2007-07-06 TSUPERSTORES - Laserfiche WebLink

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WATANABE:Okay, lets go for the next four. I have Craig Nishida, Kale Gumapac, Paul Campbell and Thomas Hilliard. Would you please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth now before the Planning Commission? TESTIFIERS:I do. WATANABE:Thank you. Why dont we start with you. NISHIDA:I thank you for letting me speak. My name is Craig Nishida. I live at 91- 2048 Luahoana Street in Ewa Beach. I have testified before the Commission at the Kona meeting. Like I testified at that meeting, my mother is from Kona. And when I was a young boy I always looked forward to summers in Kona because it was so different from Honolulu. It was country and it was a time to run wild and it was great. And why I fly to this island I still enjoy the different pace. Its so laid back, especially here in Hilo, you know. Everything is laid back, includingthesidewalksatnight.But,youknow,itsdifferent.AndIwanttoseetheneighbor islands stay that way. You know, I live in Honolulu, and I have all my life, and I love it there. But I always curse the hour and a half drive to go 20 miles to work, you know. And I dont want to see you folks going through stuff like that. I know you talk about traffic here but why dont you try to live in Honolulu some time. Okay, the other thing was I wanted to talk a little bit about what the Wal-Mart representative said about the use of local suppliers. Now I know this is not about Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart is the face of superstores and big box. They are the leader and theyre the one that always comes up in any discussion. Wal-Mart has been able to dictate their cost to their suppliers, which is opposite of what had been done before. Theyre monopolizing the market. And, yeah, theyre based in Bettenville, Arkansas but Ill let you folks know their international headquarters is in China, which is their biggest supplier. Theyre going to take over China. And, you know, I hate to see the local farmers here be dictated how much they can sell their produce to Wal-Mart. And then what are they going to do? Make profit? Either theyre going to have to raise the prices to everybody else which will cause all the other businesses to go out of business, or theyre going to sell to everybody at that cheap price. And guess what? There arent going to be farmers any more. Thats all I have to say. Thank you. WATANABE:Thank you. Do we have any questions for this speaker? Okay, thank you. Kale. GUMAPAC:Aloha, my name is Kale Gumapac. I represent the Kanaka Council and I am also a former business owner of Northwestern Christmas Trees. And Northwestern Christmas Trees, we were fortunate to have been in business here in Hilo for about 17 years until Wal-Mart came. I am one of the statistics and one of the fall-out of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart came in, they brought in lots and lots of Christmas trees of which we know, that I know in talking with all of our suppliers from the Pacific Northwest, what the purchasing prices and the predatory practices at Wal-Mart did on these farmers in the Pacific Northwestern Christmas Trees. They bought the Christmas trees at dirt-cheap prices. They brought the Christmas trees here in Hilo, and at that time I was one of the largest Christmas tree importers and retailers in the State. We were bringing in about 40 containers state-wide. But when Wal-Mart showed up, they came in with all of the cheap pricing that they were able to buy from the Christmas trees growers in the Pacific Northwest. They dropped their prices dramatically so that they used that as a lost leader 23 EXHIBIT B