Wal-Mart Not Giving Up on South Side

Oh yes CPR brings em back one more time!

Chicago got its first Wal-Mart store, on the city’s West Side, just three years ago. Unions and grassroots activists fought the controversial big box coming within city limits. That fight culminated in the mayor vetoing a “living wage” ordinance passed by aldermen. Now many South Side aldermen are openly lobbying for a Wal-Mart and are treating it less like a political liability. And, in turn, activists say they are ready for another fight.
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Willie Cochran has made up his mind.

COCHRAN: Superstore for Wal-Mart? What would that bring? Price points, products, groceries.

The South Side alderman wants a Wal-Mart in his own Washington Park backyard.

COCRAN: And you know what? If it comes to the 20th Ward, it’s not putting any Jewel employee out of business because we don’t have them. It’s not putting any Dominick’s store of business, because we don’t have them. And the number of small stores that it would affect – if you look at the number of stores that are in Washington Park, you’ll see that there’s a very, very small number.

Cochran has recently met with Wal-Mart representatives. The quandary with the world’s largest retailer is that it’s criticized for paltry wages and benefits. But in this economic recession, some living in economically distressed communities are saying: a job is a job.

Denise Dixon disagrees.

DIXON: We want good jobs. We want living wage jobs. Wal-Mart jobs are a race to the bottom.

Dixon is executive director of Action Now, a community organization that works on the South and West Sides. 
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In Roseland, another economic struggling community, Alderman Anthony Beale says Wal-Mart has flaws but they’re workable.

BEALE: We have a responsibility to sit down with them and try to work with them to say hey we have rules and regulations in the cities. However, we know you have your way of operating. There has to be common ground there. No one has been willing to give and take in order to accomplish the goal.

Listen to the audio or read the whole thing! I've excerpted enough.

Mentioned is the most favored location of a second city Wal-Mart at Chatham Market on 83rd Street. It does look like there could be some competition either from the 9th or the 20th. Not too long ago it was mentioned that one could be build in Englewood but that was before the incumbent Alderman in the 16th Ward lost her bid for re-election in 2007.

Next question how long until Wal-Mart finally builds another store within the city? Will those forces who want to impose a living wage on such businesses be successful? Might living wages be the only thing that keeps a Wal-Mart from being built on 83rd Street, for example.