Daley Plays Football With Wal-Mart

By Kevin Robinson in News on Dec 21, 2009 3:20PM

Raising the stakes again on Wal-Mart's proposed South side expansion, Mayor Daley announced Saturday that religious leaders in the community would broker the agreement that brings Wal-Mart into Chicago, not him. “You know who’s going to start brokering? All these religious leaders,” Daley told the Tribune on Saturday. “They have members of their congregation that can’t get work. They can’t get work. They can’t even get decent jobs, and they’re asking for that.” He also said that unemployed Chicagoans would make it happen, as well. “They vote, too, you know that. They vote,” Daley said. “But it seems like we’re forgetting them.”

The re-emergence of Wal-Mart's expansion into Chicago comes as the mayor faces city-wide criticism for his handling of the privatization of public assets, including the parking meters, as well as increased public scrutiny of his management of the city's TIF program. Economically there's is some question among Chicagoans over the impact a Wal-Mart store will have on the city. Politically, though, bringing this issue up is good politics for Mayor Daley, who's popularity has plummeted to record lows. With the labor movement and part of the black community sparring over jobs, and South and West siders at odds with North siders over the mega-retailer's presence in the city, Daley may be hoping that the distracting debate (wrought with strong undertones of class and race) will divide voters and politicians enough to give him some cover to run again. With all of the bluster and bellow of a Chicago mayor, Daley has done a fine job drawing attention to the economic crisis faced by Chicagoans, especially in the African American community. Unfortunately, Chicagoans are engaged in a debate over a projected 500 retail jobs, while our political leadership has done little if anything to bring green manufacturing ad construction jobs to Chicago.