May 23, 2005

H. Lee Scott, Jr.
Chief Executive Officer
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
702 Southwest Eighth Street
Bentonville, AR 72716-8611
(502) 731-4000

Dear Mr. Scott:

We write to you on behalf of the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development (PARD), a non-profit citizen’s organization located in Pullman, Washington. Our organization believes deeply that Wal-Mart Inc.’s proposal to build a Supercenter here is unwise and unwelcome. We have gathered more than 7500 signatures so far of people who feel strongly enough that they have pledged to refuse to shop in or work for your mall should it be built here. All signatures have been gathered from consumers in the area by local, unpaid volunteers. For our small town this is a phenomenal number. We have at least 1000 more signatures on our petition from Pullman residents than the number who voted in the last city election, and we believe it indicates that a majority of citizens here oppose the building of your massive big box discount center. We enclose copies of these signatures with this letter even as more come in.

We are a broad alliance of farmers, professionals, business people, teachers, students, retirees, wage workers and homemakers and because of that we have many different reasons for opposing the coming of a Supercenter to our town. Some of us are business people and supporters of the local business community who believe strongly that a Wal-Mart store will do great damage to our rural and small-town economy and way of life. Our recently revitalized downtown, as well as other small and mid-size businesses, would be deeply damaged by your mall and the one-stop shopping concept that it entails.

Others of us, particularly seniors and folks with health issues, are alarmed that your proposed Supercenter would be located right next to our new community hospital, right across from our assisted living community for seniors, and bordering on our city cemetery (dating from the nineteenth century). We believe traffic around the proposed site of the Supercenter, on a very difficult road to navigate and already overflowing with automobiles, will delay access to the hospital, and pose a serious health and safety hazard to pedestrians, elderly and young, as well as bicyclists and, indeed, anyone wishing to cross or turn left anywhere onto Bishop Blvd. There are others with deep concerns about polluted run off from the store to adjacent wetlands and streams, noise, air and light pollution, and a host of other environmental concerns. That this massive retail complex would be located so close to an established residential area and that a vast parking lot where anyone can camp over night will accompany it tests the bounds of good sense and community values. We are preparing legal challenges on each of these issues.

Others in our group are deeply disturbed by Wal-Mart Store Inc.’s pattern of labor organizing violations, and are working on a city ordinance that would guarantee democratic access to all large public parking areas, including the lot of any Supercenter that were to locate here. Still others in our group are most disturbed by your low wages and unaffordable benefits packages. They are appalled that you have done so badly by your workers here that the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries has had to take over your insurance plan. Others are unhappy that you pass on so many of the costs of maintaining the lives of your workforce to taxpayers, since close to half of your workers require welfare, food stamps, and other forms of public assistance just to survive. Those who find this treatment of your “associates” an insult and a threat to all hard working folks have submitted plans for a “living wage ordinance” for our city that will guarantee that all retailers of more than 75,000 square feet must pay their workers a wage above the poverty level.

Because we are a university town, with more than 20,000 of our 25,000 total population associated with the university, we are organizing to have the Washington State University refuse to purchase from any Wal-Mart that comes to town. There are also a great many faculty and staff who are members of the largest pension fund in the US, TIAA-CREF. They are planning to join a divestment campaign that would argue for all TIAA-CREF funds to divest themselves of Wal-Mart stock.

We could enumerate a long list of other concerns and approaches we are using, but we feel the point is made: we believe most citizens in Pullman, Washington, would like you to withdraw your plans for a Supercenter here, and are very determined to fight on many fronts to help you realize the wisdom of such a decision. We would prefer, however, that you make a decision now, in the early stages of planning, saving both sides unnecessary, expensive and time-consuming work around a project not suited to our local needs. You already have a store only 8 miles away in Moscow, Idaho, so this can hardly be a crucial market for you.

Your recent public relations campaign suggests that you are aware that you have not always done well by local communities, and you claim that you intend to listen more closely to such communities. We have not gone national with our publicity yet, but it is not hard to see what the headline would read: “Wal-Mart Threatens to Build Next to Community Hospital, Assisted Living Community and Revered Cemetery.” Taking the high road and withdrawing your plan now in response to community concerns seems far more in keeping with the spirit of your legendary founder who pledged in his autobiography that Wal-Mart would never enter a community in which it was not welcome. We hope you will listen to us and honor Sam’s pledge.

Yours very sincerely,

The Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development
PO Box 641
Pullman, WA 99163