<DIV>Roger,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Wealth is not finite. It is based on the amount of work produced and saved. Competition drives down prices of goods. Cheaper goods means Moscow is more affordable to live in. The more affordable the more people that can move to Moscow, the more money the city can make.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If the Hawkins development needed to invest more in the infrastructure to build its site, it would do that by making the site even larger, with more retail and other business establishments to divide the costs, creating even more competition for Moscow.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Best Regards,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Donovan<BR><BR><B><I>roger hayes <rhayes@turbonet.com></I></B> wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Confused by misleading arguments about the Hawkins development? Let's <BR>simplify:<BR>*There is a finite amount of retail dollars
a community can spend on <BR>consumer goods.<BR>*Competition for those dollars among retailers is fierce. It is, <BR>indeed, a struggle for survival.<BR>*Location, price, taxation, government assistance, and image are major <BR>factors in competitive advantage. The businesses at Hawkins will <BR>compete with Moscow businesses. Some will loose. It will be Moscow <BR>businesses.<BR>*If Moscow businesses move out of state, or go out of business, the <BR>city's tax base will be reduced. Remaining residential, and businesses <BR>will have to pick up the slack.<BR>*Hawkins (possibly WalMart) would have had to spend millions of dollars <BR>building the infrastructure. Because Moscow will provide water and <BR>sewer to them, they will not have to spend that money. It gives them a <BR>competitive advantage over other businesses as they will have more <BR>money to compete fiercely with Moscow businesses.<BR>*Moscow water and sewer services are part of a social contract with
<BR>members of the community. The city supplies these services to <BR>businesses which then provide tax revenue to the city and state for <BR>essential services such as schools, libraries, police, fire, and city <BR>employees. Any businesses on the Washington side of the line provide no <BR>revenue to the city or state. This is a subsidy with no monetary return.<BR>*There was no litigation about Hawkins' water rights. All the council <BR>had to do was drop its appeal. The quantity of water removed from the <BR>aquifer will be about the same.<BR>*Providing sewer services to Hawkins has no connection to the water <BR>rights granted by Washington DOE. It is a gift and a subsidy.<BR>*Selling water to Hawkins for a profit, as some have suggested, is <BR>"mining water." This contract may be illegal under Idaho law.<BR><BR>Moscow city council members who voted for this agreement believe, <BR>"development at any cost" is a reasonable policy. It may enrich a few, <BR>but at great
cost to the majority.<BR>The community needs to inspect the council's motivation behind this <BR>agreement and make some decisions.<BR><BR>Roger Hayes<BR>Moscow<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>=======================================================<BR>List services made available by First Step Internet, <BR>serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <BR>http://www.fsr.net <BR>mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>=======================================================<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><p> 
<hr size=1>Special deal for Yahoo! users & friends - <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=47521/*http://tc.deals.yahoo.com/tc/blockbuster/text3.com
">No Cost. Get a month of Blockbuster Total Access</a> now