2007-07-06 TSUPERSTORES - Laserfiche WebLink

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SIRACUSA:Im a much smaller farmer than you. I only have 200 tangerine trees. And years ago when I was younger and could really work that orchard I noticed that some of the larger stores would not even look at buying my produce no matter how good it was because I could not supply them in the numbers that they wanted. And that was like Safeway, you know. And so I understand how the small farmers are really at a disadvantage in terms -. The larger the grocery store the harder it is to sell your produce to them. And so I definitely appreciate you bringing this particular slant on the subject, because we havent had that perspective from our previous testifiers. Thank you. WATANABE:Any other questions for this testifier? Thank you. HARDEN:Cory Harden, 18-4033 Kanahele Place in Mt. View. I urge you to vote for the amendment to ban superstore and against the amendment for a superstore zoning district. I urge you to follow Chris Yuens recommendation to have a hearing on the second one in Kona andtovotetheresothatKonafolkscanbeheard.Youalsoareworriedaboutsendingabillon the first issue of the Council that might not be adequate, possibly you could send it with recommendations. Im sure you all know how to reach your County Council Members also. So I think there are ways to deal with that. You folks are also worried about traffic. I know that intersection up after Wal-Mart and that whole center got built, I didnt used to mind going through it; but now I just, I cringe to go through there. I feel like Im back when I was on the mainland for 25 years. I thought I came home to get away from this and it has followed me. So, and as far as statistics, according to Rachaels Democracy and Health News, larger stores increase traffic. In recent years number of miles Americans drive to shop has almost doubled. Each shopping trip is two miles longer. And shopping trips, the number grew three times as fast as other trips. And big box stores they take up a lot of land. Theres one scenario where if you want 200,000 square feet of retail space, if you have a single story superstore and a standard 1,000 parking spaces, that takes 20 acres. But if you have two-story downtown buildings and shared parking, its more like 4 acres. Theres a study saying that we are an extremely over-retailed country in the world, we dont need more shopping. The amount of store space per capita has doubled recently in the United States but consumer spending hasnt grown much. So you end up with vacant malls, like the mall we are in right now. Some people have said that amendments are not about Wal-Mart; but you see that the top people in Wal-Mart have taken the time to come. Ive read a book called the Wal-Mart Effect; and there were few studies, it shows that the rate of poverty falls more slowly in counties that have a Wal- mart. It comes out to about 7 more families in poverty per county with Wal-Mart. New Wal-Mart store causes four small businesses to close within 5 years. Five years after a Wal-Mart opens some new jobs are gained but some are lost; and the net gain after 5 years is 30 jobs. Two years after Wal-Mart opens three retailers in the County closed. And when Wal-Mart converts a store to a supercenter with groceries, two existing grocery stores closed. If theres a small town near a big town with a Wal-Mart, almost half the total retail sales are lost, almost half of the mens and boys clothing stores went out of business. In the Wal-Mart town, sales dropped, 5 percent for grocery stores, 14 percent for specialty stores, 18 percent for clothing stores. And service business tends to drop. Its serious that people, its so cheap to buy 20 EXHIBIT B