Letters To The Editor

Sat., Oct. 21, 2000

Growth has good and bad sides

I am concerned about many pell-mell growth trends occurring in Kootenai County; the addition of a Wal-Mart super store in Post Falls is just one of them.

The problem with the Wal-Mart proposal is, are we prepared to accept not only the upside but also the downside of what Wal-Mart brings? This company seems to have a habit of bullying its way around when proposing new store locations. It tried to get zoning changes in north Spokane regardless of whether the local citizens wanted it or not. It is doing the same thing for a proposed site just south of Springfield, Ill.

In other words, it appears this company has an insatiable appetite for bigger market share, regardless of whether the public needs it or not. What effect will Wal-Mart have on local businesses that are a mere shadow of this company’s size? Just how much mega-retail outlet availability does the local population need? Are we prepared to accept what this type of growth brings? When are the existing citizens going to say enough is enough?

Perhaps it is moot which comes first - the chicken or the egg. Huge housing developments are being approved with near impunity. Whether the availability of more goods and services demands more growth of consumers or the growth of more people demands more job opportunities is irrelevant. We are obviously careening into the very social problems that many who moved here were trying to escape. John Bentley Post Falls

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