Another Wal-Mart Approved By City Council

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jul 28, 2010 6:40PM

With the wheels of local government all greased up after churning the proposal for a Wal-Mart in Pullman Park through, the City Council today gave the thumbs up for a third store in the city set to go up in Chatham by a vote of 45-4. According to the Sun-Times, Aldermen Toni Preckwinkle (4th), Ricardo Munoz (22nd), Eugene Schulter (47th) and Joe Moore (49th) were the 'no' votes.

Last week, Hunter Clauss reported for The Reader:

Meanwhile some aldermen are becoming increasing skeptical that Walmart will pay starting salaries of $8.75, as unions have claimed. Walmart spokesman Steve Restivo says there are no binding documents showing Walmart will pay those rates.

“All I can say is that we will offer a competitive wage,” Restivo told me.

Seeking to calm fears that the store wouldn't offer competitive wages, Ald. Emma Mitts (37th) told her colleagues that the Austin Wal-Mart which is in her ward will begin paying workers $8.75 per hour as of August 1. Construction will begin on the new Chatham store before the end of the year with an eye on opening before the end of 2011.

The vote came in spite of the fact that Mayor Daley could have approved the new store himself thanks to the zoning of the Chatham site. But he seemed dead-set on showing everyone in town that the City Council was "educated" on the issues and advantages of having the big box retailer in their neighborhoods. Per the Sun-Times:

“If Mayor Daley does it, [you’d say], ‘The boss does it. He just like rams it down.’ . . . Your headline would say, ‘Look at Mayor Daley. He doesn’t care about the people. He doesn’t listen to anybody.’ I know what you’re gonna do. I’m a ping-pong ball every day for you,” Daley said last week.

“It’s appropriate that they stand up as men and women who have leadership in their community and say, ‘This is a good thing. We’ve been educated about this.’ You could okay every other retail store in Chicago, but when it came to Wal-Mart, you couldn’t. Why? You want people to stand up on their own two feet. When they get elected to office, you have to make tough decisions.”

Right, because the rubber stamp City Council was really going to stand up to the mayor. Okee doke.