Friday, July 17, 2009

Jobs for Chicago

An editorial on Wal-Mart from the Tribune, here are some excerpts, but read the whole thing when you get a chance:
The good news, such as it is: Job losses in the Chicago metropolitan area slowed in June. We still lost jobs, though. The unemployment rate stands at 10.3 percent for the state, 10.6 percent for the region.

The area's job losses have been on a steady, dreary march this year: 37,200 in January, 37,700 in February, 22,500 in March, 27,000 in April, 37,600 in May, and 2,300 in June, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

More than 200,000 jobs have been lost since the start of the recession.
...
Yet the company and the alderman [Howard Brookins, 21st Ward] face huge resistance from the City Council to a proposal for a Wal-Mart Supercenter on the South Side, at 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue just west of the Dan Ryan.

What's there now? A vacant lot. A vacant lot where no one is working.

The construction of that store on that vacant site would put hundreds of Chicagoans to work. Once the store was opened, at least 500 people would get jobs.

"This should be a no-brainer," Brookins told us. He has pleaded with his fellow aldermen to allow a vote on an ordinance to push the project forward. But the ordinance remains stuck in the Rules Committee, which is run by Ald. Richard Mell (33rd).
BTW, I found a website Our Community, Our Choice that proclaims support for a Wal-Mart in Chatham, however, this website is supported by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. I'm not sure if the website was as a result of grassroots support in Chatham for Wal-Mart in or otherwise. If you got Twitter you can join them there or on BlackPlanet as well!

As always your comments as to whether or not you support Wal-Mart coming in at 83rd & Stewart will be much appreciated as it appears that we will have more time to debate the value of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in our community or why we shouldn't allow Wal-Mart here. Thus what I'm saying is that the floor is ALWAYS open!

ALSO: Here's another website, provided by Wal-Mart that has testimony from both local residents and Wal-Mart workers.

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