Posted on 08/03/2006 9:35:19 AM PDT by politicalwit
(STNG) CHICAGO Chicago’s controversial big-box ordinance has produced its first casualty: Target has pulled out of a 32-acre shopping mall at 119th Street and Marshfield Avenue and will likely cut and run from the North Side’s Wilson Yards project as well, city officials said Wednesday.
Target’s decision to follow through on its threat to avoid Chicago comes just one week after a bitterly divided City Council defied Daley by requiring retailing giants to pay their employees a “living wage” of at least $10 an hour and $3 in benefits by 2010.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbs2chicago.com ...
Well! The city sure showed THEM!
Ping
Wal-Mart too for that matter.
The City Council needs to pass an ordinance preventing Big Box stores from leaving the city. < /Galt Sarcasm >
Daley will have to get 2 members of the board to change their vote so he can override this stupid decision by veto. There is no way he will let that much money cross the street and go into the border city's coffers, no matter what the Unions say about it.
It is my hope Chicago sees many businesses leave.
I love visiting the city, but once liberalism is allowed to reign, this is the kind of stuff that happens.
I want to see the idiots on the board left speechless. You can't trust them to not screw you over on a moment's notice.
If I remember there were 63? stores covered by this ordinance. You would think that ALL 63 would pull out if for no other reason than to send a message.
Don't laugh!
That has been seriously suggested by the more clueless among city government types!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
WalMart Ping.
I'm impressed, Target is following through with their threat. Good for them.
A_R
Gee, I can see how Chicago's new law is really helping working class folks.
The rest of the article from the Chicago Sun Times, which doesn't require excerpting:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-bigbox03.html#
At 119th and Marshfield, Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) was counting on Target to anchor a development that has already nailed down a $23 million city subsidy.
Override of a Daley veto called unlikely
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
If Mayor Daley flexes his veto muscle for the first time in 17 years, he would have to convince two aldermen who voted for the big-box ordinance to change sides to avoid an override.
That won't be a problem, influential aldermen said.
Zoning Committee chairman William Banks (36th) predicted Wednesday that Daley could easily find two Council allies to change sides.
Several likely targets
Another mayoral ally, who asked to remain anonymous, noted that all of the undecided votes broke in favor of the ordinance, in part, because of a lack of direction from Daley.
"If he put 'em on, he can take 'em off," the alderman said of last week's veto-proof 35-14 vote.
If Daley decides to veto -- and pick another fight with a City Council growing bolder by the day -- there are several likely targets to be plucked off. They include mayoral allies Todd Stroger (8th), who needs Daley's support in the race for County Board president; John Pope (10th); George Cardenas (12th); Ginger Rugai (19th); Danny Solis (25th), who may want to run for city clerk or Congress, and Ariel Reboyras (30th).
'If he asked me, I'd consider it'
Solis was undecided up until the moment he cast his vote in favor of the "living wage" ordinance. Asked last week if Daley could persuade him to change his mind, Solis said, "If he asked me, I'd consider it only after hearing his rationale for it. But I don't believe he'll want to do it. It's too much of a polarizing situation. Let the courts take care of it."
Another big-box supporter, who asked to remain anonymous, said he too could be persuaded to change sides. But he doesn't want to be publicly identified yet, for fear of being hung out to dry.
'I need sales tax revenue'
The 160,000-square-foot Target store planned for 4400 N. Broadway on the 4-acre site of a former CTA rail yard is also in jeopardy, according to Planning and Development Commissioner Lori Healey. That's why Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) was the only alderman who did not cast a vote on the big-box measure.
"No matter how much money these corporations have, each individual store has to operate as a profit center. This can add upwards of $1 million a year to the cost of operating these stores," Healey said.
Austin was one of only 15 aldermen to vote against the big-box ordinance. She was devastated, but not surprised, when the letter arrived from Target. "My colleagues are saying, 'Don't worry. They'll come.' Well, mine just left," Austin said.
"I'm depressed. Calumet Park has land right across the street they can develop. Our development will just sit there for another century. I don't need more housing. I need sales tax revenue and jobs. How do I pull my community out of the slump that it's in? How do we get a rebirth? Sales tax revenue. That's how."
Shiller did not return repeated phone calls. Austin said she's now pinning her hopes on a mayoral veto.
"That would be a big yahoo for me because that means my development can get a breath of new air. Without it, it will not take place at any time -- not next week, next month or next year," she said.
Eric Salcido, project manager for Primestor, developer of the 119th and Marshfield site, confirmed that Target "sent a letter to the mayor and the alderman indicating that Target is on hold and, if the ordinance is not overturned, they will not proceed on projects" in Chicago. That could place Target stores in the 5th and 9th Wards in jeopardy as well.
Home Depot 'holding out'
"We have other tenants that were interested. Home Depot has not publicly said they're holding out. But the longer it takes to get this resolved, the more likely the whole project is in jeopardy," Salcido said.
On Wednesday, Daley was still holding his veto cards close to the vest. The mayor must decide by the next regularly scheduled City Council meeting on Sept. 13 whether to sign or veto the ordinance. To avoid an override, he would have to convince two aldermen to change sides.
Earlier this week, Daley warned that the decision to establish wage and benefit standards for retail stores with more than 90,000 square feet owned by companies with more than $1 billion in annual sales could translate into higher property taxes. He reiterated that claim Wednesday, flanked by more than a dozen aldermen who believe otherwise.
"I know. Fine. When they get the property tax bills, they'll agree with me. . . . I believe the sales tax is a fairer tax than the property tax. That's what the issue will be about," Daley said at a City Hall news conference called to renew the call for property tax relief.
The liberal answer to everything.
So what the Dems propose for Iraq is not a cut-and-run, according to the MSM, but this decison by Target is?
ROTF!!
And Target is owned by the family of whiney MN senator Mark Dayton. He'd probably support the Chicago board's decision. How's that for irony!
Big Box Ping!
Glad to see them making good on their promises!
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