Anti-Lakeview Wal-Mart Facebook Page Removed

By Chuck Sudo in News on May 18, 2011 6:50PM

The "Stop the Lakeview/Lincoln Park Wal-Mart" Facebook page that went up almost as fast as the news that the retail giant was eyeing the north side neighborhood for a store has been pulled by its founder. Bruce Alan Beal told CBS Chicago that at this point, continuing to oppose the proposed Lakeview Wal-Mart would be a "waste of time." With all due respect to Beal, given the non-committal of 44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney and the "restrictive covenant" recently negotiated by the Southeast Lake View Neighbors and Broadway on Surf management, we're surprised it took him this long to figure that out.

Before going off on cliches about how Betty White is the only one who benefits from a Facebook page we should note that, from Jump Street, Beal's page was an example of how to not stage a protest. It was disorganized and disjointed, without a unifying theme other than "not in my backyard" and an inability to muster bodies to put together even a grass roots campaign opposing the store. Beal's online nolo contendre will also add fuel to the fire that this wasn't much more than an armchair protest, at best.