Rogers Park Wal-Mart April Fool's Joke Yesterday's Big Winner

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 2, 2011 7:00PM

Now that we're done congratulating ourselves with the "Little Hawaii" post that many of you bought into hook, line and sinker yesterday, we want to hip you to what we thought was the most plausible April Fool's Day prank of the day, which probably had more than a fair share of 49th Ward residents shouting, "WTF?!?!?!" when they received it in their email, Below is a screengrab from Rogerspark.com.

One of the things that makes a great April Fool's prank work is the ability to make it seem plausible : "That can't happen - can it?". To the casual reader, this certainly does. But then you ask, "Wasn't 49th Ward Ald. Joe Moore the chief sponsor of the Big Box Ordinance that set a minimum living wage for retail employees that specifically targeted Wal-Mart?" Why, yes he was (and Mayor Daley vetoed that legislation). But aldermen have been known to change their minds, even Joe Moore.

But Moore is one of those aldermen who tends to stick to his principles; this was the man who also successfully had foie gras banned in Chicago for a couple of years. What made this April Fool's Day prank plausible— and it is a prank — is that the link at the end of the post directed readers to the 49th Ward's participatory budgeting process page, in which Moore polls his constituency on how to best improve the infrastructure in the 49th.

The tell in this prank is the link to the participatory budgeting process. Nice as the process is in the 49th Ward, it's largely used to give the ward's residents a say in detailed infrastructure improvements, such as where a street light should be installed or where bike lanes should go. Moore likely wouldn't leave something as major as building a Wal-Mart in Rogers Park to the participatory budgeting process, although his history shows he would certainly read the political tea leaves in his ward about it. This prank had one Chicagoist staffer foaming at the mouth before realizing he was taken in.

It also shows that Moore at least has a sense of humor and can laugh at himself. He wasn't responsible for the joke, but was aware of it and gave his staff a heads up Thursday, in case residents started blowing up the phone lines and e-mail inboxes with angry missives.