[Seattle-editorial] Feature proposal

Fri Jan 31 20:58:12 PST 2003

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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