[Vision2020] The Immorality of Blocking a Supercenter

[Donovan Arnold]

    Dear Mayor Chaney and members of  the City Council,
  
  I am writing you regarding the recent decision of the City to block a Wal-Mart Supercenter. I believe such a decision  is damaging to most of the residents of Moscow  and the surrounding community, but particularly its most vulnerable for several reasons.
          First, Wal-Mart has a starting wage  of $8-$9 an hour. This is a significantly higher wage then what other grocery  stores, retail outlets, and even the City have established as a starting wage.  Even the Co-Op pays 18% less than Wal-Mart. I challenge the Mayor and members  of the City Council, or any resident to find a grocery or general retail store  that pays a higher starting wage in our local community. With the City rejecting  the businesses that pay higher wages, the City is expressing that it believes  $5.15 is an acceptable wage for the people of Moscow. A Wal-Mart Supercenter  would provide more jobs that pay higher wage while also requiring other  employees to pay their workers a similar livable wage if they desire to keep  quality workers.
           
  Second, a Wal-Mart  Supercenter provides goods and  services not otherwise offered in the Moscow  area. Millions of dollars are lost every year to Pullman,  Lewiston, Spokane,  and the Internet because the City is blocking retail outlets from selling those  products. A Supercenter would offer more goods and services to the people of Moscow while keeping tax dollars and jobs here in Moscow where they belong.  
           
  Third, A Wal-Mart Supercenter would  offer goods and services at a lower cost to members of the community because it  can move high volume and has the infrastructure to do so efficiently. With an  average salary of only $24,000 a year for Moscow  residents, and an annual household income of about $30,000 for Latah  households, costs need to be lower, not higher. Moscow residents have to pay more for goods  and services already because of a lack of competition, the cost of shipping a  low volume of goods a long distance, and a lack of capital in investments in  roads and infrastructure to do it effectively. To punish Moscow residents with an added transportation  tax by making them drive to another town to get the items they need at an  affordable price is another unnecessary burden inflicted on the people by the  City.   
           
  Fourth, Moscow loses even more jobs. When Moscow blocks one  business that puts resources into trying to locate here, it blocks two more  that decide not to attempt as a result. The City has developed a far reaching reputation  that it does not want businesses here. That hurts the residents of Moscow.  
           
  Fifth, we lose anyway. The City of Moscow will simply lose to Pullman,  Latah, or Whitman   County. We will still  have all the negative impacts of having a Wal-Mart Supercenter  but without the tax dollars, jobs, and surrounding businesses that prosper from  close proximity to the new store.  
           
  Finally, I think there are diversity  and equality issues that are being ignored. The people that have the most  difficulty getting and keeping a job at a decent wage are minorities, the  elderly, and the disabled. Wal-Mart has successfully employed these individuals  in higher numbers than anyone else. Many small businesses do not high the  elderly and disabled in any greater numbers than they have to because they fear  medical and retirement costs. Minorities have always been discriminated  against. I think it sends a clear message to other businesses in the community  when the most successful retail outlet in the world does so by hiring in higher  numbers people other businesses won’t hire because of age, ethnicity, or disability.  The city has a moral obligation to not bar businesses that employ and give  opportunities to those other businesses only hire out of fear of the law,  rather than acknowledging that they have real value and skills that make a  business
 successful. For the City to block the greatest opportunities for the  elderly, poor, disabled, and minorities is discrimination. The only people  allowed by our City leaders to make a decent living wage in our community  appears to be the wealthy members that have the capital to create and expand  their own businesses and are allowed to employ everyone else for a slave wage  of $5.15 an hour. 
           
  I ask that the Mayor and members of the City  Council reconsider and allow a Supercenter into our community. Blocking commerce  hurts both the seller and buyer, and the buyers are the residents of Moscow. Blocking higher  starting wages in our community hurts the poorest. Shutting down, slowing down,  removing, and blocking employers that hire the disabled, elderly, and  minorities, hurts the elderly, disabled, and minorities. I hope you will  consider these facts as the county and University lose population and the  number of people in Moscow  continue to live a lower quality of life in comparison to rest of the state and  nation. 
       
      Best Regards,
              Donovan J Arnold
  Moscow Resident
    
      
  
 		
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