Tag: walmart

Lakeview Wal-Mart

I’m pretty interested in reports that Wal-Mart may be trying to open a location in my neighborhood.

I read a report in the Red Eye that said the retailer had signed a letter of intent on a location.

This is Ald. Tom Tunney’s (44th) response to this and similar reports:

On Thursday, December 9, I heard reports in the media that Wal-Mart may be interested in renting a location here in the 44th Ward.  This was surprising as I had not seen any conceptual plans for a proposed store in Lakeview.

After follow-up on my part, Wal-Mart issued the following statement on Monday, December 13:

“Contrary to media reports, Walmart has not executed a lease or a letter of intent with the developer to locate a store on the property known as ‘Broadway at Surf,’ at 2840 North Broadway in the Lakeview community of Chicago.  The company is evaluating a number of potential opportunities across the city of Chicago, and will continue to work with elected officials, business groups, community associations and key stakeholders to ensure that sites and formats are compatible with the communities we seek to serve.”

Maggie Sans – VP Public Affairs and Government Relations
Wal-Mart
702 Southwest 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716-0350

If any plans come forward in the future, it will be vetted through a rigorous community process.  As a small business owner, I understand the impact any big-box retailer would have on our neighborhood.  We will work together, residents and businesses, to continue to make our community a better place to live, raise a family, shop and own a business.

wal-mart deaths and critical analysis

By now this is old news:

A stampede of shoppers in a Valley Stream Wal-Mart on Friday morning left one worker dead and at least three patrons injured after an impatient crowd broke down the store doors and trampled the seasonal employee, Nassau police said.  Jdimytai Damour of Jamaica, Queens, was pushed to the ground by the 2,000-plus crowd just before 5 a.m. as management was preparing to open the store, which is located across from the main Green Acres Mall building. Hundreds stepped over, around and on the 34-year-old worker as they rushed into the store.

You can see this as so symbolic in terms of the effect that caplitalism has on workers and people of color, but sometimes it’s exhausting and almost feels disrespectful to disect everything that way.  Are there better ways to die than others?  It seems like such a waste of life in any case.  In the part of The Accidental American that I read before I had to return it to ILL, the authors talked about the importance of people and immigrants in particular being able to have work and a life that was interesting and dignified.   This just seems like an example of how far we have to go – this makes me think of the horrific, but seems devoid of any interesst or dignity.