Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Wal-Mart: The Robo survey

Jumping off of yesterday's post on Wal-Mart, there's a new development.

I just got a robo-survey that seems to be from Wal-Mart, or Wal-Mart friendly politicians. (The questions were obviously slanted). This seems to be a brand new effort, as a quick Google search of news & blogs reveal nothing.

The survey included quesions similar to the following [brackets reveal my own faulty memory] :
  • What's you opinion of Mayor Daley? (favorable, unfavorable, neutral or never heard of him)
  • What's you opinion of Ald.Lyle? (favorable, unfavorable, neutral or never heard of her)
  • Would you favor a Wal-Mart at [either of the two main south side locations we mentioned in the last blog entry]?
  • What's your opinion of unions' huge financial support of politicans?(it strongly affects politicians'votes, it doesn't affect votes, no opinion)
  • Would voting against a Wal-Mart make vote against Ald. Lyle in the next election?

Did anyone else get such a call?


Personally, i actually favor a Wal-Mart. Go down 79th street, and note all the empty store fronts. Go by Simeon High School (as I do every Sunday to church). While there is a Lowe's and a Potbelly's, there is still VAST amount of room (in addition to SEVERAL empty storefronts) for a Wal-Mart. If a Wal-Mart was established, it would be a FANTASTIC source of jobs for Simeon high school students, and accessible for Englewood and other residentswho could use any job. However, right now, its just empty land, gravel, really. And that is not helping our community!

Traffic worries? There's Vincennes, as well as a "back door" roadway that people can enter from 87th (just past Home Depot), and they could add an entrance between HomeDepot and ICE Theaters.

However, several loud neighbors are strongly against it, claiming Chatham is a "middle class" neighborhood (implying that middle class people don't shop at Wal-Mart). One neighborhood leader even said that Wal-Mart attracts immigrants who bring disease. (She was privately rebuked by another community leader after that meeting).

What are your thoughts? We may try to establish a survey to check the pulse of our community. (At least the online portion!)

Let's hear from YOU!

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