The Mayor marched into a firestorm over Wal-Mart on Tuesday.
The company’s donating $4-million to help create summer jobs for young people.
So reporters asked the obvious, is that donation supposed to persuade New Yorkers who don’t like Wal-Mart?
“Let me tell you what, it won’t with me. This city is open to everybody. Period. End of story,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
But it wasn’t the end of the story.
Wal-Mart has gone on a media blitz with newspaper ads and patriotic TV commercials.
And now, the mayor got testy asking, so what if Wal-Mart’s trying to curry a little favor?
“Wal-Mart is a good corporate citizen, how do you do your company’s philanthropy without saying it’s connected to everything. Everything is connected. I answered it for you,” Bloomberg said.
It’s expected the company will open its first store in the five boroughs on the land near the Gateway Mall. This has got nearby business owners worried.
“It means I’m in trouble, big trouble, we won’t’ be here. It’s happened all over the United States, they come in and small businesses go out,” said Eddie Peralta, a hardware store owner.
Councilmember Charlie Barron, who has led protests in the past, today scoffed at Wal-Mart’s donation.
“And Wal-Mart?! Please! They are a multibillion dollar company. East New York is not for sale,” Barron said.
Wal-Mart has already given 13-million to non-profits in the city.
“So today’s announcement is just an extension of what we’ve been doing for several years. This is not part of the overall campaign to persuade New Yorkers to accept Wal-Mart- no, they already do. If you look at every single poll the support for Wal-Mart coming to the five boroughs is overwhelmingly positive,” a Wal-Mart representative said.
And the Mayor agreed, urging reporters to stop picking on Wal-Mart.
“We’ve had enough we are here to talk about summer youth; we are here to talk about jobs,” Bloomberg said.
Wal-Mart says it does not need any city council approval or zoning laws changed, so apparently the company can move forward. The only question is when?
(Source: WABC)
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4 Responses
The Unions pay a lot more than that in bribes – and they focus on giving the money directly to the politicians (disguised as campaign contributions) – just to keep companies such as Walmarts out of New York. Walmart offers both low prices for consumers for reputable goods, and entry level non-union jobs. These things are very bad if you are in a union that demands high wages for inferior work, which requires high prices (and who cares about low prices anyways – certainly not New Yorkers)
Walmart has good valve but destroys all business just like Home Depot. I know in one city Home Depot open and close 5 lumber yards. The big stores are great but have absolutely no service; reason cheap help or lack of help and they sell on price only. I know I had a business where they come to pick your head and go down to a cheap store and buy for 2-7% less.
Absolutely correct, akuperma. Plus, with BJ’s, Target and other discounters already in Gateway, why would Walmart be the one to “drive out businesses”. I’ll tell you what’s driving out mom & pop stores – the greedy landlords in our communities who would rather keep a store empty until yet another bank rents it, then lower the rents so that stores serving the community can survive.
How many tax dollars are lost by NYC every year by those of us who shop in Walmarts outside of the boros? See you in the Monticello store this Sunday!
If Wal-Mart can find a location within NYC that is zoned for a store as big as its stores, they should be welcomed. But otherwise, the city owes it nothing. It should get neither special treatment nor special hostility.
And it should be noted that Wal-Mart’s treatment of its employees, suppliers, and competitors is not what halachah demands for Jews — and because all of these unfair practices count as theft, it may be in violation of the Noachide laws. There is a serious question as to whether we should be encouraging such.