Posted on 11/12/2022 9:27:49 AM PST by DFG
The Boston City Council is taking aim at Walgreens after the company chose to close three stores in Mattapan, Hyde Park, and Roxbury.
The council plans to use their legislative powers to stop Walgreens from opening any future stores in the city unless they halt the closures. An ultimatum like this is not unprecedented. Former Mayor Thomas Menino sent a letter to Chic-Fil-A, telling the company not to open in the city because of their views on same-sex marriage.
"We can use whatever leverage we have, which is our zoning code, and leverage that to get them to make sure they come back to the table," explained Brian Worrell, the City Councilor for District 4. The Walgreens closure on River Street in Mattapan is within his district.
Without the three locations, the council believes pharmacy deserts will be created. They say the majority of residents in those areas don't use cars to get around.
"We are talking about predominantly working-class Black and brown communities that relied on Walgreens for many, many years, " said Worrell. "Now we are stripping a major resource away from them. We are talking about places where communities have got their food, their medication, their COVID vaccines."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
The tradeoff is the cost of having stores in bad areas—you lose a lot of money there.
Years ago I crunched numbers for a conglomerate that owned many retail outlets.
If we had to trade a few of our best outlets in order to get rid of the worst ones it was a deal we would make every time.
The management hassles associated with the bad areas were breath-taking.
Precisely. One works very hard in school, so one can avoid crappy places.
Just Math for Pharmacy, at least at UF, they take:
College Algebra, Trig, Pre-Calc, Calc 1, Calc 2, Calc 3, Diff Eq.
I apologize but I didn’t see in the article exactly why these “deserts” appear in the first place? Is there some sort of infrastructure problem in these areas of Boston?
Boston has numerous desirable, profitable locations. CVS would swoop in and take the spots. Walgreens does not want to give up the upscale areas in a city like Boston.
So? Let CVS enjoy the theft, robbery and violence. And “upscale”? Boston?
Boston—like every American city—has some “bad” areas—dangerous slums.
The locals know where they are—and stay away.
“pharmacy deserts will be created.”
IOW, places for those “Black and brown” (note how even Latinos don’t get to be capitalized) to raid and steal OTC and Rx drugs won’t exist.
“If Walgreens had the spherical objects, it would announce that it has no intentions of opening any new stores in Boston, and will be considering further closures there as necessary if the government continues interfering with its legitimate business activities.” (Best answer by far.)
Someone once told me, “You can only live as well as the people around you will allow.” Two years ago, I was so far out in the country I often left my house unlocked. Then there was a huge amount of development, but I had no worries because the houses cost north of 350k. But now a huge number of those houses are unsold. The government will step in and take them over and make them Section 8*. I’m already investing in security I never thought would be necessary.
I’m a landlord. I had a woman lie to me about her finances and we were ready to sign the lease and she turned out to be Section 8. I told her no way. She said I was racist for not taking her Section 8. I said go ahead and pull that one. More than half of my renters are black. I never heard from her again. But I can easily see some local ordinance saying I have to give priority to Section 8.
* Section 8 is government subsidized rent. The problem is any clerk can screw you simply by ignoring your request for reimbursement. The repair for damage payments are NEVER adequate or on time. The people subsidized are sometimes violent and dangerous. (Or, they’re just outright chop-you-up-and-put-you-in-freezer crazy.)
Yes - tell them what it is.
FASCISM.
Fascism is at its core, government telling “business” (and everyone else, by extension) what to do with their property.
Tell these commie-wannabe Dems that accuse US of being fascist, that DEMS have LONG made the US fascist. Start with EPA rules!
Counter offer: Since crime is making the stores unprofitable, provide 24/7/365 on-site / in-store police presence and actually arrest people who beak laws. Otherwise, no deal.
Since criminals would have to be punished, the city would never go for it.
This is what Walgreen’s deserves for being “Woke” PC.
They rolled over for BLM, making ads and showcasing stuff in the stores. They can wallow in what they enabled and condoned!
The kevlar vests on the staff and especially the pharmacists will be the new normal. May interfere with ability to bend toward the prescription medications but will help during crossfire from automatic weapons during gang wars.
Cities with pharmacy or food “deserts” got that way after years of profit leeching actions by the residents.
There is no "please".
Denying our freedom to unconditional looting is waciss..
And this trend is widespread throughout this country. These “public servants” have developed the idea that we work for and answer to them. “Government of The Government, By The Government and For The Government”.
Our Founding Fathers are spinning in their graves.
Rightfully so.
And why hasn’t CVS moved in already if the locations are desirable
This is the same bunch of New England liberals that want no fracking or additional drilling. I hope they enjoy freezing in the dark this winter. At least they don’t have to endure the long lines at Chick-fil-A.
One thing liberals do not understand. If it were profitable to run a pharmacy in an area there would be a pharmacy in that area.
I’ve predicted this food/store desert whining every time we’ve seen these closures due to lack of policing and bad behavior by a certain urban demographic.
The city should put their money where their mouth is.
Boston definitely has some excellent upscale areas.
That said, any corporation that submits to city council extortion and blackmail is just asking for more of it.
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