The battle to bring a second Walmart in the city has been put on the back burner again by the City Council. This time, no council action will occur until the city finds out in October whether or not the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics Games will take
The battle to bring a second Walmart in the city has been put on the back burner again by the City Council. This time, no council action will occur until the city finds out in October whether or not the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics Games will take place in Chicago.
While the matter is now held up in the council’s Finance Committee, it hasn’t stopped a few aldermen from pressing the issue with labor groups and fellow aldermen.
In 2004, Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) heavily courted the Arkansas-based retail giant to build a second store within city limits on 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue–in his ward–but came up short after he failed to gain support from fellow aldermen.
West Side Ald. Emma Mitts was successful in bringing the retailer to her 37th Ward. Walmart opened its first store in the city in 2006 on the West Side on West North Avenue.
The retailer hoped to build more stores in the city until a proposed “big box” ordinance a year later stalled their efforts.
The 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 $13 per hour. The council passed the ordinance. Mayor Richard M. Daley vetoed it.
Brookins then made a second push in April to gain council support but came up short.
“I will continue to fight to bring Walmart to the South Side,” he said.
Labor organizations in the city say their position about Walmart hasn’t changed.
“Why can’t they come in and pay middle-class wages? Middle-class jobs are needed in this community. Don’t come in and pay the least, come in and offer the most,” said Jorge Ramirez, an official with the Chicago Federation of Labor.
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