"Walgreens will make home in north Moscow; Motel to come down, drug chain to go up"

More "smart growth" in Moscow. Despite Queen Nancy's objections to chain retail in the corridor ruining our "small town charm," wasting our water, not providing "living wage" jobs, and destroying local businesses that are sustainable and don't "siphon money out of the community," a third major national retailer has located in Moscow on her watch. This time it's Walgreens. Where are the petitions? Where are the angry pony-tailed mobs? The environmentally friendly torches? The non-aggressive pitchforks? Where is the concern for poor locally-owned Hodgin's Drug? Remember B.J., when one store goes in to Moscow, another goes out.

From today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Moscow is a blip on another corporate radar screen.

Walgreens, the nation's largest drug store chain, is coming to Moscow.

The business will locate at 414 N. Main St. The site was the home of an America's Best Value Inn, formerly the Mark IV Motor Inn.

"We have 24 stores in Idaho now. A year ago we had 20 stores there and two years ago only 17," said Carol Hively, Walgreens corporate spokeswoman. "Our expansion in Idaho has been steady and we're looking for locations in areas where we see increasing demand for prescription drugs, either due to a growing or older population."

The motel closed March 1 and the contents were sold. Demolition will begin soon with the appropriate safety precautions taken during the process.

The new Walgreens will have 14,800 square feet of space and parking for 45 vehicles, including three handicap spaces.

Construction is slated to start after the building permits are issued by the city in a few weeks.

The business is tentatively scheduled to open in the summer of 2009, but "that's just an approximation, so the opening could move up to spring or even back to fall, depending on a number of factors, including weather," Hively said.

Walgreens is a full-line drug store with more than 25,000 items.

The store will feature one-hour and digital photo services and a drive-thru pharmacy window.

Patients will have several options to refill medications including touch-tone service. Touch-tone allows a patient to enter a prescription number and request a time for a refill without having to speak directly to pharmacy staff. Patients may also arrange for automated refills and receive e-mail reminders of refill status.

The cosmetics department will have full-time beauty advisors to help customers.

The Illinois-based Walgreens had $53.8 billion in sales during fiscal year 2007. The company operates more than 6,200 stores throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. On average, a Walgreens store will have $8.9 million in annual sales.

The Moscow store will employ about 25 people

Shiny Happy People

According to yesterday's Lewiston Tribune, that could have ben the title of Queen Nancy's "State of the City" address Wednesday in Moscow. Nothing says "economic development" more than a bank teller that knows your name:

Moscow mayor reflects on city's 'evolving vision'
Chaney delivers her annual address to chamber

MOSCOW - Amid lists of accomplishments, goals and challenges, Mayor Nancy Chaney on Wednesday voiced some of the governing philosophy that continues to guide her into the next two years of her four-year term.

"One of the objectives of city government is to put in place the rules, plans and resources necessary to guide a community toward its collective, evolving vision," Chaney told members of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce during her annual State of the City address. "Moscow is doing just that as we revise our guiding document, the comprehensive plan, last drafted in 1999."

Through what she characterized as public outreach on a "grand scale," Chaney said a series of objectives, ranging from preserving small town community character to providing employment opportunities for all residents, has been established as a template for the future.

Chaney has been criticized for attempting to rein in economic development that doesn't fit her vision. She continues to question, for example, retail development across the border in the Moscow-Pullman corridor. Instead, she touts the concept of a "knowledge corridor" geared less to physical development of the eight-mile stretch of highway and more to educational exchange between the University of Idaho here and at Washington State University in Pullman.

The mayor spoke to a crowd of about 75 during a noon luncheon at the University Inn-Best Western.

"The state of a city is undoubtedly reflected in economic statistics, and they are important," Chaney said. "What sustains a community through good times and bad, including economic downturns, are personal connections and place identity."

She listed various price discounts and gestures like bank tellers knowing people by sight as "the stuff of community, and what keeps so many of us ferociously protective of whatever it is that makes Moscow, Moscow."

Chaney said the deaths last year of City Councilor John Dickinson in an automobile mishap and police officer Lee Newbill in a multi-death shooting showed that Moscow is not immune to tragedy, but is filled with "extraordinary support and compassion."

The mayor took office with a city council that leaned toward not only her politics, but her vision. That, according to most observers, changed last November. "Our new city council begins its journey in the midst of the comprehensive plan revision," Chaney said, comparing the route ahead to what Alice took in Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

"If, like Alice, we didn't much care where (the city is going), we wouldn't be at this meeting today," said Chaney, "and frankly, probably wouldn't have government or State of the City addresses at all."

But people who live in a community, said Chaney, want and seek order, safety and social structure. And to that end, they create rules, guidelines and government. All of it adds to the complexity and costs of ensuring a community's future, she said. "Because we are Moscow, we endeavor to accomplish those objectives Moscow's way."

"As the nation enters a period of economic downturn, it is especially important to focus on local assets and strengths in our regional economy and ways we can reinvest in Moscow," Chaney said. She listed education, health care and technology as logical areas of focus. The town can be insulated from negative outside economic forces by increased interest in renewable energy, green building and a buy local mentality, Chaney said.

She challenged those attending to make a list of Moscow characteristics that attracted and kept them here. "They are the same things that will attract new businesses, academics and families here," Chaney said. "With active marketing, Moscow is on the path to becoming the model for solid economic development and coveted quality of life."

Chaney solicited questions at the end of her address, but none were asked.

Too bad. I can think of at least a couple.

"Madam Mayor, you mentioned your opposition to retail in the corridor and a 'buy local' mentality. Would you care to square this with the reality that the two largest businesses to open in Moscow during your administration are national retailers Old Navy and Bed, Bath and Beyond, the University of Idaho's negotiations with Home Depot to locate behind the Palouse Mall, and the plans for national chain drugstore Walgreen's and chain restaurant Shari's to open soon in the city?"

"Madam Mayor, one more question. You have focused on what you call the 'sustainable revolution' and developing a so-called 'knowledge ccorridor' of high-tech businesses. But did you realize that the employees of the Alturas Technology Park and their families consume 2.07 times the annual water use of a Wal-Mart Supercenter?"

Song of My Selfishness

Janet Richards' Town Crier tripe in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News amply illustrates well why the "progressives" are now in the political wilderness in Moscow. Who can take people this disdainful seriously? It is this same upper class, highly educated drawbridge selfishness that adds $200,000 to the price of Seattle homes.

WARNING: Do not click "Read More" if you are subject to nausea caused by overly florid prose, preening intellectual pretentiousness, tortured logic, asinine allegories, naturalist hyberbole, gratuitous use of adjectives, or haughty classical music references:

Importance of community-shared values

Cows graze behind the supermarket and wheat fields roll for miles in the alley behind our shopping center in Moscow. It's a lonely stretch of road - a soothing respite from the traffic and frenetic animation of the parking lot on the front side of the mall.

Drivers are discouraged from taking this route by a series of lofty speed bumps, installed to assure that only a limited number of cars will clog the delivery lane. The bumpy pavement forces a slower pace and provides a kind of rhythm to the journey, so the occasional jostle is never too much of a surprise. I like knowing what to expect.

The conspicuous evidence of consumption litters this corridor. Stacks of wooden pallets, torn shrink wrap and plastic strapping bands lie discarded - the common refuse of retail operations. Battered Dumpsters, with Smurf-colored paint, bulge with cardboard and packing peanuts resting against drab cinder block walls which form the "backside" of a marketplace filled with glitter and glitz.

The peaceful pasture that lays on the other side of this alley seems out of place. It's a bucolic scene, in stark contrast to the commercial setting that is its backdrop; a metaphor for the clash between the push for development and its opposition.

One day as I began the slow traverse of this undulating path I turned the radio to classical. The music was lilting, and beautiful, but I felt unsettled, my mind troubled by thoughts of the natural landscape on one side of the alley that seems headed for obliteration - threatened by the encroaching ooze of molten asphalt hardening into a permanent tomb and the relentless proliferation of retail outlets that have already scourged the nation.

Countless other towns have been swept up in the now familiar pattern that comes on the winds of progress. A trend favoring a homogeneous market saturated with global franchises housed in immense buildings with the offer of generic predictability. Spewing shrink wrap and clam shell cartons, they operate out of step with the rhythms of the natural world and encourage us to do likewise, causing one to wonder if health of any kind is ever a priority.

Countless towns have seen the destruction of the sense of community that comes in the wake of the big-box phenomena. The marketplace, no longer a meeting place, marches to a global drummer, oblivious to the heartbeat of the community. The anonymous nature of these cart and carry stores only adds to social isolation.

When it comes to the issues of water and Wal-Mart, the residents of Moscow, myself included, are polarized. It's hard to see common ground - the shared soil that is the essence of this community - so near and dear to everyone. But common ground is what we must find to prevent the health of our beautiful natural setting and the relationships that make life so rich and give meaning from falling victim to ideological positions set in stone.

Something rescued me from these somber thoughts that day in the alley. Without warning hundreds of small black birds descended on my car. Swirling, whipping and whirling, they snaked towards me and then away in long symmetrical streams forming layer upon layer of concentric black rings. As if hearing the music, they swept inward and outward, like ribbons in the wind, upward and back around the car in syncopated rhythm. As quickly as they came they vanished, as if sucked by a celestial vacuum.

As I negotiated the last speed bump and turned onto the street to head for home, the radio announcer spoke clearly: "You have been listening to a composition by the French composer Ravel written in 1928. It is titled "Oiseauz Tristes," "The Unhappy Birds."

It was a moment sublime - "coincidental oppositorum." Things that seem separate, even opposed, coincided to reveal an unexpected unity - an unbelievably beautiful experience driving in a littered alley behind a mall illustrating the coming together of two worlds in conflict.

Will our town slide into dissension and mediocrity as so many other towns, unwilling or unable to see the importance of the shared values that will determine its destiny? Is there a way to soar above the staunch opinions and fly together?

Perception Becomes Reality

The Perception:

With the denial of a rezone that would have brought a Wal-Mart Supercenter to Moscow and the institution of the Large Retail Establishment Ordinance — aka the big-box ordinance — in February, some people say there is a perception Moscow isn’t welcome to new business, or is too selective on what it allows.

Some are concerned that Moscow will lose its status as “retail base of the Palouse” to Whitman County, while others say they are just trying to protect the Moscow they know and love.

- "Chilly climate for commerce?", Moscow-Pullman Daily News, December 19, 2006

The Reality:

From last Saturday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Home Depot puts brakes on Moscow store

The Home Depot won't be locating in Moscow anytime soon.

The national home-improvement and garden retail outlet had been working toward an agreement to build a store behind the Palouse Mall in Moscow, but corporate officials have decided to take a step back, said Gerard Billington, real estate officer for the University of Idaho.

"We had been working with Home Depot vigorously and we thought we had an agreement, but they declined," Billington said. "They didn't think the deal worked out for them.

"They were crunching numbers, looking at site numbers, site prep costs, land costs, development costs and potential revenue from sales in smaller markets."

The University of Idaho owns the 600-acre piece of land where Home Depot was looking to build, and any deal between the UI and Home Depot would have been a ground lease.

Billington said as far as he knows, the fact that Lowe's - a national home improvement store planning to locate in a proposed retail development in Whitman County - could be coming to the area had nothing to do with Home Depot's hesitation.

"I'm sure Lowe's would impact a future Home Depot and Home Depot would impact a future Lowe's, but I don't know that it was a decision point," he said.

UI officials have had a couple conversations with Home Depot since last fall in an attempt to work out an agreement, but no commitment has been made.

"They wanted to take another look at the agreement," Billington said.

He said he hasn't heard anything from Home Depot since the UI's last conversation with company officials in December.

"Home Depot continues to review and monitor the market and trade area for a site that will work for us and serve the community well," Home Depot spokeswoman Kathryn Gallagher said. "To date, an economical solution has not been found. However, we are constantly turning over new ideas, leads and solutions."

This is "Selective?"

In August 2007, Queen Nancy proclaimed that "Selective growth means knowing what type of growth is right for Moscow and encouraging it."

Chaney stated that having the focus of development "on the automobile, the strip development with shoulder-to-shoulder big-boxes would encourage homogeneity in the community" and that Moscow needed to maintain its "artsy, quirky edge."

Enter Shari's Restaurant.

According to Saturday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News, a Shari's Restaurant will open off Pullman Road on the west side of Moscow near Applebee's. The 5,000 square-foot will seat 180-185 people and be open 24/7.

What? So you mean that Shari's, on the far-edge of town away from any housing is NOT "automobile development" and NOT "shoulder-to-shoulder" with big-box Wal-Mart a few yards away?

What about sustainability? Where do you think the "half a million cups of coffee, cracks a quarter million eggs, fries over five miles of sausage links and toasts nearly 150,000 pieces of bread" that according to the article the average Shari's serves every year will come from? How many truck trips do you think that will generate? How much gas will be used to ship in those supplies and how much carbon emissions will be generated?

What about "homogeneity?" Shari's already has 98 other stores in six states. In what way does a chain restuarant maintain Moscow's "artsy, quirky edge?"

Don't even get me started on "living wages." I've worked retail and I've worked the early shift at a Shari's type restaurant washing dishes. Restaurant work is worse.

And let's not forget Mayor Moonbat's mantra: water.

According to the Idaho Department of Water Resources Restaurants with bar/lounge, toilet facilities use 9-12 gallons per day per patron. The Southwest Florida Water Management District estimates that resturants use use an average of 5,800 gallons per day (GPD) of water, half of that in the kitchen area (ice machines, dishwasher, etc.) That adds up to a whopping 2,111,700 gallons a year!

Of course, all this folderol about sprawl, homogeneity, sustainability and water ise silly. And I could care less about the hypocrisy of what Chaney states she wants and what is actually allowed to happen in Moscow. BUT THESE SAME ARGUMENTS ARE BEING USED BY MOSCOW TO STOP THE HAWKINS DEVELOPMENT IN WHITMAN COUNTY, JUST A FEW HUNDRED FEET AWAY FROM SHARI'S!!

Darrell Keim, executive director of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce, was quoted in the paper as saying, "I'm excited to see the growth of business at the Warbonnet Plaza. Regardless of what happens with the Hawkins development we'll see growth in that part of town ... it seems to be the natural spot."

Of course it is. Hopefully, the new Moscow City Council will recognize this, drop their water rights transfer appeals and extend utility service to the Hawkins development.

Say What?

Joseph Erhard-Hudson, Internet technology manager at the Moscow Food Co-op, said the store could have pretty bare shelves by Monday if the bad weather continues through the weekend.

The Co-op's biggest shipment arrives Saturday.

"Our main warehouse and main supplier is on the west side of (Washington)," Erhard-Hudson said. "One shipment from them was supposed to come (Wednesday) but didn't show up until (Thursday)."

The Saturday delivery could be delayed because of the closure of Snoqualmie Pass.

"(The truck) will probably reroute through Portland, which will add six hours to their travel time," Erhard-Hudson said. "I don't know what their ETA is."

He said the warehouse in Washington ships three times a week: Monday, Wednesday and Saturday and provides the "lion's share" of the grocery items and about half of the store's wellness products.

A meat shipment from Portland to Spokane on Monday took 12-13 hours, and that was before the truck rolled into Moscow to drop a shipment off at the Co-op.

- "Businesses adjust to delivery delays caused by heavy snow," Moscow-Pullman Daily News, February 2, 2008

Our owners save money every time they shop and at the same time help build the local economy. Every dollar spent at the Co-op has roughly three times as much local economic impact as a dollar spent elsewhere...

The Co-op buys from local vendors whenever possible. In fact we buy from almost 100 different local growers and producers; including items like eggs, meat, salsa, chocolate, honey, lentils and produce.

- Moscow Food Co-Op Web Site

BWWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Quote of the Day

[Financial consultant for D.A. Davidson and Co., Jeremy] Nesset asked how Keim would lead the chamber if a business such as Wal-Mart wanted to come in and chamber membership was split in opinion.

- "Keim outlines direction for Moscow Chamber of Commerce," Moscow-Pullman Daily News, November 16, 2007

NEWSFLASH: WAL-MART HAS BEEN IN MOSCOW FOR 15 YEARS!!!

The real question should have been, "What would the chamber's reaction be if a chamber member such as Wal-Mart, or Tri-State, or James Toyota wanted to relocate and/or expand its current facilities?" Oh brother.

No wonder new Moscow Chamber of Commerce executive director Darrell Keim was quoted as "It's been an interesting year at the chamber." It's like being in charge of the East Berlin Chamber of Commerce.

Ignore the Man Behind the Curtain

Kudos to the Daily Evergreen editorial staff for using their intellect to question what they refer to as "banalities" surrounding the Cougar Green Fund in today's issue. The staff want a "more concrete plan" to go with the "sustainability, environmentalism and reusability buzzwords."

Good luck with that.

Left wing causes such as social justice and environmentalism have become the new religion. People mindlessly parrot phrases they have heard in the media or in the classroom without having one iota of a clue what they really mean.

Once, man turned inward and sought comfort in spirituality. But now that the New York Times has officially proclaimed God as being dead, people have turned outwards to seek meaning and validation in their lives. Instead of perfecting themselves, they now try to perfect others. The perfect religion for the Age of Narcissism. People pontificate about the causes of the day, be it sweatshops, sustainability, Darfur, global warming, etc., telling us how we need to change to assuage the pangs of guilt they feel for their affluence and safe, sheltered, comfortable suburban existence. And then they go right back to living their selfish, self-involved lives. Nothing ever changes. As Michael has said many times before, when self-proclaimed "environmentalists" start taking these issues seriously, so will I.

Give the Devil His Due

A question from the audience to the "Ask the Experts" panel stated, "Why does there not seem to be as much emphasis on water conservation and sustainable building practices in Pullman as there is in Moscow?"

To his credit, the first person to answer was Moscow City Councilman Aaron Ament, who correctly pointed out that Pullman has met its voluntary pumping goals every year since 1992. Moscow, on the other hand, exceeded its pumping goal every year until 2006.

Sustainable Water Resources Management - A Business Perspective

This was a panel discussion involving four participants.

Even though it was billed as a "business perspective," Steve Busch, the head of Busch Distributors and the chairman of the Greater Moscow Alliance, had really the only perspective from a businessman's viewpoint. One of the panelists was wearing a large "No Iraq War" button, which I thought was very inappropriate and detracted from what he had to say.

Steve stated that business requires government to be predictable. Rules and regulations have to be consistently and reliably applied. Government has no business managing competition and risk in a free market. Government's role is to provide reliable municipal services.

Sustainable water management to Busch means that local government is taking steps to have enough water for local citizens who live and work here now and in the future. The Palouse is not the Desert Southwest. We must investigate other sources of water, such as surface water. Growth will happen. There will always be supply and demand. You cannot concentrate on one at the expense of the other.

Mr. No Iraq War implied that "sustainability" meant preserving the aquifers forever, not just for 100 years. Of course, if the aquifers cannot be recharged, the only way to do that is to not only halt all growth on the Palouse, but completely evacuate the area.

Both Steve and Paul Kimmell stated that business comnmunity is underengaged in this process.

Keeping it elitist; Moscow group works to conceal anti-Wal-Mart agenda under guise of supporting local business

Very reminiscent of PARD's recent stillborn "Buy Local" campaign (I wonder if Deirdre and Jason Rogers consider patronizing national chain ShopKo as "buying local" and rejecting the "CEO-driven economy?"), No SuperWalMart loudmouth Bill London has started a "Buy Local Moscow" group. I'm very surpised the Greater Moscow Alliance is having anything to do with this. From yesterday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Keeping it local,Business group works to promote local business, development in Moscow

A group of 25 businesses in Moscow are banding together to help each other thrive and survive.

Members of the group Buy Local Moscow, which began in 2006, will support each other by working to promote local business and encourage economic development in the community.

"When people buy, we want them to be thinking about buying in Moscow and when you buy from local, independent businesses, all dollars recirculate into the community," said Bill London, who owns a freelance writing business and is a member of the group.

Buy Local Moscow is now ready to announce its presence in the community. It will do that through a forum addressing economic stability through buying locally. The forum will be sponsored by the Moscow Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Moscow Alliance and the Moscow Civic Association.

London said the group is using the event as a "big recruitment vehicle" and it will give people a chance to join and find out more about the group.

Stu Scott, a Buy Local Moscow member, Chamber of Commerce board member and owner of Camas Prairie Winery, will talk about the group at the forum.

"As a member of the chamber, I am interested in anything that promotes business in Moscow," Scott said.

"Buy Local Moscow came into existence for the same reason that the MCA and GMA came into existence; there was a need for it in the community. There is not a total overlap with the chamber and a group like Buy Local Moscow is more focused on one section of the business community."

He said the group hopes to promote and enhance the public's awareness of local business.

"It's significant both economically and culturally," he said. "Small business is the heart and soul of the community."

The group has created a Web site, www.buylocalmoscow.com, with contact information about participating businesses and the organization.

Buy Local Moscow doesn't have regular meetings or officers, only meetings when there is a particular issue that needs to be discussed. Scott hopes it will stay that way.

He is excited to have both the GMA and MCA participating in the forum.

The GMA promotes free enterprise and property rights and the MCA works for progressive and sustainable communities.

"We are much more interested in being unifiers than dividers," Scott said, adding that people often become divided on a single issue even though "there is a tremendous amount of overlap in the objectives and desires of all organizations."

Gerard Connelly, owner of Tri-State, was asked to join the group shortly after it began.

"I'm one who would obviously believe in the benefits of buying local and am interested in any group that would promote that," he said.

He said the Moscow Chamber of Commerce has had a campaign during the Christmas season to encourage people to shop locally, but Buy Local Moscow was specifically focused on local business.

"It's a benefit to the entire community to shop locally," Connelly said.

"There are a large number of people who think about the implications of where they spend their money; I think this will make people even more aware of the implications."

Chamber of Commerce Director Darrell Keim said the group is able to be a little more specialized than the chamber.

"The chamber is there for all business," he said. "The benefit (of Buy Local Moscow) is that local citizens are excited about it and excitement can spread about local businesses."

Keim and Connelly both will participate in the forum.

London said local business is vital to Moscow's character.

"It's what makes us so unique," he said. "These are the things that make Moscow work; it's in everyone's interest to support independent businesses."

London said possible future activities for the group include a holiday-buying kick-off party, a raffle, silent auction, a paper brochure and possibly a sign or plaque.

Bill London is a businessman with a "freelance writing business?" Give me a break. Bill's day job, you guessed it, is Communications Coordinator in the University Relations Department at WSU.

This is just another chapter from Crazy Al Norman's anti-Wal-Mart playbook: "Present an alternative."

Of course, small business is the heart of any community. But it is a false dilemma to claim that a town can only have chain stores or independent businesses. They can and do co-exist. Look what's happening here in Pullman. Crimson Village, Duane Brelsford's N. Grand Ave. retail complex, Ace Hardware, and the proposed new Pullman Building Supply superstore are all direct spinoffs from the anticipated traffic from a Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed for Bishop Blvd.

I wonder who has attracted more shoopers to Moscow? New national chains Old Navy and Bed, Bath and Beyond or Bill London's freelance writing?

It is also a lie to claim that money from local stores circulates more in the community than from chain stores. The key principle of economics and finance is that money is fungible; regardless of its origins or intended use, all money is the same. In essence, all businesses are local, in that local people work there and shop there. Wages paid by chain stores are no different than local stores. All businesses on the Palouse, both local and chain, have to pay for the goods they sell and have to pay taxes. All that is left is profit. And there is no more guarantee that a local business will reinvest its profit back into the community than a chain store would. As Kathryn Meier recently discovered, until we have a retail business that makes everything it sells locally, then there is no such thing as a retail business that circulates more money locally than another.

These concepts are all just liberal myths. They have absolutely no connection with economic facts or reality. The left will say or do anything to get their way, no matter how contradictory. For example, they claim that we have a "regional economy" and that we need to "cooperate on retail development" and not be in "competition" with each other. Then we see a group like this.

And God bless good old Gerard Connelly. The only thing we know that he's against for sure is people shopping in Pullman.

So I guess we are to assume that being a "local" business washes away a multitiude of sins. For example, we hear how "ugly" big box stores are, but has anyone taken a look at Tri-State? That store is not going to win any architectural awards.

Selling products made in developing countries? I sure saw a bunch of "Made in China," "Made in Vietnam," and "Made in Philippines" labels in Tri-State.

Does Tri-State pay its employees the Moscow "living wage" of at least $10 an hour? I doubt it.

But Tri-State is "local" and donates money to area charities (so does the Moscow Wal-Mart.) But it doesn't matter. It's all about the semantics, not the facts.

There is a display in Tri-State advertising "Greenicci" t-shirts. They are 55% hemp and 45% cotton. The words scream "Organic," "Sustainable," and "Good for you and good for the Earth." But a closer look reveals the very small words on the label: "Made in China." Does anyone even know realize "sustainable" is really supposed to mean? Want to guess the carbon emissions involved in manufacturing and shipping those shirts from China to Moscow or the hourly wage and benefits of the workers who made them?

The Professor's Progress

I have nothing against professors. In fact, I'm married to a member of the WSU faculty. I know professors are very intelligent and well-educated people who have worked hard to get where they are. I have friends, political allies, and people whom I admire very much that are or were professors.

What I am against are very intellectual people who purposefully turn a blind eye to all reason, evidence, logic, and truth in the name of some political ideology and espouse patently nutty ideas like Chuck Pezeshki's economic desert, Queen Nancy's eco-communalist "sustainable Mexican fishing village" and PARD's latest "Buy Local" campaign. To believe that the Palouse can be some sort of self-sufficient hippie commune where all we need is love and that we're somehow not part of a global economy is to ignore all reality.

I have been tough on WSU professor Kathryn Meier in the past. She has written some really awful NIMBY drivel. But in her last Town Crier column in yesterday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News, I have to give her credit for opening up her mind and discovering some of the things we all already know, even if it doesn't follow the politically correct party line:

A couple of weekends ago, I had the pleasure of attending a local sustainability dinner sponsored by Rural Roots in Moscow and initiated by a group from New York

The setting was magnificent, the bluegrass music was great, the company was very enjoyable and the food was wonderful.

As you might expect, many of the participants were already committed to sustainability issues. I don't consider myself an apostle of sustainability, even though my husband and I raise and grow much of our own food. We do so primarily for personal enjoyment, exercise, and food quality - not on the basis of political principle. I am certainly not in league with the "freegans," who attempt to utilize exclusively local products, and to barter rather than using currency. This seems unnecessarily complicated to me, albeit in the guise of simplicity. However, the dinner and other publicity have made me think a bit more about what sustainability means.

In the broadest sense, it appears that the sustainability initiatives are designed to make us think about how we can live more harmoniously in our environment, using the minimal amount of resources. I think this is a goal everyone can appreciate, and one that can be approached at many levels. On the surface, it would seem that sustainability is more easily achieved on the Palouse than in a large urban center, since we are in a food-producing region.

However, international economics make this more complicated than it appears. Much of the food grown locally is exported, and there are relatively few produce farmers in the area. Moreover, much of the farming we do is dependent on petroleum energy obtained from distant sites. Thus, matters quickly become more complicated. Finally, I would note that our farm experienced freezes Aug. 11, and again Monday - emphasizing the difficulty of sustaining oneself in an area with a short and fickle growing season.

Monday, I drove down to Lewiston to pick up some supplies, including animal feed. Several thoughts crossed my mind on the way home. First, while in Clarkston at a big-box store, I succumbed to the impulse to purchase a new frozen pesto-based pizza that was imported from Italy. On the way back, I realized this was quite a silly thing to do. We can make good pizza at home, using some of our own produce and homemade pesto in the process. Does it make any sense to purchase pizza that has been flown across the globe from Italy? I was falling prey to the "convenience" aspect as well as to the opportunity to try something new. We all make decisions like this every day. The decisions may not be "wrong," but we might choose to do otherwise if we kept the bigger picture in mind.

I next began to consider the trip as a whole. We are accustomed to driving relatively long distances for supplies on the Palouse. While this is easy and pleasant, at least in summer, it consumes fuel. I may feel smug about my use of a hybrid vehicle, but it still uses petroleum. The only good excuse that I could come up with is that I made use of a single trip to shop at several stores, and even picked a flat of wild blackberries along the way.

In the end, I conclude that all of us can do better, but that the freegan ideal is impossible for most of us. In my particular case, the air travel required of an active academician uses excessive resources, no matter how well justified. Thus, we all make compromises in our daily lives. I have nothing against a global economy and can only hope that we can use it wisely to trade for goods that cannot be produced locally.

When at home, or trekking across the state or the world, we can all work to become aware of the wonderful products that are available along the way - fruit, vegetables, cheese, meat, and crafts - and support the local producers by buying from them directly. We can make more efficient use of our time, and of petroleum-based energy, by foraging as we go. And please don't forget to stop and pick the berries alongside the road.

Yes, choice is wonderful and something we utilize every day. That is what is so fantastic about free enterprise and free trade and why socialism was such a miserable failure. A centrally-planned economy that the liberals so desire takes those decisions and places them in the hands of a few. Humans naturally rebel against such an arrangement.

And the Palouse does benefit quite nicely from that global economy. The wheat, dry peas, lentils, garbanzo beans, and canola we grow are shipped all over the world, as are the cutting-edge electronics of Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. Is it too much to ask that we have a few amenities to make life more enjoyable in return?

And as I have pointed out frequently, big box stores in Pullman mean less driving long distances, less fuel consumed and less carbon emissions. If we're going to buy the stuff anyway, why not buy it here? Isn't that what sustainability is all about?

Snobmahal

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last week, but my family and I just returned from our annual pilgrimage to the mountains and water at Wallowa Lake, Oregon.

I'll be catching up on several stories I missed in the days to come.

In her Town Crier column last Wednesday, Queen Nancy's Handmaiden Julia Parker informed us that she is leaving the country for a year and made up a little "To Do" list for her fellow moonbats while she is gone.


One of Parker's "To Dos" read:

Elect more good people to city and county government. That means you at least have to vote. Let's move toward smart growth and sustainable economic development and away from blind development like the "Garagmahal" on the Pullman-Moscow Highway and events like the Moscow Motorcycle Rally. (Whose idea was that anyway?)

Let's start with the "Garagemahal." It's a storage unit. When the zoning was being discussed for the Pullman-Moscow corridor 15 years ago, one of the things that (most) everyone agreed on was that the corridor would be best used for things that didn't easily fit within Moscow or Pullman city limits like storage units and car dealerships.

The Brundtland Commission, set up by the United Nations General Assembly, defined "sustainable development" as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

By that definition, you would be hard-pressed to find a development more "sustainable" than mini-storage units. The units are made of metal. Metal is the most sustainable material in the world, as it can be melted down and reused over and over and over again. The mini-storage units will give off no pollution and use no water. Mini-storage units allow people to reuse goods they have purchased versus tossing their old items into overburdened landfills or buying new things that would further deplete natural resources used to manufacture and transport the items.

For that matter, storage is the exact opposite of "crass consumerism" and the "cheap disposable society" so despised by Ms. Parker. Heck, mini-storage is a socialist's dream. Money changes hands with absolutely nothing being produced.

Furthermore, mini-storage units have no traffic impact. They are "mom and pop" businesses that keep local dollars in the community. Storage units are generally not national chains and therefore maintain our "small town charm." And as not many people other than the owner are employed at the storage unit, I'm sure it pays a living wage with good benefits.

No, Ms. Parker's slam on the "Garagemahal" demonstrates the point that I always make about our local elitists. All the talk about sustainability, smart growth, water, etc. is hogwash. They don't take it seriously so neither do I. Ms. Parker doesn't like the "Garagemahal" presumably because she thinks it is ugly and has a tacky name. Ditto with her comments on the Moscow motorcycle rally.

Here's one more "To Do" for Parker and her fellow snobs who leave the Palouse: Don't bother coming back.

Gee, No One Invited Whitman County?

There was a story in yesterday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News about the Moscow Congress, which is part of the process of rewriting the city’s comprehensive plan. Shockingly, no Whitman County residents participated.

I guarantee you that if there were any such gathering in Whitman County, Moscow residents would demand to attend. In fact, some quotes from the story demonstrated that attitude:

“We can’t talk about land use without including Pullman,” Moscow resident Bill McLaughlin said.

“We need to focus on the region when we think about economic development. The changing of the character is affected by what both communities do.”

No thanks, Bill. As it is, in today's Daily News, Mayor Moonbat, in discussing Moscow's new "sustainability" intern, said:

"Sustainability doesn't stop at jurisdictional boundaries; it exists within an ecosystem or a region."

"Sustainability" may not stop at the border, but your kingdowm does, Queen.

I may have been wrong about Bill Parks, however:

Moscow resident and Northwest River Supplies owner Bill Parks said the opposite of sprawl is “extremely high prices for housing.”

“Smart growth means high prices,” he said.

Absolutely true. And some Moscow residents do get it:

Moscow resident Laura Taylor said Moscow needs to make it easier for businesses to locate without putting a bunch of conditions on development.

“Both (Whitman and Latah) counties are starved for tax dollars,” she said. “We don’t have the option to manage growth that is going to occur outside of our boundaries.”

Here's What Sustainable Growth is Really All About

This is why I supported Michael Largent for County Commissioner last year. From a story in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News titled "Whitman County's deficit is decreasing":

Largent said playing the touch-and-go budget game is no way to run a sustainable local government. To remedy its current situation, the county is trying to broaden its tax base. It is working with Boise-based Hawkins Companies to construct a new retail center in the Pullman-Moscow corridor and providing support for a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pullman to increase sales tax revenue. It's also trying to open up the county to residential growth.

"If we can get more people to move here, our businesses can provide them with products and services," Largent said. "And that's good for the long run."

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Moonbats Without Borders

And we think we have it bad with Nancy Chaney stepping over the border to dictate to Whitman County what kind of "sustainable development" we can have. From Fox News:

Environmental activists use the term “sustainable development” to convey the notion that they’re not merely knee-jerk anti-business zealots and that they are all in favor of eco-friendly economic development.

That term is put to the test in a new documentary entitled “Mine Your Own Business.”

Made by Phelim McAleer, a former Financial Times correspondent, and wife Ann McElhinney, a fellow at the nonprofit Moving Pictures Institute, the film spotlights the efforts of environmentalists to block economic development projects in Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America.

The film starts out in the remote and desolate Romanian village of Rosia Montana, home to a most eco-unfriendly state-run mine. Gabriel Resources, a Canadian Mining Company, is trying to open a new gold mine that meets or exceeds strict European Union standards, but it runs into opposition, not from local villagers, but from first-world non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Greenpeace.

The NGOs, who don’t seem particularly bothered by the poorly-operated state-owned mine, take the position in the film that the poverty-stricken residents of Rosia Montana don’t need any economic opportunity and, instead, are willing to settle for being “poor but happy.”

The film then moves to Madagascar where another development project is opposed by the World Wildlife Fund. In an interview that must be seen to be believed, the WWF spokesman defends his opposition to the project by noting that it would only bring stress to the lives of the local population. According to the WWF spokesman, the locals would rather sit around and smile than be burdened with economic progress, or in the alternative, would simply fritter their newfound wealth away on first-world decadence like beer, stereos and jeans.

The film winds up in Chile where NGO activists point to local opposition to a proposed mining project. But “Mine Your Own Business” exposes this local opposition as nothing more than nearby landowners who don’t want to lose their employees to the higher-paying jobs created by the mining company.

The power of the movie’s message is such that Greenpeace tried to block its Washington, DC premiere by pressuring the National Geographic Society to deny the Motion Picture Institute use of the Society’s movie auditorium.

Environmentalists have criticized the movie as being a propaganda film funded by Gabriel Resources. But while the idea to do a movie about sustainable development was the brainchild of Gabriel Resources CEO Alan Hill, filmmakers McAleer and McElhinney only agreed to do the movie if the company had no editorial control over the film.

If anything, “Mine Your Own Business” only scratches the surface of the problem; the film depicts but a microcosm of the tyranny exercised by NGOs over the developing world.

NGOs, for example, have recently acquired the ability to veto third-world development through their influence over first-world banks.

Many banks have signed on to the environmentalist-promoted Equator Principles, which ostensibly are guidelines to ensure that third-world development projects occur in an “eco-friendly” manner. In practice, however, the Equator Principles, serve more as a means for NGOs to stop most economic development projects.

Banking giant Citigroup, for example, has implemented the Equator Principles, much to the detriment of the developing world. According to a 2005 Citigroup report, the bank denied financing to 54 of the 74 projects reviewed according to the Equator Principles – projects worth as much as $75 billion in financing and that are economically sound.

Not only do the Equator Principles deny first-world funding to developing nations, they also drive desperately poor nations to seek financing from alternative (and less desirable) sources like China – which is not known to apply first-world environmental standards to the projects it finances.

In another example, NGOs stopped what would have been the largest-ever sustainable forestry project in Tierra del Fuego, Chile. The Washington state-based timber company Trillium Corporation purchased 800,000 acres in Chile and Argentina in 1993. Although Trillium could have clear-cut the forest at the time, it instead tried to work with NGOs to develop its sustainable forestry project of which it was rightfully proud.

The NGOs spent the next nine years blocking the project. One of Trillium’s key lenders fell into financial difficulty and had to auction the loans that were secured by Trillium’s land, allowing Goldman Sachs to swoop in and buy the notes, foreclose Trillium’s mortgage and then donate the land to the Wildlife Conservation Society – a controversial use of shareholder assets that has been criticized by myself and others.

Needless to say, the Tierra del Fuego land won’t be developed, Chileans won’t be employed and the world was deprived of a much needed example of the ever-elusive “sustainable development.”

Though I have looked, I have yet to find a significant development project anywhere in the world that environmentalists and their NGO allies support as “sustainable.” “Mine Your Own Business” is a terrific effort at documenting that fact.

Just as Mayor Moonbat will never find a development project in Whitman County that she supports as "sustainable."