Wal-Mart: Chicago Screws Itself
From Chicago Sun Times: Thousands
apply for jobs at new Wal-Mart
Eighteen months after the Chicago City Council torpedoed a South Side Wal-Mart,
24,500 Chicagoans applied for 325 jobs at a Wal-Mart opening Friday in south suburban
Evergreen Park, one block outside the city limits.The new Wal-Mart at 2500 W. 95th is one block west of Western Avenue, the city
boundary.Of 25,000 job applicants, all but 500 listed Chicago addresses, said John Bisio,
regional manager of public affairs for Wal-Mart.“In our typical hiring process, you’re pretty successful if you have 3,000 applicants,”
he said. “They were really crowing about 11,000 in Oakland, Calif., last year. So
to get 25,000-plus applications and counting, I think is astonishing.”
Great job for the folks at Wal-Mart. I was glad to see you thumb your nose at Chicago.
This is the best part of all of this:
The 141,000-square-foot store has 36 departments, a “tire and lube express,” vision
center, Subway restaurant, pharmacy, garden center and drugstore. It will sell some
groceries but no fresh produce or meats and no liquor. It is expected to generate
$1 million in sales and property tax in the first year — a windfall in a village
that collects about $3 million a year in sales taxes, said Evergreen Park Mayor James
J. Sexton. Evergreen Plaza, with 100 stores, generates about $2 million.
I would rather see a more deserving city like Evergreen Park to get the tax revenue
than a bunch of left wing liberals in Chicago that are trying to oppress free enterprise.
Now if they would just do the same thing in Maryland by moving the necessary number
of jobs out of Maryland to fall below the 10,000 mark, that would just make my day.
Wal-Mart, have the pop-corn shrimp ready, I am on my way.