I would like people to know that we are not "Chicken-Littles and do-gooders with too much time on our hands and an axe to grind." This is because we are concerned that the sky may truly be falling.
Your anecdotes from the 1960s are fine and dandy but the Walmart superstore that wants to come to town is not the "mom and pop" store (including small guys like Safeway) that you remember from the past. It would be worth your time and the time of the local readers to check out either of the Walmart movies currently available from Netflix or possibly from the local video stores. The two versions I have seen are called "Walmart, The High Cost of Low Prices" and, "Is Walmart Good For America?" (Frontline).
These two movies as well as newspaper coverage across the country point out much disturbing evidence of social, economic, and environmental problems that have plagued localities once Walmart has come to town. A simple Google search will bring up a wealth of coverage. I will point to these issues briefly but encourage you and any other skeptics to review the public record instead of filling our editorial section with sentimental observations and emotional opinion.
The voters in Inglewood, Calif., voted down a Walmart that had tried to circumvent the city council sort of like they are trying to do here. Planning at the Virginia Ranch was kept quiet and only made public recently with articles in our paper claiming that the application was being reviewed by the Gardnerville Town Board and the county and that neither entity had any discretion to stop the project.
Contrary, the town board has a Virginia Ranch Specific Plan, which the Walmart application may be violating. The county has the right to review the application, and definitely, the right to deny the application.
It would be good if we demanded that both entities act responsibly on this issue. Inglewood officials were quite concerned about Walmart's record on medical coverage for its 1.4 million nationwide employees (in 2003) who lacked sufficient health coverage, a burden that is transferred to taxpayers and the local social services.
Douglas County is a fairly conservative place that seems to prefer less and more efficient government but letting Walmart in may end up costing us more in taxes or higher deficits if we don't support higher taxes. An article in the L.A. Times states that only 50 percent of their employees had coverage through the company but the insurance was still controversial due to high deductibles that employees still couldn't afford.
In 2003 when a Raley's closed in Las Vegas, the article went on to state that Raley's $14.68 hourly wages were replaced with Walmart's $9 an hour rate. In the late 1990s, a city manager in Clark County (Las Vegas) said that Walmart employees end up in the county hospitals and emergency rooms for both emergencies and routine care because of the ineffectual company health care. It's your tax dollars that will prop up this company.
Both movies document that the pressure is so great on Walmart suppliers that many have exported their companies to China, India, and Honduras to reduce costs. Much of this labor was shown to be living in company slums. I don't need cheaper prices if this is the social cost of those prices. Contrary, today, there is such a healthy movement to buy local products, both to support the local economy and to confront environmental issues. Concerns about food quality are keeping us closer to home and searching out more healthy options. The "cheap price mantra" promoted by Walmart is anathema to this trend. Last, buying local also carries the economic appeal of reducing our international debt, which we can all agree is a good thing.
Please keep those letters coming; we need an ongoing discussion on Walmart right up until the Gardnerville Town Board meeting in October and hearings at the County Commission soon thereafter.
Ed Kleiner is a Gardnerville resident and owner of Comstock Seed.
