Englewood Aldermanic candidate seeks a Wal-Mart

The 16th Ward is a neighboring ward to the 6th as it largely encompasses the Englewood neighborhood. We here at The Sixth Ward had blogged an ABC7 story about some Englewood activists seeking a Wal-Mart in their community. Apparently it's part of an Aldermanic campaign platform this year according the Chicago Muckrakers:

Jobs are the topic of the The Chicago Reporter's latest issue. It's an issue everyone's thinking about, including Hal Baskin, a community leader and 16th ward aldermanic candidate from Englewood. The South Sider says jobs are the way to reduce crime in neighborhoods, increase safety at schools and improve the quality of life for neighborhood residents.

We mapped the number of jobs in Chicago by ward and found that the 16^th ranks almost dead last. Baskin, a reformed gang member who now runs the P.E.A.C.E. Center, proposes one solution to bring jobs into Chicago: more Wal-Mart stores.

...

Baskin has been one of the retailer's biggest supporters. "I'm not supporting big companies or unions," he says of the living wage controversy that's swirled around the discount store. "I'm supporting people in the neighborhood and they need jobs," Baskin said.

With plans for more Wal-Marts in the future, Baskin is pushing for a store in the heart of Englewood, where 63^rd Street and Halsted Street intersect. Like many Wal-Mart proponents, he laments the tax revenue lost when Chicago residents drive to the suburbs to shop at Wal-Mart. And he brightens up at the prospect of the hundreds of jobs that a Wal-Mart could bring if a local store were to open in Englewood.

I suggest you read the whole thing. It talks about how Wal-Mart benefited or may not have benefited the Austin neighborhood. Also let's not forget that Wal-Mart sought to build a store not in another minority community such as Chatham or Pullman but in a North side lakefront community such as Lincoln Park or Lakeview.

Via Curbed!