<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Courier New";">Dear Mayor Chaney and members of the City Council,<br> <br> I am writing you regarding the recent decision of the City to block a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Wal-Mart</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Supercenter</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. I believe such a decision is damaging to most of the residents of <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> and the surrounding community, but particularly its most vulnerable for several reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Courier New";">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 <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City>. A <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Wal-Mart</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Supercenter</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p><br> Second, a <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Wal-Mart</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Supercenter</st1:PlaceType> provides goods and services not otherwise offered in the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> area. Millions of dollars are lost every year to <st1:City w:st="on">Pullman</st1:City>, <st1:City w:st="on">Lewiston</st1:City>, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Spokane</st1:place></st1:City>, 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 <st1:City w:st="on">Moscow</st1:City> while keeping tax dollars and jobs here in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> where they belong. <o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p><br> 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 <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> residents, and an annual household income of about $30,000 for Latah households, costs need to be lower, not higher. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> 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 <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> 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.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p><br> Fourth, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> loses even more jobs. When <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> 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 <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City>. <span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p><br> Fifth, we lose anyway. The City of
<st1:City w:st="on">Moscow</st1:City> will simply lose to <st1:City w:st="on">Pullman</st1:City>, Latah, or <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Whitman</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. We will still have all the negative impacts of having a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Wal-Mart</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Supercenter</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> but without the tax dollars, jobs, and surrounding businesses that prosper from close proximity to the new store. <span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p><br> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p><br> <span style=""></span>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 <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City>. 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 <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> continue to live a lower quality of life in comparison to rest of the state and nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Courier New";">Best Regards,<o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Courier New";">Donovan J <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Arnold</st1:place></st1:City><o:p></o:p></span><br> <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Courier
New";">Moscow</span></st1:place></st1:City><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Courier New";"> Resident<o:p></o:p></span></div> <br> <br> <p> 
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