Listen to Randy Lehner, the UNC President, featured on a WBBM NewsRadio story about Helen Shiller's non-vote on the Big Box ordinance. Here is the first quote from Randy - it only gets better as the story goes on...
"She chose a cowardly way out by not voting at all,” said Uptown Neighborhood Council President Randy Lehner.
Big-box debate too hot for Alderman Shiller
From the Crain's Chicago Business Newsroom
July 27 17:02:00, 2006
By Lorene Yue and Greg Hinz
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(Crain’s) — Helen Shiller was nowhere to be found.
As the Chicago City Council was voting on the controversial proposal to mandate a minimum wage for large-format retailers, the alderman from the 46th Ward was absent. The measure passed 35-14, an outcome that likely robs Mayor Richard M. Daley, who opposes the ordinance, of a veto. A mayoral veto can be overridden by 34 votes.
Ms. Shiller, who is entangled in an ambitious and contentious mixed-use development in her ward, did not return phone calls Thursday for comment about her absence. A spokeswoman from her office said Ms. Shiller was not commenting to the media until after she issues a statement to her constituents. But remarks made prior to the vote suggest she was conflicted on the issue.
She told Crain’s Chicago Business on Wednesday afternoon that she couldn’t vote against the ordinance because doing so would help a “predatory” Wal-Mart Stores Inc. At the same time, Ms. Shiller said the ordinance, which phases in a minimum wage for so-called big-box retailers of $10 an hour plus $3 an hour in fringe benefits, could unfairly hurt other companies that have a better track record treating their employees than does Wal-Mart.
She said she wished both sides had sat down and negotiated a proposal that would have satisfied all involved, but the issue became polarized by Wal-Mart’s involvement. Retailers affected by the ordinance, those with stores of at least 90,000 square feet and with $1 billion or more in annual sales, have cried foul.
Target Corp. has halted its Chicago expansion efforts, including development of a store in the Wilson Yard project located in Ms. Shiller’s ward. The project, expected to cost about $110 million, is planned for Chicago Transit Authority’s Wilson Yard property, a nearly 6-acre site at Montrose and Broadway avenues. Community residents have battled over the housing component, which would accommodate low- to moderate-income individuals. Kerasotes Theatres recently pulled the plug on a movie theater in the development, but construction is moving forward on an Aldi grocery store.
Target officials have told developers and alderman that the chain won’t open any Chicago stores should the wage ordinance pass.
UNC Members, supporters and neighbors:
Please mark your calendars and make every effort to attend the 46th Ward Zoning Committee meeting this Saturday, July 29 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Truman College. A flyer for the event can be found here.
Your attendance at this meeting is critical to show the Alderman that we want zoning in the 46th Ward that will promote retail development, the arts, and entertainment in the ward. Zoning is critical to proper urban planning, and by showing our strength, we can work to prevent zoning disasters like Wilson Yard from happening again.
UNC E-News, July 14, 2006
Wilson Yard seems to be shrinking once again. The Kerasotas Movie Theaters' pull-out earlier this year left a big hole in the Wilson Yard Plan and that hole seems to be getting even bigger. Target Corporation is seriously re-thinking their expansion plans for new city stores, including coming to Wilson Yard.
No movie theaters, maybe no Target. What's left? Not much. Only a new Aldi's and 200 units of low-income housing remain on the drawing board. The alderman and developer are mum as usual, leaving the community in the lurch.
For more detail, please read the article from Crain's Chicago Business below...
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Target halts expansion, citing wage measure
From the Crain's Chicago Business Newsroom
July 13 18:40:00, 2006
By Alby Gallun
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(Crain's) — Target Corp. is halting plans for new stores in Chicago in response to a proposed city law that would set minimum wage and benefit levels for employees of big-box retailers.
The decision by the Minneapolis-based discount chain represents a setback for at least two high-profile retail projects in the city that were to be anchored by a Target, one on the Wilson Yard site in Uptown and another next to Interstate 57 in Morgan Park. Target told the developers of both projects last week that it won’t open stores if the law passes.
If Target pulls out, “we’d be at ground zero,” says Arturo Sneider, a partner at California-based Primestor Development Inc., which is building the 443,000-square-foot Morgan Park project. “I don't even want to think about it.”
Target has largely avoided criticism of its wage and benefit policies in the debate over the big-box ordinance as supporters of the measure have focused their ire on Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Both chains aim to expand in cities like Chicago, but union and community activists have made an example of Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart, which will open its first store here this summer.
The city has been more welcoming to Target, which has six stores here and one under construction.
Target representatives didn’t return several phone calls for comment. A Wal-Mart executive has said the company would drop its plan to open as many as 20 stores in Chicago if the proposed ordinance passes.
The measure would require that retailers with stores of 90,000 square feet or more pay employees who work there at least $10 an hour and provide minimum benefits of $3 an hour. The city council’s finance committee passed the measure June 21 and the full council is expected to vote on it July 26.
Mayor Richard M. Daley has criticized the proposal, but sponsor Alderman Joe Moore (49th) says he has enough votes to pass it and, if necessary, override a mayoral veto. He dismissed Target’s decision to suspend new development in Chicago as an idle threat.
“They obviously couldn’t win the argument on the merits so now they’re resorting to threats and scare tactics,” the alderman says. “Chicken Little is alive and well in the city of Chicago.”
Yet if Target follows through with its threat, it could hamper retail development in neighborhoods that have been largely ignored by retailers. A shopping center is hard to pull off without a large anchor tenant to bring in traffic—and attract smaller retailers.
“If Target goes, the whole thing falls apart because a lot of these tenants are contingent upon Target,” Mr. Sneider says. “It’s kind of like a house of cards.”
For Target, added costs created by the measure “would be sufficient to where this project wouldn’t work out for them financially,” he says.
The city has approved $22 million in tax-increment financing (TIF) for the Primestor project at 119th Street and I-57. Called Marshfield Plaza, the shopping center also would include a Home Depot. The home-improvement chain plans to push ahead with new stores in Chicago despite the proposed wage ordinance, a spokesman says.
Losing Target would be a big blow to the Wilson Yard project, which was supposed to include a 12-screen movie theater until Kerasotes ShowPlace Theatres LLC pulled out earlier this year. The city approved $35 million in TIF subsidies for the project, which will sit next to the Wilson Avenue elevated train station and include an Aldi grocery store and 177 affordable apartments.
“We’re just hoping that some kind of compromise can be worked out,” says Peter Holsten, developer of the Wilson Yard project.
Looking for something fun to do to our neighborhood? Enjoy these summer events in Uptown....
BUENA PARK NEIGHBORS (BPN) is pleased to announce the first of two summer concerts under the stars in Buena Circle Park. For the third year in a row, Buena Park neighbors and their families will come together under the stars to listen to the smooth jazz sounds of the Sam Burckhardt Combo. This free concert, held in conjunction with the Chicago Park District, takes place on:
Thursday, July 20, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Buena Circle Park is located at the intersection of North Kenmore Ave and West Buena Ave (1000 block West and 4200 block North).
SUNNYSIDE MALL COMMITTEE will host its annual Ice Cream Social on:
Sunday, July 23, from 4 to 6 p.m.
The suggested $10 donation helps cover the Sunnyside Mall garden expenses. The mall is located on Sunnyside, just north of Montrose, from Beacon to Magnolia.
You can register to vote at this event. Please bring your I.D. to register to vote.
Hope to see you at these Uptown events!
UNC--Uptown Neighborhood Council
www.uncchicago.org
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Coming soon....
UNC community survey
Breaking news on CTA Wilson Yard land sale
Annoyance Theater event
BPN Block Club Party
