Earlier this week, the Chicago City Council passed a "big-box" ordinance that will set wage and benefit levels for the large retailers. It will probably be overturned by the courts. The passage of the ordinance highlighted a few interesting points. First, the ordinance was passed over the objections of Mayor Daley, an indication of just how politically damaged he has become by the Fitzgerald investigations.
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Secondly, while Wal-Mart has never had a major presence in the Chicago metropolitan are, that is going to change.
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The third point, and certainly the least interesting, is that as much as I deplore what has happened to many small businesses in rural America when Wal-Mart comes to town, I am coming to appreciate the value that a Wal-Mart store can add to an inner city neighborhood where theare are only a handful of small businesses serving the community.
Quite a lot, apparently. Consider a few statistics unearthed by the Chicago Reporter about major retailers in Chicago: White neighborhoods already have nearly eight times as many apparel retailers as black neighborhoods. Residents of black communities in Chicago spend some two-thirds of their consumer dollars (more than $5.3 billion a year) outside their neighborhoods.
And, perhaps most startling, the businesses don't even come when black people have plenty of money to spend: Among areas with median household earnings between $40,000 and $50,000, white areas have nearly 50 percent more major retailers than black areas.
Bigger picture lost in `big-box' debate
Alysia Tate, editor and publisher of the Chicago Reporter, a publication of the Community Renewal Society
Published July 28, 2006
When a relative of mine had a chance to take a job at a "big-box" store, he jumped at it. A few years and a few injuries later--his position required a lot of heavy lifting and hauling--he happily moved up to a less taxing gig with a different company, for a few dollars more an hour.
The point was, he took the best job he could find and worked as hard as he could for as long as he could.
Now the Chicago City Council has passed a measure that will regulate wage and benefit levels of big-box retailers. But the harsh words of some proponents could have made my relative feel like a sellout for taking a job with one of them. On the flip side, Mayor Richard Daley and others, who opposed the ordinance, may have applauded his work ethic but downplayed the difficulty of his working conditions. Regardless, it led to a young African-American man being caught in a blame game that served, yet again, to divide a community already divided over far too many issues.
Whether one supported or opposed the ordinance, a critical point got submerged by all of the rhetoric: the utter disinvestment in our city's black neighborhoods. This has resulted from a complex history involving many groups, but it remains a fact of life for far too many Chicagoans. As Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) has stated time and time again, this kind of equity issue continues to remain on the back burner for the Daley administration.
And in this most recent example, many leaders and citizens of all races remained reactive, missing the opportunity to express a broad vision of sustained, viable development in these neighborhoods, with long-term solutions. We missed an opportunity to form a coalition that would address this more critical, though complex, issue. Instead, we focused on the debate of the day.
It has become more comfortable for many of us, apparently, to insist that standing up to the Wal-Marts of the world is more realistic than shining a bigger light on a problem few economists purport to know how to solve. What will it take to create healthy, vibrant African-American communities again? How can we rebuild them following decades of white flight? What stops retailers from coming to our neighborhoods? What will it take for us to move beyond desperation in our effort to attract businesses?
Quite a lot, apparently. Consider a few statistics unearthed by the Chicago Reporter about major retailers in Chicago: White neighborhoods already have nearly eight times as many apparel retailers as black neighborhoods. Residents of black communities in Chicago spend some two-thirds of their consumer dollars (more than $5.3 billion a year) outside their neighborhoods.
And, perhaps most startling, the businesses don't even come when black people have plenty of money to spend: Among areas with median household earnings between $40,000 and $50,000, white areas have nearly 50 percent more major retailers than black areas.
These are the kind of statistics Chicago's black leaders juggled as they debated the big-box ordinance. They are exactly the type of numbers Daley pointed to as he opposed it.
But we would all be mistaken to see this measure as a convenient solution to economic development problems in disadvantaged communities. Those who do will commit a great disservice to the city's African-Americans--and all of us--unless they continue to hold accountable all of our leaders in government and the business community.
The task of creating healthy African-American neighborhoods stretches far beyond a single ordinance. Just as important as this measure--or perhaps more important--is what actions will be taken now that the votes have been tallied. And all of us, not just black folks, must take some responsibility for that if things are to truly change.
A lot of why my relative took the job he did rested on a simple quandary for workers in many black neighborhoods: There were few other choices available to him.
That bigger picture, we must remember, remains the real issue.
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
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