Wal-Mart Superstore
Far from a done deal

by Dave Smith

When it comes to building new stores, Wal-Mart faces several hundred battles a year in local communities. One is now brewing in Hilo, but the world's largest retailer may have a free pass to add to its inventory of nearly 2,000 supercenters across the nation.
Or maybe not.
Legislation introduced by Hawai'i County Councilman Stacy Higa would prohibit stores such as Wal-Mart's flagship supercenters, which sell groceries along with other products. If approved by the County Council, the legislation would not affect on the existing two Wal-Marts in Hilo and Kona, but would prevent the company from replacing the Hilo one with an adjacent supercenter.
Wal-Mart claims that its planned new store will no be a supercenter, just a larger store. And the company wants to build it on property owned by the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. The county has no control over development on DHHL land.
At least that's the upshot of an opinion from the state attorney general, formalized in 2002 through an written agreement between DHHL and Hawai'i County, which said that the state Hawaiian Homes Commission determines land-use issues on DHHL lands on the Big Island, irrespective of county zoning.
Higa says that his measure won't apply. But others, including the Hawai'i Sierra Club's Moku Loa Group, disagree.
While it is generally accepted that the 2002 Memorandum of Agreement keeps the county out of the regulatory loop for residential and agricultural leases, Moku Loa's Chairman Paul Campbell contends that commercial developments on DHHL property may not be covered.
Campbell said the answer likely lies in the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, the 1920 federal law that established DHHL and the Hawaiian Homes Commission. The Act defers to state law on leases issued to the public, saying that leases other than those issued to Native Hawaiians for agricultural, pastoral or residential uses shall be under "the same terms, conditions, restrictions, and uses applicable to the disposition of public lands in Chapter 171, Hawaii Revised Statutes." Chapter 171 in turn mandates that development of commercial and industrial state leases shall be "consistent with county zoning requirements."
The Moku Loa Group and some Native Hawaiians also believe commercial entities such as Wal-Mart are not an appropriate use for Hawaiian Homes property.
"At a time when many Hawaiians have been on the list for DHHL lands for years and even generations, and because Wal-Mart engages in corporate practices which question their status as a good corporate neighbor, the supercenter proposal on the lands is deemed inappropriate at this time and in this location," Campbell said.
DHHL maintains that large-scale commercial leases are needed to generate money to pay for roads and other infrastructure necessary to open up additional agency lands for Native Hawaiian homesteaders. Last year the agency received nearly $10 million in rental payments from commercial leases, including large blocks along Hilo's Kanoelehua Avenue that contain the existing Wal-Mart complex and the Prince Kuhio Plaza.
Wal-Mart critics
The United Food & Commercial Workers Union, a major Wal-Mart critic (see their site WakeUpWalMart.com), contends that Wal-Mart is profoundly opposed to unions, and has illegally fired workers who have tried to organize. Wal-Mart claims it is not anti-union and says there is "simply no need for a third party to come between our associates and their managers."
Opponents claim that Wal-Mart drives down wages overall; reduces workers' buying power; increases traffic; and takes sales away from existing businesses, in some cases causing bankruptcies. They also say that Wal-Mart's purchase of goods from China costs hundreds of thousands of jobs and lowers the standard of living in the U.S.
But the company's supporters, including Jason Furman, John Kerry's former chief economist, say Wal-Mart's focus on low costs helps contain inflation, rather than hurting families.
The union claims that many Wal-Mart employees don't make enough to bring them above the poverty level. It also says that Wal-Mart, which makes more than $10 billion in profits annually, doesn't do enough to provide health insurance for its workers. The union represents about 2,300 grocery store workers locally and last year began a campaign against supercenters in Hawai'i.
Hawai'i's anti-Wal-Mart forces don't oppose all large retailers. When Wal-Mart announced last year it wanted to open a store in Kapolei on O'ahu, the neighborhood board opposed it. But when Target rep-resentatives came before the board last month with a proposal for a 160,000-square-foot outlet-20,000 square feet bigger than the proposed Kapolei Wal-Mart-they received a warm welcome.
While differing locations and perceived impact on traffic was cited as one difference, some people opposed to Wal-Mart said their views were swayed by its corporate image. According to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, one opponent claimed that Target "give(s) back to the community."
Wal-Mart claims that in 2006 it gave a total of $270 million in charitable contributions-well over $5 million a week. (Wal-Mart reported nearly $600,000 in cash and in-kind donations to Hawai'i charities.) Target says the company averages more than $3 million a week in donations. Target is a considerably smaller company, however, so its percentage of giving compared to overall profits may be larger.
Anti-Wal-Mart activist Al Norman, who operates the blog Sprawlbuster, estimates at least 60 battles over new Wal-Mart stores are ongoing at any one time, with about 300 new ones crop up each year.
In Chicago, a pro-union city with only one Wal-Mart, the city council passed an ordinance mandating a higher minimum wage and benefits from Wal-Mart and 17 other large retailers.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley vetoed the ordinance.To sustain the veto, Wal-Mart contributed $100,000 to city council candidates allied with Daley. Unions, meanwhile, contributed over $1 million to those supporting the law, making the Windy City a front line in the battle against the retailing giant.
Higa's legislation
The Hawai'i County Council voted 6-3 in February to request the Planning Commission comment on a ban on certain types of "big-box" stores. Higa's legislation does not specifically name Wal-Mart, but addresses stores that contain more than 90,000 square feet and more than 20,000 square feet of grocery space and that carry more than 25,000 items, which would apply to Wal-Mart superstores.
Higa's legislation said that such large grocery stores cause "tremendous adverse community impacts" including increased traffic and demand on other government infrastructure and "negative environmental consequences." It said they also result in "harmful, often fatal" impacts on small businesses.
Such bans have been proposed in all Hawai'i's counties. Legislation is still pending on Kaua'i, where Wal-Mart has announced plans for a superstore, and on Maui. Last year the Honolulu City Council's zoning committee tabled legislation. Higa said if Wal-Mart really wants to be a good corporate citizen, the honorable thing would be for the company to honor the spirit of his legislation.
Opponents could also sue to try to force Wal-Mart to follow county zoning, which currently would not allow such a development in that location. Wal-Mart says that if it is allowed to build its proposed 200,000-square-foot, the adjacent existing store, would be either leased to another business or torn down for parking for the new store.
Enviro impact study
Wal-Mart and DHHL, currently negotiating the terms of a 65-year-lease, agree that an environmental study is necessary.
DHHL spokesman Lloyd Yonenaka said that even though it is not mandated by law, for purposes of insurance and loans as well as safety his agency requires that both residential and commercial buildings on DHHL property must conform to county building codes. And Yonenaka acknowledges that an environmental study must be prepared for the new Wal-Mart store, based on the 1998 court ruling in Kepoo v. Watson, which said the DHHL Lands are subject to state law that requires an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement for a change in land use.
Kevin McCall, senior manager for public affairs for Wal-Mart, told the HIJ that an environmental study would be done, but he could not say at this time what form it would take.

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