Sunday, December 15, 2013

VIDEO: Chicago at the tipping point in Pullman



[VIDEO] Sometime last month our local FOX affiliated aired a special entitled "Chicago at the Tipping Point". The special was anchored by Robin Robinson and Mike Flannery and explored the economy not only in the city but also in Illinois. Here's a description:
The Chicago economy is a huge economy with 9.5 million people, a workforce of 4 million, and an economic output of $500 billion a year. In fact, if Chicago and the suburbs were a country, we'd have one of the 25 largest economies in the world.

But the world is changing, our economic landscape is shifting and the jobs that mean so much to us are in transition. That's benefited some people and left others struggling to keep up.

FOX 32 News explores the current and past state of the economy in Chicago and Illinois, along with the national and global impact, in a Special Report on the Economy: Chicago at the Tipping Point.
That description page has the video for the whole special which you can visit at this link. The program itself has a duration of about 33 minutes.

What you see above is the segment (with a 5 minute duration) about the Walmart that opened during the month of September in Pullman. We see comments from 9th Ward Alderman Anthony Beale. For example:
Miles away, in the Far South Side Roseland neighborhood, Alderman Anthony Beale still has a commercial strip - but it's been a challenge.

"The real money is leaving the community," says Beale. "It's going outside the community, it's going to the suburbs, because you know we didn't have the stores that were conducive to the working class people going to shop." 

Beale says the stores needed competition and better options for his residents. They got both in a big box.

Walmart isn't the only thing going on in Pullman. A company called Method is building a distribution center in Pullman with a promise of 120 jobs starting at $65K according to this report. And it seems potential for more growth in jobs is coming to the Pullman/Roseland areas.
...
"I made a plea to my colleagues in the City Council," [Beale] says. "Some of my colleagues have four and five grocery stores in their area. I didn't have any. So how are you gonna tell me that my community has the highest crime rate, we have the highest cancer rate, the highest diabetes rate, the highest unemployment rate, the highest foreclosure rate, but we're not entitled to a good paying job and good produce and things like that in my community?"

As far as Chicago goes there are a lot of issues, but here's something to consider with this report:
Jobs: Metro Chicago's dismal 9.5% unemployment rate ranks 315th in the US, just barely ahead of #327 metro Detroit. Factory jobs that remain are increasingly automated and intellect-intensive. Ford Motor Co's South Side Assembly plant at 126th & Torrence prefers to hire workers with at least two years of college. High school dropouts can't even find work in a factory any more. It is Chicago's shame that so few in these dying neighborhoods have sufficient skills to enable them to move Downtown.
There are other bullet points such as education. As far as jobs go education is a key. Unfortunately we also have to consider money, it takes money to ensure that our young people can get the education that well help them get employed. It also takes money to adequately deal with crime in the form of more police. So is Chicago truly at the tipping point?

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