[Grovenet] wall mart and 911

Tue May 30 15:44:53 PDT 2006

There is a difference between police disturbance calls and emergency calls. 
I'd like to see the breakdown between the two to understand if Wal-Mart 
truly does bring more emergency calls - or  disturbance calls.  It seems 
that there should be a distinction at the very least.

I guess I would have to say that we pay for it either way, but Wal-Mart 
doesn't.  If they pay for policing and pass their costs along to us, or let 
people walk away with merchandise and pass the cost along to us, the 
consumer still pays.

It would be a nice day if Wal-Mart took responsibility for their parking 
lots and had surveillance that was used for more than just making sure that 
employees aren't fraternizing in the parking lot.  I don't think it is 
asking too much to have them police their own parking lot.  Let the consumer 
pay that cost, not the city of Cornelius.  Raise the prices a little.  Play 
fair.  Take responsibility for being a good neighbor and a good business.  I 
must be smoking the drapes again....

Hopefully that 8 foot wall that the Forest Grove council members wanted will 
keep the criminal element out.

I spent quite a lot of timing hearing what Mr Evan's had to say about 
Wal-Mart coming to town.  I can tell you that my impression was never that 
he wanted to close Hank's, but he is a business man.  This makes sense to 
become more specialized, but I doubt that Wal-Mart had nothing to do with 
it.  I doubt it with every fiber of my being.  That's just more head in the 
sand behavior to assume that Wal-Mart can open up right down the street and 
not have a serious effect on business.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I really hope you can all call 
me Chicken Little in 5 years.  I would love nothing more.  I'd like to see 
Cornelius thrive.

>From: Meredith Bliss <mbliss at agora.rdrop.com>
>Reply-To: Forest Grove local interests list <grovenet at rdrop.com>
>To: Forest Grove local interests list <grovenet at rdrop.com>
>Subject: Re: [Grovenet] wall mart and 911
>Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 21:51:03 -0700
>
>I wouldn't put too much stock in these reports. Fox News, perhaps in a 
>veiled
>attempt to support WalMart, has published a list of the locations 
>generating
>the most "police disturbance calls" in Washington County
>(http://www.kptv.com/Global/story.asp?s=4943426), a list including several
>transit centers, two Fred Meyer stores, a high school, and Washington 
>Square.
>
>Trouble is, they don't say what these "police disturbance calls" are. In 
>fact
>the vast majority of them are "officer initiated calls" like traffic stops 
>or
>extra patrols. And then there are counterfeiters and shoplifting calls, as
>when store security nabbs someone on the way out with merchandise hidden in
>their clothes. Some stores prefer to let these folks walk free rather than
>have the police come and get them -- you get to pay either way, either
>through paying for police or higher prices to cover the losses.
>
>Relatively few of the calls result from actual 9-1-1 emergency calls. The
>number of calls just tend to reflect where people are most active more than
>anything else. Sure WalMart will generate a lot of calls, but some of this 
>is
>just alarmist, easily deflected by the WalMart flaks.
>
>But one reason that WalMart has found it easier to invade other states is
>because of the sales tax. Local government usually gets a cut of sales 
>taxes
>generated in their jurisdiction, so the more local sales the better, and if 
>a
>big box can bring in more people from outlying areas, the city profits from
>it. But in Oregon, that's not the case, and most cities just see big box
>retailers as a drain on scarce resources with little compensation. And if
>they displace higher wage jobs, that doesn't do the city any good either.
>
>On Tuesday 23 May 2006 09:30, Cornelius First wrote:
> > Hi Steven,
> >
> > You will find that Lane county is probably similar as well.  Since 2002
> > once store alone (on Lancaster) had nearly 1000 calls to police and fire 
>-
> > including an attempted  kidnapping! This is a combination of the 24 hour
> > operation and the fact that Wal-Mart chooses not to police their own
> > parking lots.  They instead push the responsibility of enforcement onto
> > local fire and police and they prosecute EVERYTHING and EVERYONE.  No
> > exceptions.  If you are caught shoplifting at Wal-Mart, the police will 
>be
> > called.
> >
> > I think that the City of Cornelius has no idea how little of the 
>proposed
> > tax revenue they will see when it is spent on hiring officers who will
> > essentially be running back and forth to Wal-Mart each day.  Add to that
> > the cost of upkeep on the roads and I think it's safe to say that we 
>won't
> > gain much.
> >
> > Pennywise and pound foolish.  We'll see how wonderful of a neighbor
> > Wal-Mart is, if allowed to build.
> >
> > >From: "Steven" <NoSpam03 at comcast.net>
> > >Reply-To: Forest Grove local interests list <grovenet at rdrop.com>
> > >To: "Forest Grove local interests list" <grovenet at rdrop.com>
> > >Subject: [Grovenet] wall mart and 911
> > >Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 06:58:34 -0700
> > >
> > >I heard on the radio that the largest single response for emergencies 
>was
> > >to
> > >Wal-Mart in Clackamas County. Something over 500 calls a year. 
>Multnomah
> > >county had similar data.
> > >
> > >_______________________________________________
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>--
>----------------------------------------
>Just happy to be here, but speaking
>only for myself!
>Meredith Bliss --- www.rdrop.com/~mbliss
>----------------------------------------
>
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