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Politics : Libertarian Discussion Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (5616)	3/31/2004 11:15:45 PM
From: miraje	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 13060

I make it a point to shop at WalMart whenever possible (and I recently cut up and threw away my CostCo membership card). WalMart is a great example of what's right with America. And it appears that L.A. is trying to outlaw them. Figures... More California idiocy... reason.com Sam's Curse Will Wal-Mart superstores really devastate the City of Angels? RiShawn Biddle "Ugly." "Devastating." "Race to the bottom." Barbs about the latest Hollywood film or reality TV show? No. Just a few choice words from opponents of Wal-Mart Stores' expansion efforts into Los Angeles' retailing market... ...For anti-big box types, a Wal-Mart is something they could live without. Much of the opposition likely comes from the image of Wal-Mart shoppers as hicks without enough style or taste to shop at a hipper spot such as Target. But for the poor with limited shopping options and even more limited incomes, Wal-Mart represents something else altogether. When Wal-Mart opened its store last year, it didn't exactly devastate the neighborhood. Instead it filled the very space Macy's abandoned and brought cheaper-priced items to the area. It also brought 450 jobs; the average pay is more than $9.50 according to Kanelos, just above the $8.71 average wages earned by unionized workers in a typical Vons or Safeway. For an area with unemployment rates in the double-digits, Wal-Mart seems to many a godsend. "For years the complaint has been that many small mom-and-pop stores often provide poor quality at high prices and in many instances with service that is not acceptable. But you go into Wal-Mart and you find the prices are good, the service is great, and the store is spotlessly clean," said former L.A. Police Chief-turned-city councilman Bernard Parks, an opponent of the anti-Wal-Mart ordinance, to the Business Journal last year. Future poor neighborhoods could benefit from Wal-Mart's expansion as well, in part because of the land-intense nature of its superstores. Each one, which will take up 200,000 square feet in space, requires 25 acres of land. The best source of available land? Some of the abandoned buildings that dot much of South Central and East L.A. Will any of this come into play when L.A. officials gets around to considering the anti-big box ordinance? Likely not.