Whereas:
1. An application to build a 186,000 square foot Wal-Mart regional shopping center at 44th and Regal is currently being considered by the City of Spokane as proposed by Harlan Douglass, the owner of the property; and
2. Any such store of this magnitude catering to a region-wide market will have a profound detrimental effect on the surrounding residential community and its schools, including substantially increased traffic and decreased residential property values, and incur great harm to established businesses in south Spokane; and
3. Any plan by Wal-Mart to dramatically expand its impact on our region represents a major threat to the health and well-being of our entire citys residents, workers, employers and overall economy; and
4. Wal-Mart has a history of displacing established and successful local businesses (large and small), of illegal and dangerous treatment of employees, of paying low wages and providing inadequate health benefits (resulting in employee health costs billed to the community and state), of sex discrimination in employment, and of numerous other violations of basic employee rights; and
5. The distortion of employment patterns away from local businesses toward lower-paying jobs at Wal-Mart is not an acceptable trade-off for marginally increased commercial property tax revenues.
We, the undersignedbeing greatly alarmed about the short- and long-term implications of this inappropriately located retail development on our communityrequest the Mayor and City Council of the City of Spokane to turn down the Harlan Douglass proposal at 44th and Regal immediately.