600 jam Wal-Mart traffic session

A tough crowd of more than 600 men, women and children protested a Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed on the South Hill in a raucous meeting Thursday night at Ferris High School.

While many took a “not-in-my-backyard” stance, others looked at the bigger picture: Not in anybody’s backyard.

Brad Read called for people to unite against both Wal-Mart and the Sam’s Club the corporation is proposing on the North Side.

The audience, who squeezed into the school cafeteria, struggled to hear details from a local firm conducting a traffic study on the project over an inadequate PA system that cracked and cut out as people spoke.

“It’s absolutely insulting that a multi-billion dollar corporation cannot have a decent microphone,” one man commented as several people in the audience chanted, “They probably bought it at Wal-Mart.”

Within an hour it became clear that no city officials or Wal-Mart Stores Inc. corporate executives were visibly present. Landowner Harlan Douglass, who is selling the parcel to Wal-Mart, seemed a no-show as well.

Architectural drawings showed an attractive two-fronted, 186,000- square foot facility adorned with trees. Wal-Mart would front 44th Street, literally transforming it into an arterial, and segue into a store front on Regal Street. The Regal Street storefront would have suites for independent retailers. Parking would be on street level, but underneath an elevated store, on top of the store and nearly invisible from the street.

Seattle-based attorney John McCullough said the design is new for the northwest. But the unique aesthetics garnered few points with most residents. Many stood in long lines waiting for a chance to rally the crowd at take potshots at the world’s largest retailer.

A Seattle-based attorney contracted to represent Wal-Mart and representatives from CLC Associates, a local engineering company, lacked crucial details about the store — which further angered some residents.

There were traces of contention before the meeting started as 54-year-old neighbor Tim McHenry told the attorney, “We’re going to fight you here. We don’t want any part of you here.”

When asked whether the store would be open 24-hours a day, as rumored, Wal-Mart’s representatives declined to give a firm answer. The men also couldn’t comment on whether RVers would be allowed to sleep overnight in the parking lot — which is several blocks from Adams Elementary and Ferris High schools. The company attorney declined to answer questions about the average traffic impact for a store of that size.

“Why are we commenting on traffic impact if you can’t answer how many cars are going to be here?” one woman shouted.

Kevin Picanco a traffic engineer for CLC Associates, gave preliminary estimates of additional trips on the roads and quoted figures ranging from as low as 150 added trips during weekday mornings to as many as 500 and hour on busy weekends. But the crowd didn’t buy those numbers either. A young man citied a study saying the impact on a busy Saturday is 8,500 to 9,000 cars, a figure the men didn’t dispute.

Some made references to recent documentaries, blasting the company for exploiting foreign workers and paying “poverty wages.”

Others criticized Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for trying to move into an already congested neighborhood that has nearby schools and an outdoor sports complex.

Janet Schaffer, 45, was among a vocal minority who wanted a store nearby so she doesn’t have to drive across town to shop.

“We have a family of six and it’s difficult to find all the things you need for your family,” Schaffer said before the meeting.

But most of the people who stepped up to the microphone were adamantly opposed to the project, stating concerns about added traffic, including semis, on arterials that run by a half dozen schools on the lower and upper South Hill and by Spokane Youth Sports Association’s outdoor soccer complex.

“The South Hill was not designed to handle such an amount of traffic,” said Ricardo Lopez, 29.

Ann Morlin, a 42-year-old who lives near the proposed store, spent last Saturday handing out about 130 fliers opposing the project to neighbors and local businesses. At the meeting, her kids, Maggie Henley, 9, and Alex Henley, 7, donned neon sandwich board protesting Wal-Mart.

Shelly Farmer, a 41-year-old mother of two, said she sat through most of the meeting in disbelief. Having moved to the area from San Diego, two years ago, Shelly Farmer, 41, about the impact of added traffic on her family’s everyday life.

“We left for quality of life issues,” Farmer said. “I’m sitting here scared to death I’m going to be right back where I started before.”

However, she said, the size and passion of the crowd gives her hope.

””I’m very impressed with the citizens here.’