A couple of emailers have asked why SPRAWLED OUT seems to be ignoring the Wal-Mart expansion plans on 27th street.
First, of all - thanks for asking!
Three main reasons:
#1, I recognized early on that it was a done deal and there would be little or no discussion about it. Turns out, there wasn't even public comment allowed at the Plan Commission meeting where the expansion was to be discussed - an "error on the agenda," according to Mayor Taylor. Alderman Hammelman, with whom I have no beef, evidently did himself no re-election favors by failing to speak out strongly for his constituents and demanding the reinstatement of the planned public comment period.
#2, the expansion is literally a blight absorbed into a blight. The Wal-Mart physical building and the entire area around it has been allowed to sink into decrepitude that is creeping outward in an ever-widening orbit of near-squalor. The message sent by Wal-Mart seems to be: Let us expand and we'll clean up after ourselves. A little. Maybe. For a while.
#3, SPRAWLED OUT will comment comprehensively on corporate socialists like Wal-Mart in the near future, as well as businesses like Gander Mountain who have, without fanfare, actually turned down handouts from eager-to-please local governments - - the same handouts that companies like Wal-Mart and Cabela's unashamedly demand (and get).
An aside to Alderman Solomon ("Congratulations," said Alderman Timothy Solomon to Deborah Tomczyk, an attorney representing Wal-Mart. "We're not all against Wal-Mart just so you're aware. You're bringing forth a very nice project."): Those who are not wary of Wal-Mart do not understand Wal-Mart.
Stay tuned.
And now, back to a period of grieving for the loss of #4.
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