[Vision2020] Walmart Gets Nod for Starting Work

[Garrett Clevenger]

g's comments and my reply:


> 1. My business is not located in Whitman county.

True. To clarify what I said, I like to shop at locally owned stores. I've gone to yours, and to stores in Whitman County.


> 2. Predatory? All business competes with other business.
> This is the nature of the game. Will Idaho lose some tax
> revenue? Some, but probably not as much as you think. Those
> same tax dollars are lost when Idaho residents go to Spokane
> to shop ... > 4. I am willing to accept any legal, legitimate business.... Period.

I consider a mall twice the size as ours, who's stated intent is to take business from Moscow, as more predatory than your average store like Crossroads. I have no problem with Crossroads. I have no problem with competition per say. I believe in evolution, and competition drives natural selection, which is a good thing. I also understand some dogs will eat other dogs unless you put them on a leash. I have no problem regulating the free-for-all you endorse that seems to come at the expense of Moscow.

I doubt everything that may be bought at Hawkins are things that can't now be found in Moscow already. I'd venture to guess that most of what is sold at Hawkins can now be found in Moscow, so in general, if people buy things at Hawkins instead of Moscow, not only is it a loss of tax revenue for Moscow, but a loss of sales to businesses in Moscow. That's probably a reason why the owner of Tri-State is against the the water sale to Hawkins, as he expressed in the MCA forum last year. 

It doesn't seem like there is enough demand for retail items in this area to support a mall the size of Hawkins. Someone is going to lose due to the increased supply of cheap goods.


> > 3. Water. We've been over this one repeatedly. Whether
> it is delivered by the City of Moscow, pumped from private
> wells, or provided by the City of Pullman, it's all the
> same water. ... I suspect that your
> vegetable production facility uses far more water than any
> individual business will and provides far fewer jobs. If the
> Hawkins property were to be turned into a truck farm the
> same argument you attempt to use applies. Competition with
> Moscow business. (you) No tax dollars for Idaho. Far higher
> water consumption. Perhaps you would prefer the land lay
> fallow?


I don't think we know what affect Hawkins pumping from their well will have on Moscow's well. It probably wouldn't affect our well as much as if we pump that same water from our well to sell to Hawkins. But that's the crux of the problem. We really don't know enough about how the aquifer works to say for certain, except that it is declining at a rate that can't last forever, and that should be cause for concern that we are using more than the natural recharge rate.

So not only will we have an over-supply of retail goods, we have an under-supply of water to meet our needs over the long run.

As for the water we use for irrigation on our farm, it all comes from a shallow well, which is more than likely recharged yearly. That's a big difference from pumping from the deeper aquifer, which is better quality water, and doesn't recharge as quickly. It is possible we use more water than your average store, but it is a different water source. Ours replenishes yearly, yours probably takes a lot, lot longer to replenish.

We need to be conscious about how much water we use, because being a shallow water source, it potentially could dry up by the end of the season. So unlike many larger scale farms, our water use is probably way more efficient, as we use drip line instead of sprinklers, which are very inefficient. We also time our watering to reduce evaporation.

That's a big intent of our farm: to provide a necessity with as little impact as possible.

I think growing food is way more important than importing cheap foreign goods that have a history of being toxic, so I'd rather use a limited resource for what people need as opposed to using it for what people want, especially considering the size and potential affects to Moscow's businesses and water that Hawkins imposes.


> 5. If a doctor or nurse
> hired on with one of these facilities they would have a
> reasonable expectation of working in an environment that did
> not promote a culture of death. Forcing institutions such as
> these to provide a service that they did not originally is
> to force every person employed there to do something that
> was not in their original job description. I stand by my
> red herring assertion.


I agree with this, though your red herring answer still didn't address the questions I asked. 

You're trying to prevent something that hasn't happened yet, but could be a big deal. That seems very similar to my diatribes about water and Hawkins...

gclev