Politics from the Palouse to Puget Sound

Monday, December 04, 2006

Who Owns the Land?!?!?!

This letter is in response to the lead front page article in the Dec. 2 & 3 Daily News: "PARD battle hits Pullman in pocketbook." Perhaps the Pullman city staff should think twice about making community-affecting decisions behind closed doors - springing them on the public as a "done" deal. Had they not noticed that many communities throughout the country are fighting Wal-Mart?

Blaming the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development for causing the city attorney fees to soar is like blaming the chickens when the fox enters the hen house.

Building a super Wal-Mart may have had the staff seeing dollar signs, but the litigation expenses are just a drop in the bucket to what Wal-Mart will cost the community if PARD loses. It won't be just money.

In the same issue Donald Pelton suggested PARD should oppose three new businesses planned for Bishop Boulevard since they oppose Wal-Mart. He obviously doesn't understand the antipathy to Wal-Mart. PARD is not against growth and business - but that's a subject for another letter.

Joan Harris, Pullman

I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about a private company lawfully developing THEIR land. I didn't know that PARD and Ms. Harris owned the land. I didn't know they had a right to decide what to do with it.

All the arguments made over the years still leaves me with the one question I asked years ago: Why can PARD or any other group hold up what someone wants to lawfully do with their land?

"Communities" across the land fightinghing Wal-Mart, therefore the city should have withheld Wal-Mart lawful right to develop their land? By the way, a sub-group of people living in a town and fighting Wal-Mart does not make them a community.

One person's right end where it starts to affect someone else's right, and if you ask me PARD has gone well beyond their rights as they have been affecting Wal-Mart's right for years.

6 comments:

Bruce Heimbigner said...

Don't pay your propery taxes and you'll find out who really owns the land. We rent 'our' land from the goverment (which is us?) we cannot every actually own it.

April E. Coggins said...

Joan Harris: "In the same issue Donald Pelton suggested PARD should oppose three new businesses planned for Bishop Boulevard since they oppose Wal-Mart. He obviously doesn't understand the antipathy to Wal-Mart." Ms. Harris obviously doesn't understand the antipathy to PARD in Pullman.

Victoria Dehlbom said...

Does Ms. Harris have a connection to PARD?

April E. Coggins said...

Joan Harris can be considered a supporting cast member of PARD. She is against everything. She is one of those illogical individuals that considers private enterprise and individual profit to be "greedy" and worthy of contempt and punishment. Her view is illogical because the very food she eats, or the pillow she will sleep on tonight, is earned by the efforts of those she holds in the greatest contempt. She has never created tax revenue in her life, she must rely on others to create the tax revenue that will pay for her comforts.

Unknown said...

From the Daily News:

"Joan Harris of Pullman is the business manager for Today's Dental and is an ex-newspaper reporter from the Yakima Herald Republic and Texas City Sun."

Not surprisingly, she is also the 9th Legislative District Committeewoman for the Washington Democratic Party (Promoter of harmonious race relations, Sean Gallegos, is also a 9th LD Committeeman).

I'll have more on Harris later.

Victoria Dehlbom said...

What a busy lady she is.