I've never been a fan of WalMart -- in fact, I have a pretty suspicious view of their business practices from top to bottom. However, it's not clear to me what Chicagoans are trying to achieve by preventing WalMart from coming to the Windy City. The two planned WalMart stores would be on the south and west sides of Chicago, in places where the communities can use every extra job they can get. The economic development these stores can generate would be a fantastic boost for residents of these areas. The notion that somehow workers in these areas are going to be exploited with low-wage, low-benefit jobs is preposterous -- did anybody stop to look up the employment rates in these areas?
Of course I believe WalMart's use of market share to bully small producers needs to be countered, but is this really the place to do it? The south and west sides of Chicago need every bit of development they can get, even if it comes in the form of WalMart.
UPDATE: PG points me to this article.
I don't think the south and west sides need development at any cost. If there was a proposal to put a toxic waste dump or landfill in that would create the same number of jobs I don't think you'd support it.
Walmart is a powerful presence and I'm glad they aren't being accepted as a fait accompli by the neighborhood or the city. Perhaps in the long term they'll be a positive force in the areas, but as long as WalMart's hungry to get in, the City should try to squeeze as many concessions to sustained growth and community involvement out of them as possible.
I personally believe WalMart will be a good thing long term, but believe it will devastate local businesses short term. If through negotiation, the short term consequences can be mitigated now, the transition to businesses that can co-exist in a "WalMart zone" can be made more easily and the economic health of the west and south side neighborhoods where they locate can be enhanced and not harmed.
I think it's a little unfair to compare WalMart with a toxic waste dump! And anyway you've got it backwards... it will be bad long term, but good short term. Go drive around Austin sometime and see if you can find any thriving small business that would be squashed by a WalMart coming in. These areas are in serious need of some economic development, and it's worth putting a WalMart in to generate some jobs.
By the way, if you want to argue against the WalMart, the best point is about benefits, which WalMart avoides by making its employees work 30 and 35 hours -- not enough to be fulltime and qualify for benefits under the law. This is a big price for local workers to pay -- but I still contend that it's worth it. Seriously, go drive around Austin sometime and then tell me it wouldn't be a good thing.
I don't think I have it backwards. Short term, the businesses that are there will be destroyed. They aren't the kind of businesses you and I patronize, but there are businesses there. Long term, a Walmart is likely to encourage the building of other retail outlets in the same area.
Big chains won't build there now because they fear the area. If Walmart makes a go of it, you'll see the Targets and K-Marts and other big box stores locate around them to try to get in on the action WalMart creates. The big-box leader model is exactly what happened on West Fullerton near the river, on Addison near the highway, and what's happening now on Howard. One big anchor moves into a somewhat questionable neighborhood with good transportation that traffic skips by currently and other businesses follow it as it converts that traffic to stops and purchases.
I still think we should squeeze WalMart for all we can, though, because they will hurt the local small businesses (even if they're just liquor stores and bodega-like places) that exist in the area.
Take a look at some of Wal-Mart's magic numbers and maybe you will see a different side of this chain:
http://www.counterpunch.org/cox04202004.html
But, of course, it has been decided that Wal-mart will appear on the city's west side, but not the southside.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/walmart26.html
Just wanted to add my two cents to the conversation!
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