[Vision2020] LMT: Public hearing closes on Pullman Wal-Mart

[Area Man (Dan C)]

Appeals will be forthcoming, I'm sure . . .
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Public hearing closes on Pullman Wal-Mart 

By DAVID JOHNSON of the Tribune

PULLMAN -- A public hearing on proposed construction of a Wal-Mart
Supercenter here ended Thursday after more than two days of testimony
stretched over three weeks. 

Hearing examiner John Montgomery, a Spokane lawyer, said he likely would
return a written determination within 14 days to either uphold or deny a
citizen group's appeal of city decisions to allow construction of the
super center. He could also offer modifications to the city's findings
or call for more research. 

Regardless of what Montgomery decides, Wal-Mart, the city of Pullman,
and the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development have a right to
appeal the decision to Whitman County Superior Court. 

Wal-Mart attorney John McCullough of Seattle closed his portion of the
hearing by reasserting the claim that the world's largest retail company
had satisfied all requirements placed on it by the city. 

Attorney Brian McGinn, who represents PARD, begged to differ, contending
that, among other things, many traffic and economic questions remain
unanswered about the proposed 223,000-square-foot store along Bishop
Boulevard. 

T.V. Reed, spokesman for PARD, said he and other citizens opposed to the
super center never wanted the city to treat Wal-Mart differently. But he
said city officials failed to hold Wal-Mart to standards outlined in the
city comprehensive plan. 

Laura McAloon, Pullman city attorney, disagreed. She said the city
continues to hold Wal-Mart to the same standards all businesses must
meet. 
Reed and others said the city needs to conduct an independent study to
determine the economic impact on the community. 

But McAloon said the city can only review what financial impact the
Wal-Mart Supercenter might have on city infrastructure and services, not
the economy of the private sector. 

Of particular concern to Reed and other PARD members was a
Wal-Mart-funded economic study unveiled last week. Bill Reid, a private
consultant, reported an estimated 49 percent of Pullman's potential
retail sales is lost annually because of "leakage" to other towns like
Moscow, Lewiston and Spokane. 

Reid said a new Wal-Mart store would tap into that leakage, bring
increased sales taxes back to town and, in the process, "raise all
boats" in the private sector. 

But Gregory Hooks, a Washington State University sociology professor,
harpooned Reid's study as a late-hour ploy to "advance the interests of
corporate executives and those who own stock in this large corporation
based in Arkansas." 

A number of residents who testified Thursday agreed with Hooks, while
others didn't. 

Alex McDonald, a WSU engineering student, said the Wal-Mart study
erroneously assumed that students spending elsewhere figured in the
amount of retail leakage. "It's only a few rich kids who buy stuff here
locally," McDonald said. Most students, he claimed, buy their clothing
and supplies in their home towns before coming to campus each year. 

Susan Johnson, a house mother at a WSU sorority, disagreed. She said
most of the women in her house shop out of town, and many at the
Wal-Mart store in Moscow. 

Dennis Wendt, a Pullman business owner, agreed with Johnson, saying WSU
students go elsewhere to buy many items like plants, mirrors, furniture,
microwave ovens, refrigerators and other appliances. 

Ann Borgerson testified that she's had a change of heart about Wal-Mart.
"I confess that I've shopped at Wal-Mart for an awful long time," she
said. But she said the products she bought were usually inferior and
she's now concerned about "the people who make the goods." 

The Pullman hearings came amid Wal-Mart proposals to build super centers
in neighboring Moscow and north in Spokane. 

Reed charged that the company is willing to saturate markets and lose
money in the short run to prevail down the road when competition is
forced out of business. 

He likened Wal-Mart paying for an economic study to hiring "foxes to
count the chickens." 
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Wal-Mart may have needed several public hearings (and there will
probably be more via appeals), but Chuck Norris can win a game of
Connect Four in only three moves.

DC