[Vision2020] Ideals clash at Wal-Mart forum (Daily News)

[Area Man (Dan C)]

Again, until Joe gets out some of MCA's stuff from the meeting, what the
Daily News had to say:

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Ideals clash at Wal-Mart forum; There's no shortage of opinions about
the retail giant's plans to build a super center in Moscow


By Omie Drawhorn
Daily News Staff Writer

Wal-Mart is like the proverbial little girl with the curl. When she was
good she was very, very good and when she was bad she was awful. That
was the analogy Stephen Cooke used to encapsulate his feelings about
Wal-Mart. 
He doesn't necessarily want a Wal-Mart in Moscow. But he's not
anti-Wal-Mart, either. 

"The only thing worse than having a Wal-Mart is not having a Wal-Mart,"
said the associate professor of economics and rural sociology at the
University of Idaho. 

Cooke, one of four panelists representing a broad range of expertise,
shared his perspective with an economic emphasis at Monday night's
Wal-Mart forum. He joined Andrew Crapuchettes, CEO of Economic Modeling
Specialist Inc., Jeff Harkins, accounting professor at the UI and BJ
Swanson, vice president of AmericanWest Bank. 

The forum was a first in a series put on by the Moscow Civic
Association. Cooke said he only expected 25 people to show up in the
1912 Center for the forum - but all 84 seats were filled and the crowd
of about 200 clustered in corners, along the stairs and in the
overlooking balcony. 

They had plenty to say. Moscow resident Cass Price said people are only
thinking about dollars when it comes to Wal-Mart. 

"I don't want to see a Wal-Mart here because it exploits people," he
said. "If I can make a profit from knocking over grandma and stealing
her wallet, I don't do it because it's wrong. We should stop Wal-Mart
because they are wrong and they are breaking the economy and they will
destroy the economy of the United States." 

Many Moscow residents took issue with Wal-Mart's notorious alleged
unfair labor practices. 

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, Swanson said. 

The CEO of Wal-Mart makes 1,600 times what the average employee earns,
she added. 

But Harkins said Wal-Mart helps many local college students get through
school with jobs and low prices. 

"The low prices benefit the poor," Crapuchettes said. "Not everyone can
afford the Moscow Food Co-op." 

He said he wanted to address the crowd from both a professional and a
personal perspective. 

"As an economist, I want to stay ideologically and politically neutral
and personally, I want to strive toward truth, beauty and goodness," he
said. 

Harkins was clear about his personal feelings toward Wal-Mart. 

"It's completely inappropriate for us to target one business. It's about
freedom of choice," he said. "Whose right is it to tell you where you
can or cannot shop?" 

Swanson said 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," she said. 

The panelists touched on issues such as Wal-Mart's effect on small
communities, of having a super store in both Pullman and Moscow, labor
practices and potential effects on local businesses. 

One study cited showed that people will come from a 20-mile radius from
surrounding small communities to shop in a Wal-Mart, Cooke said, adding
that after 10 years, gains start to diminish. Shopping patterns change
and people get in the habit of leaving home and driving to the mall.
This could result in surrounding communities like Potlatch, Troy and
Genesee losing their retail base. 

The proposed super center would be built on 31 acres south east of the
intersection of State Highway 8 and Mountain View Road. 

"You see sales at Wal-Mart increasing, then decreasing, because Wal-Mart
is cannibalizing itself," Crapuchettes said. 

If Moscow opens a 220,000-square-foot super center just eight miles from
Pullman's 220,000-square-foot super center, Swanson said 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. 

Moscow resident Robin Woods wants none of it. 

"We're talking about two super centers within eight miles of each other.
That's predatory," she said. "I don't think that we need to worry about
the Wal-Mart that's already here. It's time to say that we've had enough
and we don't want these predatory practices in our community." 

But Moscow resident Andrew Schwam cautioned against fighting the super
center. 

"West of Moscow is the state line and while we're referring to Wal-Mart
as the 800-pound gorilla, I think 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," he said. 

"Let's not turn our backs on that very possible reality they will build
a Wal-Mart on the state line and we won't have a bit of a say what
happens there. So we have to be really careful when we talk about
excluding Wal-Mart from our community," Schwam said. 

He added that the people of Moscow should be spending more time making
sure Wal-Mart is a good citizen rather than trying to fight its
presence. 

The general consensus of the panel was to let Wal-Mart into town but
control the way the store unfolds. 

"Zoning is a very appropriate response to controlling some of that
growth," Crapuchettes said. 

Cooke agreed, referring to the latest "big-box" store ordinance approved
by the Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday. 

"Make the zoning regulations dance to your tune," he said. 

Harkins agreed. 

"The route is to manage Wal-Mart," Harkins said. "So many people are
here tonight because they will be impacted by this. The community should
band together to see Wal-Mart fit so it looks like it belongs here." 

Swanson isn't buying that argument. "The cost of living is extremely
high. We have a high quality of life. We can say no to Wal-Mart." 
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I'm going to have to ask BJ about that last line . . . 

DC