Props to Englewood, CA!!!

[offramp]

For voting down the intrusion of Wal-Mart in their community.

 

[Jeff Klopmeyer]

It's Inglewood, with an I. The other one (your spelling) is in Colorado. And while I agree with your sentiment, the reasons it was voted down may not be as noble as you believe.

 

No further comments. It'll come out sooner or later. But in the meantime, I share your happiness.

 

- Jeff

[BOOKUMDANO]

The Wal-Mart wasn't voted down. The vote denied Wal-Mart the right to build that super store via a "vote" basis rather than going through regular City Hall channels. As I understand things, Wal-Mart attempted to go this "vote" route, hoping to streamline the process of getting a store in. The "no" vote just means that Wal-Mart has to go through the regular channels to get the thing built.

 

Aside from the normal criticism one hears about Wal-Mart's business methods, this particular store in that particular plot of land may be a great benefit to the folks living in that area. We're not talking about an area where there is conjestion, competition, etc....the area has nothing there....nothing. No retailer has wanted to touch it. I don't have all the facts, but it appears that the future Wal-Mart in that spot could actually kick-start the area.

[Jeff Klopmeyer]

Right. The site for the proposed shopping center is where the old Forum stands, actually in the usused huge parking area between the Forum and Hollywood Park.

 

Let's just put it this way: there's always been rumors of graft with Inglewood city hall and the business owners in the area. Some of them aren't anxious to have half their business removed overnight from Wal-Mart competition.

 

Anyway, I bellieve that the Wal-Mart will indeed be built. However, the threat that Wal-Mart has held over Inglewood is that they'll build on a spot just outside city boundaries, removing the benefit of city sales tax and still pulling shoppers away from Inglewood. The whole thing is ugly.

 

- Jeff

[KenElevenShadows]

Although Wal-Mart is deplorable for quite a number of reasons, I thank you for seeing the complexity of the issues at hand and having a nuanced response to it. I only wish that more of thte political posts were written with the insight that the two of you write these posts.

 

Now, about that school district in Inglewood...

[theblue1]

Whatever the parochial political concerns may be and however bad or good Wal-Mart may be for a community, this was an attempt to create a special election and flood it with money in an effort to subvert the normal permit and regulation processes.

 

After the success of the California gubernatorial recall (funded largely by a failed Republican politican who had the delusion he would have a shot at the governor's office if the recently elected governor were forced from office by recall) there was a lot of excitement in the campaign business, since it seemed to herald in an era of continual campaigning (and hence continual revenue from ad buys, strategic counselling, etc).

 

This is even more a victory for established process and a loss for the campaign industry than it is a win and loss for the parties involved.

 

PS... shouldn't this be in the political forum?

[kylen]

I hope this isn't the new jobs program in action !

[fantasticsound]

NPR reported that the Inglewood city council quashed Walmart's plans to build on this site. The proposition was rightly voted down. Not because of the other political issues in Inglewood. Because voting "yes" for Walmart on the ballot would have given them completely unregulated control over the development. No zoning board input. No city government input. They would have had free reign to do as they pleased.

 

What looked like the public could have voted to bring in something the city council nixed was actually a bid by Walmart to con the Inglewood community into giving them access only surpassed by Walt Disney when he agreed to pay for massive infrastructure in Florida in trade for Disney property being a local government to itself with few intrusions by state government.

[GTRBass]

Things to do at Walmart when you're bored:

 

1. Get boxes of condoms & randomly put them in peoples' carts when they aren't looking.

 

2. Set all the alarm clocks to go off at 10-minute intervals.

 

3. Make a trail of orange juice on the floor to the rest rooms.

 

4. Walk up to an employee and tell him/her in an official tone, "I think we have a code 3 in housewares," and see what happens.

 

5. Put some M&M's on lay away.

 

6. Move CAUTION WET FLOOR signs to carpet areas.

 

7. Set up a tent in the camping department, tell others you'll only invite them in if they bring pillows from the bedding department.

 

8. When someone asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask, "Why won't you people leave me alone."

 

9. Look right into the security camera and use it as a mirror while you pick your nose.

 

10. Dart around suspiciously while humming the theme from 'Mission Impossible.'

 

11. While handling guns in the hunting department ask the clerk if he knows where the anti-depressants are.

 

12. In the auto department practice your Madonna look using different size funnels.

 

13. Hide in the clothing rack and when people browse through whisper "PICK ME! PICK ME!!!!!"

 

14. When an announcement comes over the loud speaker assume the fetal position and scream "NO! NO! It's those voices again!"

 

15. Go to the fitting room and yell real loud....."Hey we're out of toilet paper in here!"

[Slowly]

GTRBass, that's going up on the wall at work. Kcbass

[Philip OKeefe]

ROTFLOL!!!

[videoeditor1]

Originally posted by fantasticsound:

NPR reported that the Inglewood city council quashed Walmart's plans to build on this site. The proposition was rightly voted down. Not because of the other political issues in Inglewood. Because voting "yes" for Walmart on the ballot would have given them completely unregulated control over the development. No zoning board input. No city government input. They would have had free reign to do as they pleased.

I don't live in CA, sorry pardon if I make an ass of myself on the issue...

 

From what I've gathered, Neil is touching the essence of the issue. True, the spot may be a big parking lot, true, more revenue could have been brought in, but Walmart tried to make an end run around the local government - it matters not if they are considered on the take, or buffoons or whatever.

 

An awful precedent too (trying to get a proposal on the ballot)

[not coaster MODERATOR]

what may emerge is the unions blocked the whole proposal.

 

well, right or wrong inglewood can continue to be the crime-ridden, high unemployment ghetto that it is. hawthorne or lawndale next door will probably be where wal-mart ends up.

 

or not..

[not Cereal]

what may emerge is the unions blocked the whole proposal.

 

well, right or wrong inglewood can continue to be the crime-ridden, high unemployment ghetto that it is. hawthorne or lawndale next door will probably be where wal-mart ends up.

 

or not..

[not coaster MODERATOR]

how the hell did i do that?

[Bunny Knutson]

New new Inglewood blues.

[Guitar Geezer]

Originally posted by GTRBass:

Things to do at Walmart when you're bored:

 

1. Get boxes of condoms & randomly put them in peoples' carts when they aren't looking.

 

2. Set all the alarm clocks to go off at 10-minute intervals.

 

3. Make a trail of orange juice on the floor to the rest rooms.

 

4. Walk up to an employee and tell him/her in an official tone, "I think we have a code 3 in housewares," and see what happens.

 

5. Put some M&M's on lay away.

 

6. Move CAUTION WET FLOOR signs to carpet areas.

 

7. Set up a tent in the camping department, tell others you'll only invite them in if they bring pillows from the bedding department.

 

8. When someone asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask, "Why won't you people leave me alone."

 

9. Look right into the security camera and use it as a mirror while you pick your nose.

 

10. Dart around suspiciously while humming the theme from 'Mission Impossible.'

 

11. While handling guns in the hunting department ask the clerk if he knows where the anti-depressants are.

 

12. In the auto department practice your Madonna look using different size funnels.

 

13. Hide in the clothing rack and when people browse through whisper "PICK ME! PICK ME!!!!!"

 

14. When an announcement comes over the loud speaker assume the fetal position and scream "NO! NO! It's those voices again!"

 

15. Go to the fitting room and yell real loud....."Hey we're out of toilet paper in here!"

Thanks, forgot all about that one

[Jeff Klopmeyer]

Originally posted by Mr. Nice Crass Coaster Guy:

what may emerge is the unions blocked the whole proposal.

Give that man a Kewpie doll.

 

well, right or wrong inglewood can continue to be the crime-ridden, high unemployment ghetto that it is. hawthorne or lawndale next door will probably be where wal-mart ends up.

 

or not..

Yeah. I think it'll end up in the Inglewood site. After all, they're not making much cash with the big weed-filled parking lot that's currently there. I am glad, though, that Wal-Mart wasn't able to bypass the standard regulatory process in this regard.

 

- Jeff

[not Cereal]

how the hell did i do that?

[doug osborne]

Inglewood has gone from being a middle class community in the early '60s to the sewer it is today for a variety of reasons.

 

Two of their biggest money makers are gambling and prostitution, and their city council seems to be among the most corrupt.

 

I think the people did the right thing by smartly rejecting WM's end run, and they should now approach WM on their own terms. There is little real business in Inglewood these days for WM to squeeze out, and if more residents have jobs, even WM McJobs, there will be more money spread around locally.

 

Inglewood politicians must have been on the take from WM to even let this thing on the ballot, as they are from the massage parlor owners to let them continue to operate.

 

Because of the tragic effects of Prop 13 in California, retail business is just about the only way for local governments to make money in California, so Inglewood should want this revenue. If it's not Inglewood, then Hawthorne or Lawndale for the store, the effect for Inglewood residents (more jobs, more money spent at other local businesses) will be similar, minus the CA sales tax funds. If it was the unions, so be it, they're fighting a losing battle in retail.

[Jeff Klopmeyer]

Wow! Doug said everything I didn't. That was cool.

 

- Jeff

[Slowly]

I don't know about the kids, but Big Daddy Wal Mart used satellite recon and traffic flow patterns to place his stores. He targeted K-Mart and Sears, and intentionally went after their customers. Kcbass

[wraub]

At one time I lived in a town with less than 10,000 people, textbook small town Americana. After the Wal-Mart came to town, I saw a lot of local stores priced out. Stores I had shopped at for years vanished, some faster than others, but most of the retailers realized it was inevitable. Read the book "In Sam We Trust", by Bob Ortega if you want to know more about Wal-Mart and their (often shady) business practices.

A good read.

 

Peace,

 

wraub

[doug osborne]

Originally posted by Kcbass:

I don't know about the kids, but Big Daddy Wal Mart used satellite recon and traffic flow patterns to place his stores. He targeted K-Mart and Sears, and intentionally went after their customers. Kcbass

Yes, Sam did revolutionalize retail business.

 

He was the first to establish satellite communication from his stores to the regional distribution centers. As the day goes on, inventory is tracked down to each stick of gum. At the literal end of the day, what was sold is transmitted, appropriate stock is picked and shipped by truck to the store. Each store continuously has stock it can sell, and customers are satisfied because they can get what they want,when they want it. This keeps labor and real estate costs down, adding to the company's profits, subtracting from the local economy.

 

Sam's office reportedly consisted of a couple of folding tables and folding chairs, and a couple of computers to follow his satellite-inventory system. His children have a few more corporate jets, limos, etc. ...

 

Sam also brought opportunities to US manufacturers: huge orders at low margins, which helped these manufacturers thrive and employ more people, and Sam passed along the cost savings to consumers. Unfortunately for the time being, the manufacturers figured that they could increase profits by closing their US factories and making or sourcing their product overseas, and Sam's children, in control of the company after his death, took a 180-degree turn from his policies of enouraging US manufacturing to encouraging the lowest cost to Wal-Mart at the expense of US manufacturing.

 

Sam's chain sprouted in the South, with a low-cost labor force and medium-density which worked well with the regional distribution scheme. Agriculture (like tobacco) and manufacturing (like furniture) employment never paid a lot, and jobs disappeard, so people were grateful to have Wal-Mart jobs. Taking this business model to the more-developed Midwest or California has been a struggle in some ways, since people had in their own memory a time when their jobs provided great benefits and full-time employment, and Wal-Mart has been unwilling to provide these on a broad scale.

 

On a national and local scale, consumer spending fuels the economy, so providing a way to buy more consumer products for less can't be all bad, especially in depressed places like Inglewood. We as consumers have to spend our dollars with our eyes open to the potential costs, though. It's funny that Sears is considering buying K-Mart, so they have a platform to challenge Wal-Mart.

[coyote]

Ya gotta be careful you don't end up in a "race to the bottom" economically. Too many downtowns disappear into the maw of the massive discount chains, causing economic hardship in the middle at the same time they create jobs at the bottom.

 

Plus, they come with hidden costs. Instead of walking around the corner for a notepad, now you have to get in your car and drive 15 minutes. Lost time, extra $$$ spent on gasoline & car maintenance....

 

Not arguing against them per se. In some situations they are the right solution. But we need to be careful that we don't let our irrational worship of capitalist 'competition' make it impossible for folks to earn a decent living. I commend Inglewood for not allowing WalMart to run roughshod over their town.