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Murashige Laura From: Melanie Robinson [me11201@hotmail.com] r ~ 1-~ Sent: Tuesday, February O6, 2007 10:09 AM FED To: counciltestimony@co. hawaii. hi. us Subject: big box stores i'' To the council. I have lived on Hawaii for 20 years. I agree with everything below which many people are sending to you. As more people immigrate here let's not also import the styles of living which are destroying culture, community, business, and the environment. Small is Beautiful. Diversity is Key. We can repel the richest element who will become richer while telling us we're saving money by acquiring commodities unnecessary to happiness and polluting more and more. Take a Stand! Resist greed! So what if a few want to drive to a big box and fill up their cars and houses with stuff. The people cannot compete with the power of the bucks flowing in. Don't be blinded by the testimony of developers and land-grabbers. Protect us, please. Melanie Oldfather 1201 Moku Place Hilo, HI 96720 934-8430 I would like to testify in support of Resolution 21-07 limiting the size and scope of retail superstores in the County of Hawaii. Without such proactive planning, the Island of Hawaii risks unchecked development that can irreparably damage the island. Unlimited superstores are not good for our community for several reasons. First, superstores destroy the local business network. These non-local corporations source their goods off-island, cutting local businesses out of the equation. Then, because superstores operate through economies of such vast scale, their retail prices undercut local businesses. Thus both local wholesale and local retail operations can be hurt. A 2003 report on supercenters prepared for the City of Los Angeles found the creation of supercenters with large grocery sections to be especially destructive, as such operations often put existing grocery stores out of business. A case in point in Mississippi, where a 2002 study found that local groceries had lost 17~ of their retail sales by the fifth year a Wal-Mart supercenter was operating. The Los Angeles study notes that when local groceries are put out of business, other businesses located nearby suffer severely, as grocery stores are often the hub for shopping districts. Local consumers are also hurt by such superstores. Lower prices are often cited as the reason to allow superstores in. This view misses the bigger picture. As local businesses go under, local consumers end up with fewer and fewer shopping options. This is cited in the Los Angeles report, which notes supercenters' "tendency to cannibalize competing retail businesses." Supercenters that drive out local grocery stores can especially hurt those consumers who rely on their neighborhood groceries for food. Superstores also hurt consumers in less obvious but still costly ways. Typically, they require extensive municipal services, for example due to increased traffic impacts. Both the Los Angeles report and a 2004 report on the San Francisco Bay area note the considerable increase in municipal costs caused by the increased traffic supercenters bring. In addition, if local businesses are hurt, superstores can result in an erosion of the municipal tax base. This was the finding of the Los Angeles report, which states that superstores can decrease municipal revenues due to the loss of sales and property taxes resulting from store closures. In the end, it is local consumers who end up paying the price tag for such costs through their own taxes. Superstores also hurt the local community because they are often very poor employers. Wal-Mart stands out as the most striking example. On the mainland, Wal-Mart is being sued in numerous states over issues including violation of child labor laws, underpaying hourly workers, threatening and firing pro-union workers, lack of payment for hours worked, and sex discrimination in promotion, pay and training. Aside from these glaring examples, most superstore jobs are NOT jobs that offer a decent wage. For example, accord'ng to the 1 Comm. No. Z ~ Z Ref. To: ~reae~ed Ref. Unt~~