If you are getting motion sickness trying to follow all of PARD's gyrations on the various issues, don't worry. You're not alone. Fortunately, Lu Laoshi's hypocritical rantings on the Hawkins development will remain just that: the inane, incoherent, illogical ramblings of an academic with a hugely overblown sense of self-importance. PARD has no big labor sugar daddy to bankroll an appeal of the Hawkins project.

"Hawkins vote could come Monday in Whitman County"

"...the best way to keep shoppers in Pullman and, crucially, attract shoppers from Moscow and other nearby communities, is for Pullman to 'differentiate itself' from its neighbors, to offer shopping and dining opportunities not already available in our area."

- PARDner Chris Lupke, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, June 16, 2006

"I see Whitman County and Latah County as having somewhat of a fixed revenue source. I don't know if there is enough dispensable income to support this kind of project."

- PARDner Don Orlich, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, January 29, 2008, on the Hawkins Companies retail development in the corridor which will bring a variety of new shopping and dining opportunities to the Palouse, including a Lowe's Home Improvement and another undisclosed large retailer.

From today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Commissioners say they won't be rushed in making decision to sell bonds to pay for infrastructure at development site

Whitman County commissioners have tentatively set Monday as their target date for a vote on the proposed public-private partnership with Hawkins Companies and the selling of roughly $10 million in bonds.

The bonds would be used to pay for public infrastructure at the site of Hawkins' proposed retail development in the Pullman-Moscow corridor, just west of the Idaho state line.

Commissioner Michael Largent said at a public meeting Monday in Colfax the commissioners would not be rushed in making their decision.

"We will not make a decision until we are ready, regardless of a timeline," he said.

Monday's meeting was not as well attended as the previous two public meetings on the topic, with only four Whitman County residents attending.

Donald Orlich, a Pullman resident, was one of two residents who spoke against the proposed development. He told the county commissioners it was not the government's place to provide money for private businesses. He also said it was not the time to burden the county with debt, given the declining state of the country's economy.

"What we have in front of us is whether the county will commit to financing public infrastructure," Orlich said. "I don't think we should be subsidizing private companies.

"I really think this would be bad timing all around and I am opposed to this."

Orlich also questioned the profitability potential of the proposed 700,000-square-foot shopping center.

"I see Whitman County and Latah County as having somewhat of a fixed revenue source," Orlich said. "I don't know if there is enough dispensable income to support this kind of project."

Commissioner Jerry Finch responded to Orlich's comment by citing a recent study that concluded the Palouse loses $80 million a year in potential retail sales to nearby cities like Spokane and Lewiston.

"If we capture 10 percent of that, which I think is realistic, those numbers are doable," Finch said.

Finch also said the county and Hawkins have been careful in their estimates.

"Everywhere we have done this we have done this very conservatively," Finch said.

Russ Coggins, a Pullman resident, spoke in favor of the bonding and the development.

"I think the proposed bond as proposed is going to be a good thing for Whitman County," Coggins said. "It is a heck of a bargain. I don't see how Whitman County can pass on it."

The commissioners also said during the meeting that representatives from Hawkins have indicated that a second "major retailer" is ready to commit to the development.

The county has made available an informational packet on its Web site (whitmancounty.org) in response to the many questions raised by residents during last week's public meeting and to clear up some of the public's questions.

One of the questions addressed in the packet was what would the total cost of the bond be to the county once interest is included. According to the packet, the county has not decided on the length of the bond, but if the county elected to sell 20-year bonds, the cost of a $9.1 million bond ultimately would be $14.2 million.

Another question addressed how the county will pay for the bonds. According to the packet, the county expects sales and property taxes generated from the development will "more than pay for the costs to the county."

The county also expects to see a tax revenue profit from the development of $9 million over the first 20 years, "over and above the costs in principal and interest to pay for the infrastructure."

If the estimates aren't reached, the county still would have several options to pay for the bonds, including using .09 funds - money provided by the state and awarded by the county to assist rural communities with economic development - or dipping into the county's general fund, according to the packet.

Hawkins representatives were scheduled to meet with Moscow representatives today in Spokane, with a goal of resolving their differences over a water-rights transfers granted by the Washington State Department of Ecology.

Moscow has appealed the Department of Ecology's decision, arguing that the water rights were located in two different bodies of public groundwater and the transfers would impair existing water rights, not be in the public's interest and would improperly modify the manner of the rights' intended use. The appeal also cited Ecology's failure to conduct an analysis of the average amount of water use from the rights over the past five years.

Chris Lupke: Working Class Hero

Fear not, gentle reader, The PARD of Avon is back. He wrote the following on the Daily News website last Friday:

I am pleased to see Alice Schroeder speak out against this ill-conceived plan to prop up the Hawkins Project on the back of Whitman county residents. It was shocking to me to read the coverage in this newspaper that mis-lead the reader to believe that residents support this boondoggle. There has been one half-hour meeting and another is scheduled for next week. Both are in Colfax. For those of us who work for a living, it is difficult to take time out of the middle of the work day to drive so far. But even if we did, what is the message being sent by the county government by scheduling only a half-hour for such a meeting?

Apparently, however, working stiff tenured professor Lupke did find the time to take out of his busy work day to drive home this afternoon and post this on the Daily News website at 1:19 PM (ironically, the approximate starting time of the first hearing in Colfax on Hawkins):

Lobo,

I'm still waiting for you to publicly reconcile a government handout to the Hawkins corporation with your expressed libertarian beliefs.

The good news is that after a small amount of fanfare by a couple radicals and the conservative editorial board of this paper, it now looks certain that this half-baked idea is going nowhere. It is even being vocally opposed by major, local developers, because it unfairly supports one corporate interest while ignoring local businesses in Pullman and the county who could use the subsidy too.

Of course, there are other problems with the project too.

I am assuming, of course, that Lupke, taxpayer champion that he is, drove home to post his personal political views from his own computer rather than utilizing the taxpayer-funded network and computer provided to him by WSU.

Say What? Part Three

Does anyone who attended Tuesday's Whitman County Commissioners meeting know if any of the no-growth moonbat PARDners actually showed up to comment, or are they just going to content themselves with chucking arrows from the sidelines? I guess there is no union willing to haul Hawkins Companies into court, which just makes them powerless, insignificant buzzing little gnats in this case:

If you lived in Whitman county and you knew that your tax dollars were subsidizing sprawl, you would likely feel differently about the matter.

- PARDner Chris Lupke, online comment at Moscow-Pullman Daily News website, January 22, 2008

Mr. Forbes insinuates that I am left wing and maybe even a communist, but what he fails to point out is that I have previously advocated encouraging Costco to build in Pullman. This would make a lot more retail sense to me than Wal-Mart. That being said, many people in the community actually stand to the left of me on this issue, opposing any further big box development at all. This illustrates the fact that actually I am in the mainstream not on the radical left, as Mr. Forbes’ so desperately wishes to paint me.

- PARDner Chris Lupke, online comment at Moscow-Pullman Daily News website, November 29, 2007

To that end, we should develop a regional plan for retail growth that attracts Moscow residents to Pullman not because we wish to replicate them but, as the C.L.U.E. study concludes, because we are adding new and unique “products and services not currently available within the region.”

- PARDner Chris Lupke, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, June 16, 2006

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Say What? Part Two

We don't want any of our tax money subsidizing development, retail or housing.

- PARDners Janet and Leroy Damm, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, January 21, 2008

An interesting idea that emerged from the discussion was that of a community trust that could work with groups like the Community Action Center to help families in Pullman find homes in their price range, keeping these homes in trust to ensure that when the owners decide to move, these homes remain affordable. It’s a win for the community, a win for the home owners and a win for Pullman.

- Deirdre Rogers, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, December 14, 2007

Susie Law-Godat, with the Portland Community Land Trust, discussed how the program helps provide people with home owner opportunities in the Portland-area. Through the program, people purchase their homes but the agency owns the land.

The idea, she said, is to keep the land to be used for affordable housing.

"It's a lot of bang for your buck," she said. "It's a great way to keep your subsidy in the same property."

Because the agency owns the land, the family's mortgage payments are lower. When and if a family decides to move, they often have acquired enough equity that they can purchase a home on the open market.

- "PARD forum tackles issue of affordable housing in Pullman," Moscow-Pullman Daily News, November 30, 2007

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Say What? Part One

Break out your shovels and hip waders. The PARDners are at it again, this time going after the Hawkins corridor development:

The "2006 Idaho Job Gap Report" noted that a living wage in Idaho for a family of three is $22.23 per hour. No business associated with Hawkins will ever pay that hourly wage. Again, there is no addition to the overall economy.

- PARDner Don Orlich, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, January 24, 2008

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.

- PARDner Leilani Alamillo, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, January 11, 2006

A Target, if of modest size and located away from Bishop Boulevard, will cause far less disruption and will actually accomplish the stated goal of super-center backers to bring people in from Moscow and even Lewiston.

- PARDner TV Reed, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, November 2, 2005

Target pays between $6.25 an hour to $8 an hour for entry-level, hourly positions in its Twin Cities stores, according to a recent survey of local Target workers by the UFCW. That's in line with what Wal-Mart pays in this market, though some starting-level Wal-Mart workers can earn $9 to $10 an hour, the UFCW said.

Both companies offer health care insurance to employees, but Target's is considered more restrictive. Two years ago, Target dropped health care insurance coverage for all part-time workers. By contrast, Wal-Mart makes its medical plan available to all workers, full- and part-time.

Union groups that have analyzed the two companies' policies maintain that Wal-Mart's also is more equitable.

All Wal-Mart's employees, from store cashiers to chief executive Lee Scott, are covered under the same medical plan. All employees can choose from the same four deductible options and receive unlimited coverage for catastrophic expenses -- such as organ transplants or cancer treatments -- that can financially ruin an employee.

Target, however, offers multiple health care plans to its employees that vary by geographic location, according to the company's employee handbook. At Target, store employees do not receive catastrophic coverage and deductible levels vary, according to former and current employees.

Wal-Mart estimates that 56 percent of its employees receive health care coverage. Target declined to disclose its percentage of insured workers, but the UFCW estimates based on surveys of Twin Cities employees that less than half the company's workers receive coverage under its plan.

- Chris Serres, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, May 22, 2005

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"Food helps Wal-Mart in Dec, while Target struggles"

Reuters is reporting today:

U.S. shoppers seeking cheap groceries boosted December sales at discount retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc, but a pullback in discretionary purchases by middle-income shoppers hurt holiday sales at rival Target Corp.

The sales data released on Thursday by the top U.S. discount retailers showed consumers are loading up on necessities and discounted goods, but splurging only selectively in the face of high gas prices, food inflation and a shaky housing market.

I wonder if local business "experts" Chris Lupke and TV Reed, who have predicted the "end of Wal-Mart," will have some comment on this? I don't think so either.

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"Spending without guilt"

Scott Braski of Moscow has a great response to PARDner Don Orlich's recent letter chastizing the Walton Family Foundation (i.e. the family that owns Wal-Mart) for supporting school vouchers.

Braski probably doesn't know Orlich and the PARDners as well as we do. Choice and freedom to them are things that belong in the hands of faceless government bureaucrats, not the individual.

By the way, the Walton Family Foundation's emphasis on providing tuition assistance for low-income families wanting to give their children the best possible education through attendance at a private school came from Sam Walton's son John, who died in an experimental aircraft crash in 2005.

Though he was the son of a millionaire entrepreneur, John Walton dropped out of college, enlisted in the Army, and became a member of the Special Forces. He was wounded in action and won the Silver Star for heroism in Vietnam as part of a top secret, behind the lines MACV-SOG unit, Recon Team Louisiana.

John Walton was a man who knew a thing or two about freedom and fighting for it. How dare some statist educrat question the fact Walton decided to spend some of his birthright on providing opportunity and freedom for others less fortunate.

From today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

There is more to Donald C. Orlich's recent letter to the editor than meets the eye (Opinion, Dec. 14), and I have a few questions. Yes, the wonders of Pullman are due to public education. Yes, most of the students at Washington State University received a public education. No one is debating that. The question is, would it have been possible to have the Pullman public education be any better? If so, would it have been wrong for a set of parents to want a better education for their child?

If I work extra hard so that I can afford to purchase a better-than-public education for my child, should I feel guilty for wanting to invest my money in my own children? I am required to pay taxes that support public schools, even if my kids never set foot in one, so I'm not leaving the poor in the cold. Should someone else have the right to force me to educate my child a certain way?

As for Wal-Mart, Orlich believes the company doesn't have the right to invest its post-tax earnings as it wishes. At what point does one lose that right? When one becomes a certain degree of successful? The harder you work, the more skill you apply, the less control you should have over your own money? One of these omniscient philanthropy committees needs to draw an exact line somewhere, so we all know exactly how successful not to become, and how hard not to work. Is not a good definition of freedom the ability to spend your own after-tax earnings as you wish? Erode that freedom and you'll find you have none left.

Scott Braski, Moscow

"Pullman Wal-Mart decision months away; Court of appeals hears final arguments from giant retailer, PARD"

Today's "news story" in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News about the Wal-Mart appeal hearing reads more like a PARD press release.

The reporter let stand, without any rebuttal whatsoever, propagandistic statments from PARD's union hired gun overexaggerating the amount of time that it will take to reach a decision, telepathically reading the judges' minds, conjuring frightening images of dead school children in the streets, and the outrageously false assertions that Wal-Mart will somehow steal business from non-existent Mom-and-Pop retail stores and that sales tax revenue will not increase. But my favorite quote is when Bricklin, who lives in Seattle, arrogantly states, "I think the citizens of Pullman deserve more than that." What we deserve, Mr. Bricklin, is the truth behind who is paying your fees and forcing the REAL taxpayers in Pullman to waste our hard-earned money on this fight.

And at last TV Reed finally 'fesses up about the whole Bishop Blvd. location red herring when he said: "I can't imagine a worse site to build on, but I can't imagine many better, either."

Sure, Chuck Maduell (of the Davis Wright Tremaine law firm - what happened to McCullough Hill?) had nothing to say. But what about contacting the city or the grassroots group in Pullman backing Wal-Mart, Businesses & Residents for Economic Opportuniy (BREO). Certainly there was time to do that. Speaking of the city, why didn't Laura McAloon present oral arguments? That's something that could have been covered in the article besides giving PARD even more space to spout their lies.

Oh well. Luckily, biased reporters don't decide if we get Wal-Mart, the Court of Appeals does. And I am confident they will make the right decision. Let us remember the words of Epicetus:

Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

From today's Daily News:

SPOKANE - Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development attorney Dave Bricklin said it could take three to six months before a decision is rendered by the Division III Court of Appeals regarding Wal-Mart's plans to build a super store in Pullman.

Bricklin and Wal-Mart attorney Chuck Maduell voiced their final arguments regarding the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter on Bishop Boulevard in front of a panel of three judges in Spokane on Wednesday. Each side was allowed 15 minutes and no new information was permitted, as only facts outlined in previously submitted briefs could be argued.

Bricklin said he hopes the judges' silence during the 30-minute proceedings were a good sign.

"They didn't say much, but maybe that's because they favor our side," he said.

Wal-Mart announced plans to build on Bishop Boulevard in October 2004 and a site plan for the store was later approved by Pullman Public Works Director Mark Workman. PARD appealed the city's approval of the retail corporation's environmental checklist and site plan on the grounds that the store would impact stormwater run-off, traffic and negatively affect Pullman's local economy.

Washington state law allows only one public hearing on a proposed development. Spokane attorney John Montgomery - who acts as Pullman's hearing examiner - was called to oversee PARD's initial appeal. Montgomery compiled a findings of fact document from Wal-Mart, PARD and Pullman and concluded the retail giant's site plan and environmental checklist was sufficient. Montgomery's decision was upheld by Whitman County Superior Court Judge David Frazier and PARD's appeal was dismissed.

PARD then took the case to appellate court.

Bricklin pointed to Montgomery's findings of fact document Wednesday to show the store would have significant effects on traffic, the environment and the local economy. Bricklin argued that Montgomery's document was not comprehensive, as a Wal-Mart-sponsored traffic study was taken at face value and was not questioned.

As examples, Bricklin said the traffic study focused on weekdays only and provides no results on potential customers accessing the store on weekends, "Wal-Mart's busiest shopping days." He noted that the study also did not identify how the increased traffic would effect police, roads or pedestrians, particularly students from nearby Franklin Elementary School and Lincoln Middle School.

"There was no mitigation of the effects on schools and no analysis of it," Bricklin said. "We don't think the impact on 800 school kids is inconsequential."

Maduell also pointed to Montgomery's findings of fact and said despite the absence of some facts - such as how much traffic the stores generate on weekends - Frazier found the document to be adequate.

"It may not have been perfect, but the code does not require that," he said.

Maduell said it is up to PARD to prove Wal-Mart's plan would not meet Pullman codes.

"The burden is on them," he said.

Maduell declined comment after presenting his oral arguments.

Bricklin said the fact that Maduell admits Montgomery's findings are "not perfect" should be a red flag that the corporation didn't do all its homework.

"I think the citizens of Pullman deserve more than that," he said.

Bricklin also argued that Pullman Financial Director Troy Woo's "assumption" that the city would benefit from a Wal-Mart store is insufficient.

Wal-Mart may generate sales tax for the city, but would do so by taking away revenue from current Pullman businesses, he said.

"While Wal-Mart may benefit, the city's tax revenue will not increase," Bricklin said.

PARD Spokesman T.V. Reed said he's glad the case is back in motion.

"I'm glad things are moving along," he said. "Now all we can do is wait. We'd like to win and get this over with."

Reed said he hopes judges will side with PARD, which would force Wal-Mart to conduct more extensive studies of the store's impact on traffic and the environment. He would not say whether PARD would accept the retail giant locating at a different site in Pullman.

"It does not make sense on Bishop Boulevard," he said. "I can't imagine a worse site to build on, but I can't imagine many better, either."

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PARD's Doomsday Clock

COUNTDOWNCLOCKS.org

Quote of the Day

Wal Mart lovers...You are a sad bunch of hateful conservatives. I pray that your gun privelages are taken away and you resolve to stop blaming others for your pathetic problems.

- Comment left by "God" on Moscow-Pullman Daily News website, December 18, 2007 (It appears that "God's" spell checker privileges were already taken away.)

FROM OUR COLD DEAD HANDS, PINKOS *LOL*



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Justice Denied...But Not For Much Longer

In his November 29 letter to the editor of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News reprinted below, Don Pelton spoke of "justice delayed is justice denied" with regards to PARD's lengthy and costly appeals to stop Wal-Mart from coming to Pullman. According to the PARD Doomsday Clock above, that delay will be over in less than 24 hours.....

Wal-Mart saga continues

Oct. 19 was the date set by the court of appeals in Spokane to hear the appeal from the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development to block construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pullman. But it did not happen. Although the notice of appeal had been filed with the court almost a year earlier, PARD filed notice of its own intention to present oral arguments in addition to the usual written briefs. This stopped the clock again. Now the court has set Dec. 19 to hear a few minutes of vocal pleading.

PARD's appeals have already consumed about two years in legal maneuvers. This new action will add more months.

It is true: "Justice delayed is justice denied." There are only two issues in PARD's appeal: Wal-Mart will compete with existing businesses, and Wal-Mart will add to traffic congestion in Pullman.

Competition arises because Wal-Mart's inventory of about 150,000 items is so large that at least one item will compare with some product in every business. This could wipe out most stores including even Brused Books because Wal-Mart sells an occasional book.

Traffic congestion will result when sophisticated Pullman shoppers drive to Bishop Boulevard in order to shop. Apparently so many of our friends and neighbors are Wal-Mart shoppers that they will clog city streets preventing emergency vehicles from reaching the hospital and school buses from getting children to school. Where are these folks now? This will happen even though 5,000 persons in a population of 27,000 pledged never to shop at a Pullman Wal-Mart.

Thus Wal-Mart's saga goes on and on.

Don Pelton, Pullman

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Say What?

Actually, I didn't mention the City Council because I distinctly remember Tom Forbes and the Forbes Gang at the time saying the City Council had NOTHING to do with the Wal-Mart decision and that people should NOT vote for candidates on that basis. They pointed out that the decision on the Site Plan and SEPA evaluation were not under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It sounds like the same people (hard to say since they don't identify themselves) have now changed their tune!

- Chris Lupke, Comment on Moscow-Pullman Daily News website, 12/17/2007

How can you help? Sign the boycott petition against a Pullman Wal-Mart. And if you are registered, vote in the upcoming election. In Ward 3 (most of campus), Judy Krueger is running in favor of responsible development, which does not include this massive boondoggle. In Ward 1, part of College Hill and other areas in town, Gary Johnson is running as a write-in candidate for the same causes. Please vote for them. Students are entitled to a voice in the place they live.

- Chris Lupke, Daily Evergreen, October 27, 2005

I received a card too. Asked them not to build. Sent it back right away. I heard they didn't get many pro-Walmart cards. Guess that's why they never made a big deal of it afterwards.

- Anonymous comment, Moscow-Pullman Daily News website, 12/17/2007

We feel we have strong support from long-term Pullman residents that know what's good for their community.

- Wal-Mart spokesman Eric Berger, Spokesman Review, March 12, 2005

Berger was referring to a Wal-Mart survey in which every permanent resident of Pullman (about 9,000) was contacted by mail in early 2005. Wal-Mart received back 6,000 responses. 4,000 of those respondents supported the Supercenter project, a ratio of 2 to 1. Wal-Mart also contacted more than 1,000 registered Pullman businesses and an even larger majority expressed support. I have a copy of the results of Wal-Mart's survey.

The PARD of Avon

Lu Laoshi's China-sized ego has attracted the attention of some wags at the Daily News website.

First, Lupke posted this comment:

If you google my name and the former propaganda minister for Sadam Hussein, an enemy of the state in the US, you will see Forbes' website come up. Thanks a lot Tom. People in China and other places who don't know me but may wish to find out more about me are somewhat confused by your "unconventional" form of humor. Maybe this is something to be proud of, but, frankly, I don't see how.

To which someone responded:

I just can't shake the image of a professor like yourself so self absorbed as to think there are untold thousands of Chinese souls googling your name during their five minute break from the subpar product factory in order to learn more about you.

In yet another comment, Chris really goes over the top:

I'm only going to make one response to Tom Forbes and that will be it. Gentle reader, please do not interpret my further silence as tacit acceptance of the specious reasoning that he or others in his gang post to his site.

This pompous Shakespearean rhetoric inspired the funniest monologue I've read in a while:

Alas poor Lupke, I google myself, Horatio.

Let us not be agitated over these unwashed philistines, be they Tom Forbes or his associates.

They merely pine for our golden fruit of Ph.D.ness, clearly not even approaching the lofty heights of our intellectual majesty.

Townies I say begone! Fly, fly away, for thee do not know what throbbing exaggeration of self-worth thou face!

Thanks "Right wing professor!" Dr. Forbes and I haven't stopped laughing yet!! Lord, what fools these PARDners be.

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Quote of the Day

I collected [PARD petition] signatures as well. What was interesting to me was the secretive/private stance signatorees sometimes took. I think it spoke to the larger dynamic of the local politics--local conservatives feeling more confident and less awkward about their positions and "liberals" feeling less inclined to be public with her/his views. In general, I think the process reflected a greater dynamic: it is difficult to have leaning-to-the-left politics or beliefs in this community and one is quickly alienated when ascribing to such.

- Anonymous comment on the Daily News website

Heh.

Say What?

Here in Pullman, homes on Pioneer Hill and the new Sunnyside Hill development facing the Wal-Mart site are likely to decline in property value due to aesthetic blight, light pollution and other negative impacts.

- PARD Position Paper, March 20, 2005

Suggestions of..the intrusion of undesirable social classes...were presented in great detail [by the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development]

- Hearing Examiner's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and Decision, February 24, 2006

The Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development is proud to have sponsored an informative discussion seeking solutions to the serious lack of low-income housing in Pullman.

- Deirdre Rogers, chairwoman, Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, December 14, 2007


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My Friend, Nathan Weller

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I don't have that problem, because I have friends like Pullman City Councilman-Elect Nathan Weller. Nathan wrote a letter to the editor published in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News that calls for an apology for below-the-belt comments made on The Daily News website directed at my family.

I'm a Republican and Nathan is a Democrat. So what? He's going to take plenty of heat from those in his party for standing up for me and no doubt get savaged by the anonymous sock puppets on the Daily News website. Chris Lupke (sure must be boring over in Taiwan) has already posted a comment chiding Nathan for having been "deceived" by me, as if I am the Dark Sith Lord and Nathan is my young apprentice, incapable of any independent thought of his own.

Folks, this is a political blog. If you don't like what I write, for God's sake, QUIT COMING HERE (Raymond). I'm not a member of the Gestapo and I have no power whatsoever to "run anyone out of town" (luckily for some people.) Does it get sarcastic and snarky at times. Sure. Do I tell it like I see it, raw and unvarnished? Absolutely. Do I vigorously advocate for what I believe in and expose what I think are lies and half-truths spouted by PARD? Proudly. I'm not a politician. I'm a blogger. That's my job. And if the PARDners think I'm the only one saying these things about them, they live in a fool's paradise. I'm just the only one doing it publicly. They are the true embarrassments to this city.

You want to see some really wild left-wing blogs, surf on over to HorsesAss.org and Democratic Underground. Palousitics looks like a Salvation Army meeting by comparison. One's degree of offense, it seems, is inversely proportional to how much one agrees with what is being stated.

What I don't do is use profanity, claim people are in need of psychiatric help or have rage issues, advocate violence, accuse people of getting drunk, beating their wives, and cheating on their taxes, or make any comments about people's family members that are not publicly involved in the debate. No nasty personal gossip is allowed here. But, if you are going to make wild, unsubstantiated claims that Wal-Mart is going to disinter dead bodies, destroy the public education system, shrivel deer testicles, bring "lower social classes" into town, kill kids and old ladies or that you prefer Target or Costco over Wal-Mart, then be prepared to deal with comments like "leftist," "moonbat," "elitist" or "snob," just as I am prepared to deal with comments like "far right extremist," "wingnut," or "paid shill for Wal-Mart." There probably are ways to intelligently and rationally argue against Wal-Mart that are not based on emotion, political ideology or snobbery, but I have yet to see anyone around on the Palouse exhibit them. If this were, say, the fifth Supercenter being built in Pullman, I would not be such a strong advocate for Wal-Mart (although I would still feel they have the right to build if they were within the law) and I would be equally as strong in my support for Target or Costco should they decide to build here.

I didn't start this fire. Early on, PARD resorted to hysteria, fear, hyperbole, lies, and arrogantly and presumptuously claimed to speak for the majority of Pullman residents. They called down the thunder, now they have it. Grow a thicker skin or get a sense of humor, people.

It would have been easy enough for Nathan to just sit on his hands during all this fabricated brouhaha. Politicians, both Democrat and Republican, could learn from Nathan's morality, integrity, and guts. Pullman will be well served with him as a councilman, just as I have been well served by having him as a friend.

From today's Daily News:

An apology is owed

I read with dismay the recent Daily News Web site posting attacking Tom Forbes by someone who claims to be associated with my campaign. I have no knowledge of this person. Whether he had any connection with my campaign or not makes no difference. Such comments are hurtful, destructive, and divisive and have no place in our community.

I have known Tom for more than 12 months and consider him a friend. Tom and I disagree on many things but our disagreement has never been disagreeable. We are all part of a family and disagreements within families should be handled in a respectful and tolerant manner. We do not want the ways of Washington, D.C., in our state. This individual owes Tom and his family an apology and I hope that he has the decency and courage to do it.

Nathan Weller, Pullman