[Seattle-editorial] Re: Feature proposal

Sat Feb 1 11:07:31 PST 2003

Kay Neth,

Outstanding feature suggestion. I put something together very very quickly 
this morning ... you'll see the feature up today.  It's so cool when all of 
the feature pieces are there and ready:  reports, photos, links  .... hooray!

I've probably left important things out -- if you have suggestions about 
adding links, reorganizing the links, etc. ... please let me or the 
seattle-editorial list know .... we can go in and adjust the story at any 
time.

i'll be out most of the day (taking in some mountain air!!) ... but will be 
available tonight.

Thanks for your work on this!!

- Susan

At 06:58 PM 1/31/03, Kay Neth wrote:
>Hi, everyone.
>
>For those of you who don't know me (I'm not sure who's on this listserve): 
>I'm an IMC volunteer who works with Global Update Seattle and has a 
>Saturday front-desk shift.
>
>I'd like to propose a timely feature with local and international 
>relevance. (To remain timely, it would have to go up soon.) There's been 
>several stories posted about it on the newswire; perhaps these separate 
>postings could be shepherded into one cohesive feature. An example of what 
>that feature could look like is included below (the same text is also 
>attached as a Word document to this message).
>
>About the feature: Costco, which is based in Issaquah, has drawn criticism 
>because of its efforts to build a new store in Cuernavaca, Mexcio. 
>Construction of the store has resulted in the destruction of old-growth 
>forests and murals. This issue has drawn the attention of local and 
>Mexican activists, as well as Costco shareholders--all of whom are working 
>together to stop the construction. On Thursday, I went to a Costco 
>shareholders meeting that was distinguished by unusual expressions of 
>dissent against the company--from both activists and two 
>shareholders--during a Q&A with Costco executives. The story is below, 
>along with relevant links. As noted in the story, the activists and 
>shareholders plan on continuing their effort to stop the Cuernavaca 
>construction, and a KEXP program will address the issue tomorrow morning.
>
>Any thoughts on this as a feature?
>
>Thanks,
>Kay
>
>Costco’s annual shareholders meeting in Bellevue, held Jan. 30, began with 
>a Power Point presentation enumerating the dry facts of the Issaquah-based 
>company’s profits, its successful wine division, its global expansion, its 
>code of ethics.
>
>But the meeting took an unexpected turn when two disgruntled shareholders 
>spoke against Costco’s construction in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where 
>old-growth trees, murals and a historic hotel have been or will be 
>destroyed to make way for a Costco store. The meeting was shut down, 
>elevated tensions and unsettled controversy, after a group of activists, 
>from Seattle and Cuernavaca, descended on the public gathering to 
>challenge the construction.
>
>
>Although many critics’ opposition to the building stems from predictions 
>that Costco’s Cuernavaca warehouse would decimate local businesses and 
>suburbanize the city 
>(http://www.corpwatch.org/action/PAA.jsp?articleid=3908), objections 
>vocalized at the Jan. 30 meeting centered on concerns about the loss of 
>forests and history—as well as the impact of the construction on Costco’s 
>reputation, and, consequently, its profits (a message custom-designed for 
>Costco shareholders).
>
>Activists in Mexico began organizing against the store in the summer of 
>2001, after Costco purchased the publicly owned land from the Cuernavaca 
>municipal government. A group called Frente Cìvico Pro Casino de la Selva 
>(http://procasino.org) was formed to fight the construction. It took its 
>name from a decades-old historic hotel, Casino de la Selva, which was 
>located on the site and thus fated to be destroyed.
>
>Tensions escalated in August 2002, when police officers in Mexico beat, 
>arrested and jailed 32 activists who had been peacefully protesting the 
>construction. News of the arrests inspired another demonstration: An 
>estimated 15,000 people rallied in Cuernavaca that same month. Activists 
>held meetings with Costco representatives and attempted to legally halt 
>the construction, but without success. Talk of a Costco boycott 
>(http://www.mexicosolidarity.org/COSTCO_Cuernavaca.html) could be heard on 
>the Web and in activist circles
>
>Opposition to the Cuernavaca construction reached Bellevue at the 
>company’s shareholders meeting during a Q&A session with Costco Chief 
>Executive Jim Sinegal and Chairman Jeff Brotman. Longtime shareholder Mary 
>Jo Stansbury, who says she has been in conversation with Brotman and 
>others about the Cuernavaca construction for a year, introduced the issue 
>at the meeting. “For some reason, you don’t see the pain and chaos you’re 
>creating in another culture,” she said.
>
>“Is it really worth the bad press and the demonstrations going on outside 
>now as we hold this meeting?” added Stansbury, referring to a group of 
>protesters that had convened outside Meydenbauer Center, where the meeting 
>was held.
>
>Newground Investment Center President Bruce Herbert later spoke, warning, 
>“Our behavior in Mexico is creating an enormous brand risk.”
>
>Crowd response to the shareholders’ allegations was mixed: Stansbury and 
>Herbert’s testimony was met with applause, but many shareholders clapped 
>when Brotman criticized the timing of the discussion. However, not every 
>shareholder wanted to see the discussion end. “At the risk of being booed 
>down,” said one shareholder when Brotman and Sinegal refused to answer 
>additional questions about Cuernavaca, “if we can’t raise this question at 
>a shareholders meeting, when can we raise this?”
>
>The mood of the crowd grew tenser when a group of Seattle-area and Mexican 
>activists, who had been outside the building, entered the public meeting. 
>Two carried a banner that read, “Costco: Don't Destroy Cuernavaca.” (See a 
>photograph at 
>http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=21908&group=webcast.). 
>Cuernavaca resident Vera Sisniega was handed one of the microphones 
>shareholders had used during the Q&A session. “Good morning,” she began. 
>“I am Vera Sisniega, and I have come from Cuernavaca, Mexico 
” Before she 
>could go on, her microphone was abruptly cut off. Undaunted, Sisniega 
>began shouting at the front of the room, reading from a prepared 
>statement: “For the last year and a half we citizens have asked, 
>requested, implored Costco not to destroy what we feel is our civic, 
>artistic and national heritage, but instead to build their store in 
>another location—any other location. 
 [T]here have been repeated 
>requests, legal proceedings, and even citizen actions to demonstrate to 
>Costco how powerfully we feel about this land, this art and these 
>artifacts. None of this has moved the company. Therefore we have traveled 
>north to the United States to speak directly to you, the shareholders, and 
>to you, the top managers of Costco.
>
>“We demand,” Sisniega continued, “that Costco withdraw from the Casino de 
>la Selva site and choose another location.”
>
>A clearly agitated Brotman and Sinegal brought the meeting to abrupt close.
>
>Management attempted to defend its actions by noting that it had donated 
>30,000 trees to the city, which provides little comfort to ecologists 
>worried about the destruction of natural habitat on which the area’s 
>wildlife currently relies. Costco also says it has plans to build a 
>cultural center to house murals, although activists say thousands of 
>square feet of murals have already been ruined—and Herbert alleges the 
>promised museum is in fact one room in a restaurant (called, notably, 
>California).
>
>Activists and shareholders plan to continue the fight against the building 
>of the Cuernavaca store with education, media outreach, and, perhaps, a 
>resolution, subject to a shareholders vote, that would end construction on 
>the site.
>
>Members of Frente Cìvico Pro Casino de la Selva, the coalition that is 
>fighting Costco in Cuernavaca, will discuss the controversy 11 a.m. this 
>Saturday (Feb. 1) at 606 Maynard Ave. S., in Seattle's International 
>District. The event is open to the public. You can also catch anti-Costco 
>activists Juan Robert and Vera Sisniega 7:30 a.m. Saturday on KEXP (90.3) 
>during “Mind Over Matters.”
>
>
>Additional links:
>
>The Web site for Frente Cìvico Pro Casino de la Selva, a group organizing 
>against the construction of a Costco store in Cuernavaca:
>http://procasino.org
>
>
>Seattle IMC newswire stories
>A press release from the Community Alliance for Global Justice about the 
>Jan. 30 shareholders meeting and protests:
>http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=21892&group=webcast
>
>Photographs:
>1. Of murals destroyed Cuernevaca as a result of Costco construction
>http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=21918&group=webcast
>2. Of old-growth cleared to make way for the store
>http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=21919&group=webcastwebcast
>3. Of Mexican activists carrying out a hunger strike to protest continued 
>development
>http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=21917&group=webcast
>
>
>Information on a boycott, with a link to a flyer for distribution at 
>anti-Costco events
>http://www.mexicosolidarity.org/COSTCO_Cuernavaca.html
>
>
>
>
>
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