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I will be guest blogging today. I am certainly no ‘Rich Miller’, but stay tuned…
* Wal-Mart fight pits jobless vs. small business
The question is how do black aldermen justify turning down 500 jobs and a major construction project when there’s nothing else on the horizon?[…]
“There are two big concerns. When Wal-Mart comes into a rural area, Wal-Mart killed all the business in their area. In urban areas, you lose retail sales revenue in the surrounding area,” Lyle said.
“Because there is a finite amount of money in every community, if you have a change in the spending pattern and take on a new player, that means the other players are going to suffer,” she said.
In other words, Lyle is worried about what will become of the predominantly black-owned businesses that sell some of the items Wal-Mart will stock.
* International takes over Teamsters Local
Teamsters Local 726 — one of two hold-out unions to refuse Mayor Daley’s demand for cost-cutting concessions — has been placed in trusteeship amid allegations of financial malfeasance.
The surprise action by James Hoffa, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, swept out all seven elected leaders of Local 726, including union president John Falzone, secretary-treasurer Tom Clair and trustee Michael Marcantant.
* U of C hospital union members nix contract offer
* 24 city post office sites among 1,000 nationally that might close
The Postal Service is considering closing 24 retail sites in Chicago, among 1,000 closures being considered nationally as it faces a potential $7 billion loss this fiscal year.
The Postal Service has been struggling with a sharp decline in mail volume as people and businesses switch to e-mail both for personal contact and bill paying. No closure day was been set.
* New Law Derails CTA Notice Requirement
On June 1, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed Senate Bill 84 into law, repealing the six-month notice requirement for victims of accidents involving the Chicago Transit Authority. Though the legislation received little attention in the press, it brings about a significant change for people injured due to negligent behavior by CTA employees.
The new law applies to CTA accidents that happened after the bill was signed into law. In the past, injury victims and their attorneys were required to notify the CTA within six months of an accident. In some situations, legitimate claims against the CTA were dismissed because of clerical errors or simple mistakes in pre-suit notices.
* Peoria County considering ban on video poker
“I think we ought to discuss it,” said Peoria County Board member Carol Trumpe. “What you don’t see is how much it costs on the other side. People that gamble away money, and families are left short. People least likely to afford it are the ones who are going to participate. So many problems go along with gambling.”
If approved, such a ban would apply to 53 taverns, restaurants and the like with liquor licenses in unincorporated Peoria County, though not all even offer video gaming. It would not apply to incorporated areas including Dunlap, Chillicothe, Bartonville and Elmwood.[…]
The state will collect 30 percent of net income from each machine in taxes. Five-sixths of that money goes into a state capital projects fund, and one-sixth goes to a local government fund, with money distributed in proportion to tax revenue generated from the machines within a municipality’s borders.
* Sales Tax Saga
If you made a purchase in the city of Peoria in July, you might just want to check that sales receipt. The city has found at least a dozen businesses were overcharging in sales tax.
PetsMart, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy and multiple stores inside Northwoods Mall are just some of the businesses that were charging 9% instead of 8% in sales tax.
* Winnebago County seeks wind direction
There is no solid wind farm proposal yet — no maps or legal descriptions have been drawn up — because the county does not have an ordinance that allows wind farms.
Still, Navitas has a project in mind.
It’s a 100-turbine farm that straddles Stephenson, Ogle and Winnebago counties. Forty of those turbines would be in Winnebago County.
* Eureka seeks grant for weather tower
Device would collect data to determine feasibility of a wind turbine at school
* ‘Compromise’ needed to fill Boone County Board vacancy
* New Lincoln Pk. look for DePaul
DePaul University wants zoning approval to overhaul its Lincoln Park campus — and dramatically improve its fine arts appeal — by building new schools for theater and music, a new academic center and by redeveloping Fullerton Avenue with a hotel and student and market-rate housing.
* Consulting Firm’s Stocks Plunge Following Accounting Scandal
A Chicago-based consulting firm is trying to grapple with plunging stocks amid an accounting scandal.
Huron Consulting Group’s stocks plummeted 69 percent Monday, down to $13.69 a share. That comes after the company announced it will restate its earnings starting from fiscal year 2006 through the first quarter of 2009.
* Midwest Banc to cut exec pay, eliminate 100 positions
* Electronics recycling profits take hit
“Ninety percent of the value of the commodities fell overnight,” said Brian Dickerson, one of BLH’s owners. “It’s now about 50 percent of what it was earlier in 2008. I’ll be happy when it gets to 70 percent.”
* Cell phones? ‘Everyone has them’
A growing number of children are becoming part of the cell phone nation at young ages. According to national data from Chicago-based C&R Research, only 7 percent of children ages 8 to 11 had cell phones in 2003. But by last year, that had grown to 26 percent.
In the same period, the percentage of children 12 to 14 with their own cell phones nearly tripled, rising from 21 percent to 58 percent, according to C&R Research.
* 10 charged in scam that allegedly used inmate IDs for tax refunds
Six Chicago area men have been charged in a family-affair tax fraud scheme that allegedly involved using federal inmates’ identities to file for $35 million in tax refunds.
* S. Sider faked calls as CTA controller, feds allege
A South Side man is accused of endangering thousands of lives by allegedly impersonating a CTA traffic controller and radioing bogus instructions to train operators.
* Local congressmen call for immigration reform
U.S. Reps. Luis Gutierrez, Mike Quigley and Danny Davis have signed a letter to Obama that says laws need to be passed that keep immigrant families together, protect workers and provide safe migration opportunities.
Four other Democratic Illinois congressmen also signed the letter, which is circulating in the U.S. House of Representatives.
* Reviving Immigration Bill This Year a Long Shot
* Illinois soldiers return to Soldier Field cheers
* BlogPeoria site beats Journal Star on Delta story by ONE MONTH
* Catching up on Bartman, Peavy
Steve Bartman documentary: Really, is this necessary? Why does ESPN feelcompelled to do a documentary on Steve Bartman? [LOL]
posted by Mike Murray
Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 8:17 am
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–A growing number of children are becoming part of the cell phone nation at young ages.–
Technology has not been kind to children. Besides the mind-numbing uselessness of these tools outside of a business environment or emergency situation, they’ve stolen some of the simple pleasures of childhood.
I can yank my kids chain anytime I want by cell phone. I can check their grades, homework assignments, tardies, etc., in real time online.
My kids will never know the thrill of racing home from school to intercept the detention slip sitting in the mailbox, or the sublime pleasure of blowing off homework while assuring parents that its done.
Progress? Not always.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 8:31 am
I’m not blaming aldermen for being unable to attract large retail businesses to predominantly black areas. The shame is on the retailers that have red-lined black communities.
There you go. You don’t put blame where it belongs, do you? Who is responsible for attracting businesses to these communities, if not the aldermen? Who is responsible for the retail theft that over-runs the businesses located there? Who is responsible for the high crime rates and the high murder rates? Who is responsible for the drug abuse often behind these crimes? If you believe that no one is, then your problems will remain and get worse, just as they have over the past forty years.
Redlining? Isn’t that illegal? Who is responsible for enforcing existing business laws? If Mitchell has some kind of proof of redlining, then she has an obligation to report on it. If businesses are redlining, then they are committing a crime.
But then, Wal-Mart, the big “evil one” isn’t obviously redlining, are they? But she doesn’t want them in town either, does she?
When we read this kind of crap, or hear this kind of crap, we need to point out to those who shovel it out, that it is crap. It is not the responsibility of someone else to do the work needed within a community - it is the community’s responsibility. I hate the blight, the poverty, the crime, the children running in fear, and the spread of these problems throughout my hometown too. These problems will not be fixed by blaming unnamed businesses of committing illegal acts, while bashing the one business willing to take the risks confronting them when they build in these communities.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 8:42 am
Well wordslinger…the kids better get used to it.
Parents today, the government tomorrow.
The sooner they get conditioned to doing what they are told, the better off they will be.
Comment by Leroy Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 8:54 am
MSN.com had an interesting article yesterday (maybe still there) on what happens when Wal-Mart comes to town. The story did not mention much if anything on racial or ethnic business impact. But the long term effect is not that great and in fact may lead to depressed wages and lost jobs in the longer term. Ald. Lyle’s concerns seem well-founded.
Comment by Captain Flume Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 8:58 am
Ah yes…altering the grades on one’s report card now requires an aptitude of systems hacking.
Re: Mary Mitchell tilting for a Wal-Mart - ain’t gonna happen, now that Daley lackeys Ed Burke and Dick Mell have effectively weighed in on the issue.
That noise you hear is the 2016 Olympic steamroller coming to crush you, but only after emptying your bank accounts.
Comment by The Doc Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 9:04 am
Pfft. Hospitality Zone tax, entertainment tax, museum tax, ect ect. But Peoria Co has the nerve to whine and wanna ban video poker cause those who can least afford blah blah.
Stores over taxing sales tax.
Where’s their concern for my tax dollar. Bwhahha.
Comment by Cindy Lou Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 9:10 am
ESPN is for morons. I pray that Bartman is getting money of some sort for all the crap he is blamed for. He should get paid the major league minimum since he was obviously on the field for those playoff games. Poor guy.
Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 9:14 am
Captain Flume - Check out a documentary called “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price”. It paints an excellent picture of what Wal-Mart really stands for, and its not improving neighborhoods or providing more jobs.
Comment by Small Town Liberal Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 9:30 am
I’m sorry, but unless I am missing something, I haven’t read too much about how Sears, Montgomery Wards, Spiegel, Marshall Field’s, and other retail giants rewrote the book on business during their reign, and how they pushed thousands of businesses into bankrupsy too. And thanks to RFD, paid for by the taxpayers, how they pushed local business out of business and severly impacted communities throughout the US.
It seems that folks understood back then that competition in the market is a good thing for citizens since it is their money being spent. When the retail world evolved, it shoved out unproductive operations and lowered the costs of goods. What was once luxury items, became everyday items, raising our standard of living. Folks had more money, and had a better quality of life. A century ago, people welcomed changes like this. They called it - wait for it - progress.
Too bad we don’t remember how to do that anymore.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 9:30 am
The Walmonster has destroyed many rural communities,by undercutting the small businessperson.You can’t compete against It.Sam Walton did have a committment to giving back some to communities,but It’s present management is only intererted in sucking a community dry by turning small town downtowns into vacant buildings,treating It’s “associates”like slaves,and providing the worst of chinese merchandise.
Comment by mac Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 9:33 am
WalMart is the devil. Plain and simple. Having seen what they’ve done elsewhere, why should the city welcome that company. Its a Faustian bargain to let them in.
Comment by Odd Fellow Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 9:36 am
And, even if everything its detractors say about it is true, consumers are mobile. If Wal-Mart opens up in the next township over, it will suck all the life out of the businesses in YOUR township, while its jobs are in the next township over. So you’re better off having the Wal-Mart in your township than not.
Comment by Anon Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 9:40 am
It seems when any entity gets too big, governmental or business, “progress” is stifled. Progress can also mean a pushback against this bigness (anti-trust laws for example). Wal-mart may be reaching a critical mass in that regard.
Comment by Captain Flume Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 9:46 am
Since when does the City of Chicago give a rip about mom-and-pop business?
Anyone notice the sky high taxes? Byzantine regulations? The corruption (especially with zoning)? The nepotism?
Walmart is not the enemy in Chicago…it is a scapegoat
Comment by Leroy Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 9:47 am
VM, a couple of points -
1. Even in their heyday, the companies you cite didn’t maintain the political, economic, and cultural impact of Wal-Mart.
2. The companies you cite never operated at such a high level in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression.
I’m not certain that erecting a Wal-Mart at the proposed location is a good or bad idea. But it’s not as black and white as the picture you paint.
Comment by The Doc Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 9:51 am
@walmart discussion - Wal-Mart is also genius at extracting government subsidies in highly creative ways. Not only tax breaks, but all manner of accommodation that subtly shift corporate burdens onto the taxpayer. Other large corps do the same, but Wal-Mart does it the most. Read more about that:
http://www.bigboxswindle.com/
@wordslinger - technology may have made communication with the school easier, but the Internet has also given them immediate access to photos and videos of a sort it used to be a lot harder to find.
Comment by Thomas Westgard Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 9:55 am
The very long, thorough and shocking series about Tamms supermax should be worth a mention here, shouldn’t it? I was pretty unhappy about what I read. That Tamms bill would have done a whole lot better if this article had come out then. no taxpayer could be happy about what they are reading.
Comment by worth a mention Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 9:56 am
Doc, you might try reading a history of Sears. In its heyday, it was every bit the cultural icon that Wal-Mart is today.
Comment by Anon Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 10:19 am
Those who are so vehemently opposed to the store should take a trip to the south side & the area where Walmart would build. Try and justify to the people who live there why a Walmart is really not needed at all because you obviously know what is good for them better than they do. Tell them that they don’t need a choice. Let them know that the local ratty Jewel & Aldi’s are plenty good enough.
All the hoopla about how Walmart “kills small businesses” is such a tired argument. At least at the west side Walmart, businesses have sprung up all over the place since walmart opened, including Food4Less & soon-to-open Aldi’s, the exact stores which opponents say Walmart suppposedly hurts.
If we listened to these ridiculous protectionist arguments, there would be no economic development in the suburbs!
Comment by Reality Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 10:26 am
=== But the long term effect is not that great and in fact may lead to depressed wages and lost jobs in the longer term ===
So in other words, consumers should be forced to pay artifically high prices for goods in order to keep higher waged small business in place?
How about we let consumers decide where they want to make purchases and what business they want to support.
Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 10:37 am
I agree with LeRoy. The city doesn’t care who is in business or why. Sales TAX is all that matters. Secondly, let’s explain to the local residents that blocking the store is in their best interest because of Wal-Mart’s may shift a tax burden onto them!
C’mon. Help the people to help themselves. Don’t condescend, uplift and celebrate a neighborhood’s wishes to advance and deal with thier needs in a positive manner. If/when the situation becomes oppressive they can vote with their wallets.
Comment by Lisle Mike Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 10:39 am
With a casino located in E. peoria, why would Peoria County want competition? If gamblers are channeled to the boat, they will probably spend/lose more. Why skim for pennies when the bucks are already flowing?
Comment by orlkon Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 11:03 am
VM –”What was once luxury items, became everyday items, raising our standard of living. Folks had more money, and had a better quality of life”–
VM, have you ever shopped at a Walmart? I don’t find their cheap quality items to be considered raising anyone’s standard of living. Living out in the rural area that I do I find I now have a choice between Walmart @ or Walmart @ or Walmart @ and my product choices are 1. not worth bringing home; 2. if one does bring it home expect to replace it within 6months to a year; or 3. go estate saling and hope you can find one made years ago that is still functional and has a number of years service left as them oldies were built to last and to get one’s money out of.
And food items? Where I do see a slightly better selection with their new remodel going on I still find myself with only brand selections I do not want, sizes of products I do not want, produce on it’s last leg blah blah blah. And as they built more and more my other options to choose from has vanished. I don’t find that competition nor raising my life standards and quality of it.
I don’t live in Chicago and have no idea what the citizens up there need/want, but in smaller areas I’ve seen this type of store run everything else out and then all that is left is one monster store with inferior products, obnoxious customer service habits and underpaid employees who have little work moral as they can and are replaced at a dime a dozen.
Well I’m sure you can come back and blow my opinions right out with your own opinions bottomline no one can say anything that is going to change my mind on how “I” feel about Walmart and how Walmart , in the way that it now currently is, has affected the rural area I live in.
Comment by Cindy Lou Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 11:06 am
==Doc, you might try reading a history of Sears. In its heyday, it was every bit the cultural icon that Wal-Mart is today.==
That may be true, Anon. But it’s much more than being a cultural icon with Wal-Mart, and is evidenced by virtue of the fact that we’re engaged in this argument.
Comment by The Doc Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 11:16 am
Actually, Doc, if you would read up on Sears, you’d see that the fact that we’re having this argument does more to prove Vanillaman’s point than yours.
Comment by Anon Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 11:37 am
I have never shopped at a walmart and hopefully never will but I have heard that their stuff is crap and made mostly overseas in countries like China that have no child labor laws. We’ve got plenty of stores in Chicago that are locally owned, use local suppliers, service the products that they sell, and pay their employees a living wage. We don’t want or need any walmarts here.
Comment by Bill Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 12:07 pm
Anon, I guess we’ll agree to disagree.
Comment by The Doc Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 1:30 pm
Amen to that, Doc. As long as you don’t ban a store I want to shop at, and I don’t force you to pick up the tax bill for a store I want, a little disagreement just gives us something to talk about besides the weather.
Comment by Anon Tuesday, Aug 4, 09 @ 3:58 pm