Thank you Alderman Moore (D-49). You helped 24,500 chicago workers migrate south, looking for 325 jobs in another place, other than Chicago. You just helped a suburb reap a economic boon. Great job Alderman Moore (D-49)!
Moore Sad Facts
* It is expected to generate $1 million in sales and property tax in the first year.
* Of 25,000 job applicants, all but 500 listed Chicago addresses, said John Bisio, regional manager of public affairs for Wal-Mart.
For all practical purposes, Wal-Mart is in the city of Chicago without us receiving any benefit.
You're going to see the parking lot filled with cars with Chicago city stickers. Alderman Brookins said he planned to visit the new Wal-Mart himself this weekend "to see for myself" if the parking lot is filled with cars registered to Chicago residents. Maybe Alderman Moore (D-49) will join him? Between the two they should be able to count to 10?
A new campaign poster might want to read.... "Fighting for Evergreen Park".
19 comments:
Paradise said........>"They work their people overtime without paying them and hire illegal workers. They are guilty of gender discrimination. They are very paternalistic in the manner in which they attempt to micromanage their workers' personal lives."
Yet 24,500 Chicagoans, who need work, chose to cross the border and apply.
Paradise said.....>"they hire illegal workers".
Ever shop on Clark Street? There has to be more than 100 illegal workers from 6400 north to 7600 North on Clark. Check Mega Mall for a sample.
The virtual suburbanite is right. Look at what is happening in the state of Maryland right now if you want the story on that...that state is trying to implement regulations that would require the states largest private employers to earmark 8% of revenue (don't remember what the exact formula is..)to cover the healthcare costs of their employees. There are currently 3 employers in MD that meet the size threshold for this regulation - 2 are already in voluntary compliance - so guess who this legislation is being crafted to deal with? (hint: W-M)
I think there may be a place for big box stores in the north end of Chicago - Western ave. springs to mind - and it's true that these stores can provide okay jobs for workers with few marketable skills. But Wallmart shouldn't be part of the mix - there just aren't enough pros to outweigh the cons.
The fact that so many people applied at the southside WM just means that there are lots of desperate people out there. That doesn't make it okay - especially when the company taking advantage of that desperation is the wealthiest corporation in the wealthiest country on earth.
No, no, no, no, no....
I did not mean to imply that I think a Walmart on Western ave. is a good idea. I don't think Walmart is a good idea, period. What I meant is that Western is such a wide street that putting larger stores up there would be less disruptive to the existing fabric of the neighborhood than on most of the other streets. Western North of Devon is a big thoroughfare, with car dealers and such - what would be wrong with a nice grocery store there or, say, a Best Buy or a Binny's. And I don't think that all big stores are bad - I think most big boxes are less sleazy than Walmart, but that's not saying much, I know.
Paradise wrote: Leave that dump to the hicks in the suburbs.
Paradise, I've got to hand it to you. In one month you've decided that the single mom with minority toddler whose car was vandalized deserved it and should just get rid of her car and walk and take public transport, and now you've slammed both suburban dwellers and Walmart shoppers and employees as "hicks." My god you are one of the most elitist people I have ever stumbled upon. You apparently don't want people who don't think, look, act, or have the same aesthetic as you do anywhere near our 'hood. Where I come from (which happens to be a long line of "hicks") that's what we called bigoted. I'm married to a hick too -- a carpenter who buys his work clothes at Walmart and other big box stores. He doesn't like me to advertise it, but he lunches at Mickey Dee's too. We'll do our best to steer clear of your neck of RP lest we offend your sensibilities.
I was waiting for that flame. The problem with Walmart is it's size. The fact of it's size means that it has a disproportionate influence on labor compensation trends. They have engaged in documented discriminatory labor practices (I know, not the only ones, but again, I will point out that scale counts). The physical stores themselves are too gigantic to be appropriate in any urban environment and they are almost universally poorly maintained. I could go on and on, but you can read about it yourself in the newspaper.
Anyway, I never said I hated big box stores. I just pretty much hate Walmart. I don't shop in big boxes much myself, but I don't hate them as general category. As you point out, there are problems with "mom and pop" too. Some big store companies are decently run and provide value to consumers, employees and shareholders. Take Home Depot as an example (please don't ream me on their current stock price - I have no idea what it is) So my list wasn't really a wish list, just a list of examples of largish stores that seem to provide value to consumers and do okay by their employees. Not great, just okay, or a bit less than okay, but not "slavery". Obviously it could be better, but that's what unions are for. For most people who work in them on the sales floor, they are a temporary fix, and I doubt that anybody in this country, in any era, ever made a wage that could support a family decently as an ordinary non-union retail sales clerk. Sorry to provide this reality check, and please don't skewer me with some rant about my comtempt for the inherent nobility of the working man, but running a cash register or showing people where things are on shelves really doesn't require much of a skill set - I know, I've done it. That may have something to do with compensation too.
As for the "I hate you merlot and brie yuppies" rant at the end of your post - I'm surprised at you EofG. I can only imagine that the "hick" comment hurt. (Not a word I like or use BTW - I hate all forms of stereotyping, and try not to indulge, but of course nobody is perfect.)
The more important issue is that Walmart is not a "choice" for most of the customers who think it's their retail savior, just like lining up to work there isn't a "choice" for most of those that do it. That is the real problem that "us liberals" should be paying attention to.
Here's what I hate: Politicians who do nothing. Best as I can tell the only thing that JM has brought us is Gateway, an attempt to ban foie gras sales, an attempt to change the blue bag program, the Chicago anti-Iraq declaration, and DevCorp. None of the above has done anything, not a thing, to improve RP in any way. We don't have more jobs here, we don't have more businesses here that employ more people. Morse is still a dump; Howard is still a dump (with even MORE empty store fronts than it had pre-Gateway!!). Net net the number of dining choices in RP in 2006 are almost the same as they were in 1991 (except in '91 I could eat at Grandpas which is now a halfway house). 15 years . . . of nothing. TW, please don't defend all this nothing as something. No matter how you dress it, RP has seen ZERO improvement based on anything JM has done. He's handed out zoning exemptions. Whoopie. More unsold inventory.
I, for one, don't hate condos. I don't hate big box stores. In fact, I love people and I love business. Bring me more of both. But don't bring me nothing but a lot of unsold housing inventory and then attempt to inflate it into something (this is what is called selling snake oil). Don't hand out zoning exemptions like Halloween candy, particularly when blocks have specifically requested downzoning (talk to the folks on the 1400 and 1500 blocks of Estes about their battle to keep their blocks R2 compliant), and don't make like these exemptions are going to lead to more/better residents when we have a boatload of empty condo housing sitting on the market. Tear down all the single family housing for all I care, if no one buys it's no more than a proverbial tree falling in the forest.
JM has no vision beyond playing politics which he has apparently been unable to leverage into anything more than the lamest alderman in Chicago. But because he represents the lamest ward, he keeps getting re-elected. This is what is known as divide and conquer. That he's done quite well and most of the 'hood has fallen for it every election cycle.
Sorry about the rambling, you all. That last post of mine didn't make much sense. I worked a 14 hour day today, and I'm running on fumes...
Ah, Pamela, reading that last post was pure pleasure. I have missed you so.
And that was a good one too, paradise. I love watching the grown ups argue.
TW - I've always wanted to ask you, why, oh why are you so fixated on Craig? We all have Craig's number. Sometimes he shoots and scores, but most of the time not.
You spend so much energy on silly old Craig. Why?
Nico's mom -- retail jobs are starter and interim jobs for a lot of people who don't have the benefit of parent-provided higher education or weren't blessed with a middle class upbringing. For some they turn into careers (in management, in owning a franchise, etc.), and for others they are simply a place to get experience in actually having a job. No one is saying that a career as a floor stocker at WM is a good thing. Running a dry cleaners is not exactly a highly skilled job either but any number of immigrants have gotten their start that way. Ditto gas stations. Societies need these kinds of jobs, particularly if we are to have a diverse community and provide opportunities for all. No jobs or a dearth of opportunity is not good for a community. My grandfather was a butcher. He worked his way up to owning his own store. I would not call a butcher a highly skilled job. But by getting experience in a store setting he was able to leverage it into something bigger which provided more income for his family. Increasingly, it is becoming clear to me that the people who hate Walmart most seem to be white, monied, advantaged more liberally inclined folks. Paradise's jabs at hicks reinforces my view. Such a 'tude gives progressives a bad name and flies in the face of the true progressive tradition. Instead of looking at WM as the Great Satan progressives ought to be lauding it and then pushing through health-care benefit regs and such. (Though the problem is that this will lead to higher prices which will have the effect of punishing those who shop at Walmart.) Most people do have to start somewhere. I know I did. My husband too. If low-skilled jobs were not available to people there would be no rungs on the ladder and many would be frozen out.
Paradise -- what you want is YOUR vision of what a city is. The ur-city of them all, NYC, doesn't look anything like it did 20 years ago. Why? Because the elitists got their way and prettified it to the point that only monied urbanites can afford to live there and shop there. Manhattan increasingly has no diversity (racial or economic). They are even killing Harlem. That is not my idea of a city. That's just a big white suburb with tall buildings and lots of traffic.
If you want a diverse community then you have to embrace business that provides jobs for everyone. You have to embrace that things won't necessarily be pretty or be the way you want them. That's what living in a city is really about -- accepting that which we may not be down with -- some ugliness, lots of messiness. Otherwise you've got Manhattan which is great if you have money but not so terrific for anyone else. It's also increasingly boring.
In my mind's eye RP would have a little of everything for everyone. Big business and little business; Walmart and Whole Foods; bodegas and fine dining. Old Navy and Studio 9, Section 8 housing and mansions. McDonald's and Vegetarian Delight. Oh, yeah, that's what Edgewater looks like.
1. 97% of the U.S. is not given over to suburban development. Big huge chunks are rural. But even if 97% was suburban maybe that's because people like it. The suburbs increasingly have the housing, business, and shops where average people can live and work. We've made our cities so expensive by chasing out the business that we're effectively doing what the French did and suburbanizing minorities and/or economically disadvantaged. My point is that I'd like for that NOT to happen here but it is happening and will continue apace until we embrace businesses that provide jobs for all. Morseland or Heartland likely don't pay employees more than WM but they do offer far less jobs than a big box store.
2. I can give you names of several people to chat to about big box stores like Target and HD scaling down -- not. What these stores say and what residents who live around them see are different things.
3. I don't necessarily want big box stores where I live but what's the dif between Walmart and Gateway? Oh, people actually shop at Walmart and people have jobs there. What's the dif between Target, Jewel, etc. on Howard and Gateway? People actually shop at the Howard development and said development provides many jobs which is why that particular area does have oodles of reasonable housing.
The whole point of this discussion should not be more vilification of the Great Satan, WM (which is, frankly, absurd). The point is that RP has no business, it has ever more rather pricey condo housing that apparently isn't being bought at the rate it's being built. Our political leadership has brought us zip. Not even a real WM we could really argue over. All we have after 15 yrs. of JM is a suburban style shopping center that few shop or work at and lots of empty pricey condos.
No one has to worry about RP being surbubanized because soon it's going to be a ghost town. Except for me. I beat most of you here and suspect I'll be here after most of you have moved on.
Pamela -
Actually, I do consider a butcher to be a skilled trade - especially back in the day when I imagine your grandfather must have been plying it. And I think that managing any small business, no matter how humble (dry cleaner, gas station), requires a more diverse set of skills than those who have never done it imagine.
So, please, don't cast me as some child of privilege who doesn't understand. I've been there, I understand, and I've got the student loans (which I'll be paying off until I die of old age) to prove it.
From what I've learned about Walmart's employment practices, low level employees have little chance to learn anything beyond the skill of showing up. The total control over each and every employee activity, the extremely dumbed down procedures for even the most menial tasks (e.g. the "greeters" work from scripts), and the rigid, non-inclusive management style doesn't develop employees in any measurable way - In fact, these policies harm them, physically and spiritually. How do I know this? Because I work in an area of occupational health that studies the correlation between worker job satisfaction, productivity, and development of chronic disease. Job satisfaction has less to do with things like money and status than some might think. The most important indicators of job satisfaction are: ability to manage one's own time when completing tasks, feeling of ownership over one's work, and the quality of the relationship with one's immediate supervisor. Working in a job that uses whatever intelligence you might have is also high on the list and working a job that doesn't stress your body excessively is up there too. Poor job satisfaction has the strongest correlation with two chronic illnesses that are also the two leading causes of disability in this country: depression (#1) and musculoskeletal pain, primarily low back (#2). So to recap, poor job satisfaction can cause (yes, cause) people to become ill with diseases that are very difficult to treat, are very expensive to treat, are a leading cause of disability, and hurt real bad. If anyone wants to learn more about this, let me know.
So, this issue would be high on my list of my many objections to Walmart. I know they aren't the only ones who create this particular hazard, but they are one of the worst.
BTDT - I'm sure you are right. This is just another one of those "progressive" sound bite issues that JM is so fond of, like the welfare of ducks and blue bagging.
Hasn't really got a thing to do with the well being of the ward, as usual.
would walmart carry a gay magazine?
you'd think sarcasm was something everyone on this blog is used to by now.
thanks paradise. you got my point exactly.
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