The fight to get another Walmart built in the city has been intensified by a coalition of pastors and community activists who said Ald. Ed Burke (14th) has a “noose” around the neck of the South Side Chicago by holding back the proposed develo
The fight to get another Walmart built in the city has been intensified by a coalition of pastors and community activists who said Ald. Ed Burke (14th) has a “noose” around the neck of the South Side Chicago by holding back the proposed development of store on West 83rd Street.
Rev. Larry Roberts and about 200 pastors, who collectively represent about 100,000 congregants, have taken their message to Burke several times to no avail and now urge Mayor Richard M. Daley to flex his muscle to “make it happen.”
Roberts said it’s time for Burke to move the Walmart issue out of the City Council finance committee – which he chairs – so the Arkansas-based retail giant can proceed with building the store in Ald. Howard Brookins’ 21st Ward, and eventually in other areas on the South Side, particularly in the Englewood and Pullman communities.
“Burke and Daley see what’s in front of them, but their non-reaction is the downfall of the economical advancement of the South Side. Our areas are dormant and Burke has a noose around the necks of the South Side residents,” Roberts, pastor of Trinity All Nations Ministries, told the Defender.
The Walmart matter is currently held up in committee and the council cannot vote on it unless the issue makes it out of the committee. Brookins said it’s at Burke’s discretion to put the matter back on the table.
Burke has yet to respond to the Defender’s repeated attempts seeking comment.
Brookins has been in a six-year fight with the City Council to let the Arkansas-based retail giant build a Walmart on 83rd Street and Steward Avenue, but failed to get the support from fellow aldermen. The site on 83rd Street is in jeopardy of foreclosure.
Walmart opened its first Chicago store in 2006 on the West Side on West North Avenue. The store created more than 400 jobs and pays an hourly wage of $11.30 per hour. The retailer hoped to build more until the proposed “big box” ordinance a year later halted its efforts.
The labor-backed ordinance required all businesses with more than $1 billion in annual sales and stores with more than 90,000-square-feet to pay a minimum wage of at least $11 per hour, $13 per hour with benefits.
The City Council passed the ordinance but Daley vetoed it.
Unions, along with a coalition of clergy and community organizations, like Good Jobs Chicago, said Walmart doesn’t pay a fair living wage or middle-class wages.
Ald. Freddrenna Lyle whose 6th Ward neighbors Brookins’, opposes a Walmart on 83rd Street, citing the inadequate living wage and potential to hurt small businesses in the area.
The pastor said he doesn’t see how any small businesses would be impacted by a Walmart in her or Brookins’ wards.
“If we were talking a few years ago, then maybe I could see it. But the economy basically took care of that itself. No Walmart was needed to put small businesses out of commission. Now, all I see are barber shops, beauty salons, nail shops, fast food stores and dollar stores we don’t own,” said Roberts. Community activists in Englewood said a Walmart on 63rd and Halsted Streets, across from Kennedy-King College, would be ideal for the community that’s limited on grocery options and pharmaceutical competition.
“We barely have fresh produce and our only option for prescriptions is a nearby Walgreens. We are stuck with what’s in the area and if we want more, we’d have to travel to other neighborhoods. We need a Walmart in Englewood and in other areas of the South Side. We want 25 Walmarts if we can get it,” said Darryl Smith, president of the Englewood Political Task Force.
Smith said a plethora of residents and students from KKC need the wages Walmart has to offer. It could provide supplemental income for those seeking a second job, income for college and high school students in the area after school hours and job opportunities or seniors on a fixed income, he said.
“Any wage beats no wage,” said Smith.
Ald. Willie Cochran (20th) whose ward includes the Englewood location, said while he understands the living wage argument, his constituents want the possibility of employment Walmart offers. “The jobs are needed now. The residents want Walmart to come to the South Side,” Cochran said, whose ward is a few miles north of Brookins’.
Roberts said a fair living wage is up for interpretation, and Walmart isn’t currently breaking any wage laws.
“The minimum wage in Illinois is less than the $11 per hour the unions want Walmart to pay. A living wage is determined by the individual. Our residents need jobs in the community and Walmart can answer that call. With the way our economy is, we can’t afford to say no to job opportunities coming to our areas, ” the pastor said.
Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), who supports a store in Brookins’ ward, said he has space for a store in his Pullman community at the site of the former Ryerson Inc. steel plant along the Bishop Ford at 111th Street. Beale said he would welcome the big box retailer, a restaurant, grocery store and other retail shops to the site.
“The land is big enough for several businesses that we hope to attract. If we can get Walmart to fit in the plans, that would be great. We are in the midst of pulling together support for the project as a whole,” said Beale.
Roberts said if progress isn’t made on Walmart, it would be reflected in the votes next year during the aldermanic election.
Outside of the Walmart on the West Side, the stores nearest Chicago are in Evergreen Park, Bedford Park and Crestwood.
John Biggio, a spokesman for Walmart said several locations in the city were under the company’s consideration.
“The Pullman and Chatham sites were on our radar. Walmart would be a great asset to either location,” he said.
Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender.
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