Mayor Richard M. Daley Saturday again stressed the importance of a Wal-Mart in the Chatham neighborhood, but would not say he would grant administrative approval for the retailer.I would rather this issue be hammered out than for there to be dogmatic resistance to a business that seeks to open up shop in our community. In fact Wal-Mart merely wants to open another store in the city not just one community or another.
“You don’t want to push something down someone’s throat,” said Daley, speaking at a community policing event on the South Side Saturday. “Nothing happens then. You have to educate people and that’s what this is all about.”
He made his remarks while standing with Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), who has supported bringing more Wal-Marts into minority communities.
Daley said that the public must be educated about the importance of bringing a Wal-Mart to the South Side. He stressed, as he has done on many other occasions, that the Wal-Mart fight is “all about jobs and economic development.”
“I’m not blaming any unions,” Daley said. “The blame game is over with. We’re going to work with everybody and we’re going to come up with a solution.”
Not a Wal-Mart shopper, however, it possible that I would shop there. Especially since I wouldn't have to travel up to an hour to the nearest ones in either Evergreen Park, Crestwood, or even one near Ford City.
All the same looking at the Mayor's comments I have some questions. First, who said anything about ramming Wal-Mart down anyone's throat? Chatham may have determined that they don't want a Wal-Mart, but I don't think city government should say no just because the community may not want it. The community would vote with their feet and NOT shop at Wal-Mart if they disapprove.
As for education. Not sure where to start there. First off Wal-Mart needs to educate people on how they treat their workers. I don't necessarily buy the arguments of Wal-Mart opponents who seem to "rail" against the wages Wal-Mart pays or the lack of benefits. Wal-Mart could also do a better job of telling us how they don't "exploit" their workers.
On the part of Wal-Mart opponents, I want to hear a little more than emotional appeals on why we should oppose Wal-Mart. If they are exploiting their workers show me one person who really felt exploited by that company. Let them tell their story and I hope they don't merely have a grudge against Wal-Mart either.
Finally what do you think? As always we want your point of view. Do you think a Wal-Mart would be a valuable asset to our part of the South Side? Why or why not?
it kills small business
ReplyDeleteStudy released by University of Illinois at Chicago Office of Public Affairs on anuary 8, 2010.
Study: Chicago Walmart Does Not Boost Employment or Retail Sales
The opening of a Walmart store in Chicago's Austin neighborhood in 2006 has not increased retail activity or employment opportunities, according to a study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Loyola University Chicago.
The study found that stores near Walmart were more likely to go out of business, eliminating the equivalent of about 300 full-time jobs -- about as many as Walmart initially added to the area.
The findings support the contention that urban Walmart stores absorb sales from other city stores without significantly expanding the market, said study co-author David Merriman, head of the UIC department of economics and professor of public administration.
"What we're seeing here is that placing a Walmart in an urban setting is basically a wash in terms of sales revenue for the city and jobs for local residents," Merriman said. "This means that communities around the city shouldn't see Walmart or other big-box retailers as a panacea for local economic problems."
Walmart's expansion into larger cities across the country has stirred debate about its potentially negative impact on local jobs, wages and consumer prices, but such impacts had not been rigorously evaluated until this study, Merriman said.
The researchers collected data once before, and twice after, Walmart's opening.
Telephone surveys from March to August 2006 -- before the opening -- yielded baseline information on hours worked, salary ranges, and employee benefits of workers in 306 nearby discount stores, drugstores, apparel stores, toy stores, shoe stores and hardware stores.
Six months after Walmart opened, from March through November 2007, the researchers surveyed the same stores to find out whether any had closed or adjusted wages, employment or prices due to the opening of Walmart. The group was able to re-survey about 56 percent of the original stores. The study found that those businesses that competed with Walmart and remained in business showed little change in prices, wages or employment.
A third survey, from March to November 2008, found that of the 306 businesses originally surveyed, 82 had gone out of business during the study period.
The researchers also assessed sales tax data from the Illinois Department of Revenue and employment data from the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
"Our hope is that this evaluation aids policy makers, scholars, and community activists as they consider the full range of economic development strategies, and not just big-box developments, in their respective neighborhoods," said Phil Nyden, director of Loyola's Center for Urban Research and Learning.
The study was supported by a grant from the Woods Fund. The survey report is available at LUC.edu/curl.
UIC ranks among the nation's leading research universities and is Chicago's largest university with 26,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.
For more information http://tigger.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/newsbureau/cgi-bin/index.cgi?from=Releases&to=Release&id=2734&fromhome=1
For many of the organizations supporting Walmart opening it is nothing more than a smokescreen. Some of the same organizations(Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce) are some of the same organizations supporting legalized video gambling in the city of Chicago. Zip code 60620 has soe of the highest lottery sales in the state. So if we get a few people working we can take it right back in gambling.
ReplyDeletespeaking of organizations, i really would like for our community organizations to come out in support of local businesses. come-on Mr Tate let us hear you. i also like to know why chatham business association is supporting walmart zip code 60619. ----------------gambling?
ReplyDeleteChatham Business Association is supporting it because Bill Garth, owner of the Citizen newspaper will receive additional revenue by carrying Walmart advertising. Some of the other businesses are looking for minority supplier status to get their products on the shelves. They just don't know how many businesses have gone bankrupt doing business with Walmart.
ReplyDeleteYes gambling, there is a major lobbying effort to legalize video gambling in the city of chicago. Look at the following website Back to Work Illinois http://www.backtoworkillinois.com/ and look at some of the organizations behind this website they are the same organizations who support the opening of Walmart.
As far as Keith Tate contact him at http://chathamavalonparkcommunitycouncil.blogspot.com/
I'm trying to avoid muddying the waters regarding the WalMart debate, but the study released by University of Illinois at Chicago Office of Public Affairs on January 8, 2010 needs to have done a comparative analysis of Chatham for that same time. Especially when evaluating the WalMart affect based on businesses that had to close their doors. Because as we all know, this has been a tough economy and people are facing tough choices.
ReplyDeleteHere is some food for thought: 7 out of 10 new employer firms survive at least two years, and about half survive five years. (Source: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, September 2009)
Based on this data and others that I'd rather not bore you with at this point, we can see that 82 out of 306 fits some of this data.
So before we all judge this and all big boxes, let's be sure we are making fair analysis of the situation. Because I have lived in the Chatham area for the past 6 years and know that there have been many business that have come and gone due to other factors since we don't have a WalMart in our area.
-JMP
Always feel free to jump in, this is a community blog where everyones opinion is appreciated.
ReplyDelete