Chicago vote shows mixed views over Wal-Mart

[icymist]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/172141_walmart06.html

Thursday, May 6, 2004

Chicago vote shows mixed views over Wal-Mart

By STEPHEN KINZER
THE NEW YORK TIMES

CHICAGO -- Less than a month after voters in Inglewood, Calif., rejected Wal-Mart's effort to build a store there, Wal-Mart was dealt another blow yesterday when the Chicago City Council postponed a vote on zoning changes that would have allowed it to open its first two stores here. The setbacks in Chicago and Inglewood reflect the increasing difficulty Wal-Mart is facing as it tries to push into more urban markets.

Most of Wal-Mart's more than 3,500 stores in the United States are in rural and suburban areas. Chicago may be a major test of whether organized labor, which is relatively strong here, can block or obstruct the company's plans to continue expanding in big cities.

"It would be nice to have seen the proposal go through and be voted on today," said John Bisio, a Wal-Mart spokesman, "but this just gives us the opportunity to engage people and go back and dispel a lot of the misinformation that's out there."

(more)

[MSgt213]

1. People will never learn until Walmart destorys their area.

[Solon]

2. Maybe the Unions can force Wal*Mart to Unionize?

Nah, that'll never happen, needs to though.

[AngryAmish]

3. Folks, this Wal-Mart is coming in

This is a little kabuki theatre by some aldermen, but they will not stop this Wal-Mart.

Let me explain something about the Chicago City Council. EVERY alderman determines what the zoning is in his ward. Everything from the size of a business' sign to whether you can have a driveway is run through the alderman's office. This is a huge source of graft for the alderman (because the Chicago building code and zoning is quite strict, but variances are given all the time. A word from the alderman gets the variances done. The easiest way to get a word from an alderman is to buy a few tickets to a fundraiser...)

So what is being done is some aldermen who do not like Wal-Mart are squawking. There is an anti-Wal-Mart campaign being run by some unions, mostly by the grocery unions. However, since Wal-Mart already has the alderman on board the other aldermen will not go to the wall on this, because they each have many pet projects they want done that require City Council approval. If they screw this guy on Wal-Mart, he has the opportunity to screw them over and over.

The final word in Chicago is Daley. But he stays out of this area (ie lets the aldermen determine zoning) because it keeps the aldermen well fed with graft that cannot be traced back to him.

[veganwitch]

4. where the hell would they put it?

next to watertower place?

the room needed for one of those monstrous pieces of crap would not fit in an already crowded urban area.

[AngryAmish]

5. West and the South sides

Chicago is a large city. If one would go away from tourist areas (you know, go to where you may see dark skinned people) one would find out that there are many economically depressed places that are happy to have Wal-Mart. Not all of the West and West Sides are economically depressed, but where they are putting the Wal-Marts sure are.

[veganwitch]

6. all the areas i know...

are full though. i think they could put on in hegewisch on way south lake shore drive but still the large plot of land that you would need, i just cant make it fit in my mind's eye.