The possibility of controversial discount prices in one of Kansas City's last remaining Midtown middle-class (read: white) enclaves has created more than a bit of hostility among neighbors in an already politically divided community.
To wit . . .
THE FIGHT AGAINST WAL-MART IN WALDO THREATENS TO TEAR THE COMMUNITY APART FOR REASONS BOTH IDEOLOGICAL AND PRACTICAL!!!
This morning let's focus on the real world perspective because if people really care about slave labor they would stop using Apple products.
Remember that we've already talked about the "green space" at stake in this project.
And so . . .
A KICK-ASS TKC TIPSTER NOTES THAT COMPLAINTS ABOUT WAL-MART POSSIBLY CHANGING THE "CHARACTER OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD" WITH 24 HOUR SERVICE MIGHT BE OVERWROUGHT!!!
Read the testimony:
"CVS is planning to stay open 24 hours. With The Well, Tanner's and Lew's there is activity in this part of Waldo at nearly a 24 hour pace already so those complaints about increased activity are b.s. and nothing besides . . ."
We've heard that the community meetings on this issue have been hilarious.
However, in the interest of equal time, here's a message from a "Waldonian Against Wallmart" that speaks to their motives . . . Check it:
"We're COMMUNICATORS not HATERS.
Listen, let's be real... with 1000+ people all saying they don't want a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market in their community, there are bound to be some that are really just hateful about all things Wal-mart. That is not why this page was started. The whole big reason why we want to stop the Wal-mart has always been about what fits in WALDO. When we say this, we mean that most of the businesses in Waldo are owned by folks like you and me that you might run into while you were walking your dog. They work here and live here and have a vested interest in the community. Wal-mart, or any other corporate-owned business, is not the best use for a space that has been widely considered a space for the people that live there."
And so this neighborhood dispute continues.
Here's a look at a recent petition against the big box store that name check the Kansas City Public School District.
Money line . . .
"A Wal-mart Neighborhood Market wants to move into Waldo, which is comprised mostly of small, tight-knit communities and small businesses. There are many reasons why Waldonians would not want to see a 24/7 Grocery Mart move into the neighborhood but the most obvious fact is that Wal-mart is a corporate-owned box store which is completely contradictory to the types of businesses Waldo is trying to attract."
And while these protestors seem dedicated, it's worth noting that Kansas City is encouraging of biz development and more affordable grocery stores during this epoch of "food deserts" and the like . . .
Expect more meetings and fighting on this issue in the very near future as more than a few people of Waldo seem to be waging a losing battle against a corporate juggernaut and low prices.
DEVELOPING . . .
Cheap salad bags and yard equipment.
ReplyDeleteWhat are these people fighting?
They should be referred to as Dildonians.
ReplyDeleteI love how these ass holes always call people haters & racisits.
ReplyDeleteJust know that every jig east of troost will shop there.
ReplyDeleteTheres already an Aldi and hen house. I dont think a neighborhood market store will have that effect. Blacks will come down 85th and keep going to the hen house.
DeleteWaldo ,if you are home to Big Lots than why not Wal*mart
ReplyDeleteLook on it this way: The thugs might try to rob the Walmart rather than your other businesses.
ReplyDeleteYou Waldonians really think you are something special, don't you? We in JOCO laugh at you.
That's because you Joco cunts can't afford to live in Waldo or Brookside and send your kids to private school. Spending all your money keeping up with the Jones so you gotta send your kids to shitty public schools
DeleteAnd Brownback's budget will just make those schools worse. They're gonna have to send their kids to private schools soon too...
DeleteYou know the city just might want to throw 15 grand my way for special promotions on this important issue.
ReplyDeleteBig Lots draws large numbers of African Americans and no one cares. Wal-Mart is scum. Wal-Mart treats their employees and vendors like shit. Wal-Mart depends on Medicare and Medicaid to provide healthcare to its employees, but lobbies against universal healthcare for every American. Wal-Mart is an infected scab on America's ass.
ReplyDeleteWhy is Sutherland's allowed in Waldo? Time for them to be closed.
ReplyDeleteWal-Mart gave up its attempt to expand into Germany. It seems the Germans simply wouldn't shop there, preferring to shop in their downtown shopping districts. Which is probably why they still have them.
ReplyDeleteShopping for bargains is all well & fine, but if the prices are low, than so are the wages & 'benefits'. Like Tony said, it you really care about slave labor, don't shop at Wal-Mart & don't buy Apple products.
Agreed ! Imagine that .
Delete1/20/13, 8:44 AM
ReplyDeleteBecause Sutherlands is not a documented perpetrator of sexual harassment, predatory market behavior, low-wages, fraudulent benefits and a hell of a long list of other reasons that it differs from Wal-Mart.
Very few cared when they talked about selling the school to Hen House grocery (which we can assume would have attracted African Americans)to Waldo. This controversy is all about Wal-Mart and its attack on American values and human rights in general.
ReplyDeleteNiggers can't afford Hen House or HyVee. Niggers shop at Price Chopper.
DeleteThat is where your mother goes mud sharking...
DeleteI do not understand the disgust with Walmart business operations, just look at what it has meant to the quality play at the ballpark that you built for us at no expense to ourselves.
ReplyDeleteAnd once you are inside that ballpark on a hot summer day, watching first class team (kick the Royals' collective saggy ass) enjoy an ice cold $20 beer or two or more.
1/20/13, 6:55 AM
ReplyDeleteBecause the controversy is not about low prices, or demography, it is about slime-ball Wal-Mart.
It is hot in Hell.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should re-name Waldo? How does "Paige" sound?
ReplyDeletePay to ME so I make a good decision. Envelopes of Bentonville cash might help too. Leave it by the votive candles that you light for ME.
ReplyDeleteI shop at Walmart because the NIGGERS can never be welcome there. Walmart has always been and always will be for WHITES. NIGGERS can be thrown out at anytime.
ReplyDeleteLolz @ 9:17
ReplyDeleteAirick is interested in other topics not Walmart.
ReplyDeleteTopics like conversations on Facebook encouraging attractive White women to bring "young White and bisexual lady friends" to a hot tub party in July.
It was so pathetic that he would introduce a woman to his lover Robyne Stevenson so she could make "the ask." Even though he has told Robyne that he could never marry her because she is too old to have kids. Pathetic, Pathetic, Pathetic. A sordid tale indeed.
Dang, which one of his snowbunnies has Airick pissed off now?
ReplyDeleteWaldo isn't in midtown, you fucking moron.
ReplyDeleteAnd its working class, not middle.
"Listen, let's be real... with 1000+ people all saying they don't want a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market in their community..."
ReplyDeleteWhere is the backup for this claim? I live in Waldo and know about one person who opposes this store, and that person is so insane no one pays much attention to her anyway. Go door-to-door in Waldo--especially in the area around this eyesore--and you'll easily find 1,000 people in favor of it.
Who cares if Waldo is in midtown and can a person be both working class and middle class?
ReplyDeleteAnyone that believes that Robyne and Airick are involved in that way is coo-coo, or just doesn't know them. The 10:47 story above may very well be true, but Robyne isn't the player.
ReplyDelete"A Wal-mart Neighborhood Market wants to move into Waldo, which is comprised mostly of small, tight-knit communities and small businesses."
ReplyDeleteLike CVS (2 stores in Waldo), Walgreen, Big Lots, Sutherlands, Aldi, Dollar General, Firtestone, Goodyear, etc. And we even have a mall with a Target and a Trader Joes just a few blocks outside our boundaries. Yes. This is truly a community of small businesses.
My question is if KCPS is thinking about implementing the middle school model again, why not reopen this one? I havent been past there lately- is it in that bad of shape that it could not be used as a school again?
ReplyDelete1/20/13, 11:14 AM
ReplyDeleteThose businesses treat their employees and venders like human beings, which Walmart finds to be too expensive.
If WalMart is so universally hated, why are they doind so well? And Byron, (1) this is truly not your battle and (2) have you ever been to Germany?
ReplyDeleteI may be wrong, but the small businesses in Waldo seem to be mainly restaurants and pubs- no competition from Walmart there. There are various antique shops and stores of that nature, but again, they have no competition from Walmart. Different goods.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet they manage to find people to work for them, 11:18.
ReplyDeleteBecause people are desperate after 30 years of "supply-side" economics that has consolidated the wealth in this country and made people insecure.
ReplyDelete12 of which have been at the hands of democrats. Clinton 8 obama 4.
DeleteIncluding an era of surplus created by Clinton and wiped out by Bush.
DeleteYou mean an era of surplus created by the republican controlled congress that drug clinton to the table kicking and screaming about welfare reform and most other cost cutting bills he signed.
DeleteI think the small business approach to Walmart was best stated by a Mission small businessperson years ago when she said she shopped at Walmart but didn't want one so close to HER business!
ReplyDeleteSo you'll take the jobs away from people who are desperate, 11:23?
ReplyDeleteI do not think the school district will need these schools again; however, here is what they could do.
ReplyDeleteIssue long-term bonds, at historically low interest rates, to fund the retro-fitting of the closed schools into community centers.
If bond markets want a guarantee in order to accept the security of the long-term low interest rates, go to Claire and Cleaver to secure a guarantee through the US Dept of Education, as a test program. Certainly other cities face this same problem.
Lease those centers to local community groups and non-profits. Which would make the surrounding neighborhoods more viable and marketable.
If the district actually ends up needing the school buildings back, that would mean that property tax revenue was increasing enough to make buying out the leases easy to finance.
There is no reason to deal with the devil.
We dont need community centers operated by non profits guaranteed by the federal gov! The people I know in waldo (where I work) want jobs, tax revenue, abandoned houses and buildings removed, and a clean safe area to live. A new grocery store would do all of those things.
Delete1/20/13, 11:24 AM
ReplyDeleteProbably better to move away from economic policies that favor the rich and keep working people in desperate straits.
You offer a false choice, because you are an asshole who has no understanding of economics.
John Gorman that sounds like a great suggestion. Hopefully someone from KCPS reads this blog.
ReplyDeleteBe better if it was put at 75th and Prospect. The undeserved need it worse than the Waldo area does.
ReplyDeleteThey wont build in a high crime area for obvious reasons. Its "underserved" because the people in that neighborhood destroy everything nice that moves in because of their behavior. They choose that behavior therby ultimately choosing how their neighborhood looks.
Delete1/20/13, 11:38 AM
ReplyDeleteThe problem is, that Wal-Mart really does not like Blacks that much -- except for the African Americans who are stupid enough to believe that the "Confederate Battle Flag" did not stand for Slavery. The Wal-Mart management would never establish a store on Prospect.
John Gorman is an obvious nigger lover who sucks at the governments teet.
ReplyDeleteNot what Robyne told me in very sad notes I kept 1/20/13, 11:13 AM.
ReplyDeleteOh that's right they like the Latinos and Mexicans.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they should build next to Tony's house.
Hahaha Tony would be going off on his BOYCOTT WALMART TKC EXCLUSIVE!!!!! thing.
ReplyDeleteAll anyone needs to do is frequent the crossroads to observe the late night female "friend" he has coming to see him. Sad that his girlfriend knows nothing about what happens when she is away.
ReplyDeleteAirick that is
DeleteTony would like being able to walk next door for all his basic needs though. Snacks and pop. The fuel of bloggers.
ReplyDeleteClinton let Wall Street make love to him, and Obama hired Clinton's sloppy seconds on the financial side in order to buy peace from the Clinton cabal.
ReplyDeleteIf you see a Democratic president hire Krugman or Stiglitz then you can say we have broken with the Supply Side crowd.
Some people have such a blind hate for the nation's first African American president that they simply cannot see that he has followed center/right economic policies.
But keep deluding yourself with hate, because you would soil yourself from fear if you ever had to deal with reality.
12:11 You took notes? Seems strange. Just sayin...
ReplyDeleteCity halls probably already been bribed-handsomely rewarded so good luck. Wal Mart must have guys here in town full time making sure everyone gets all the perks they desire.
ReplyDeleteYou're halfway right but Walmart is still vulnerable. They don't like so much bad press but the people protesting aren't really their customers.
ReplyDeleteWho is Paige?
ReplyDeleteI thinks it's funny how people talk about how bad WalMart treats their employees but have never looked at what Dollar General does to their employees.
ReplyDeleteFace it folks WalMart isn't any worse for the most part than any other large corporate ran operation in retail.
Thy will all try to make you work for low wages and no benefits and fire you in a heartbeat if you even think of speaking out about it.
I know for many that's all the job they can get. But least they are trying to work and make a go of it rather than sucking on the government teet like some we know. And for that my hat is off to them. As my grandfather use to say the world will always need ditchdiggers just don't mean it gives an employer the right to treat them like shit.
What I think would be a hoot is the day every WalMart worker in the US stays at home till WalMart pays fairer wages and offers full time for those who want it along with decent benefits. I'd be willing to trade at WalMart if it cost me say 5% percent more but if because of that people was making better wages and was happier in life then so would I as well.
But this is America to many lazy asses,(Byron and the blacks) to much greed,(wealthy owners and board members huge ass bonuses while workers get nothing) and not enough caring for one another when needed(as in get off your ass and create, change, and rebuild America into what it should be).
Isn't it time for change?
Who is Paige?
ReplyDeleteThe idiot granddaughter who cheated in college but the brilliant horde at MU named the arena after her when they fell into Walmart cash. When her stupidity and lack of ethics became known, the Brilliant Horde in Columbia decided to take her name off the arena.
Who gives a shit. Thats not what this post is about.
DeleteHere is a business that is adapting to dangerous neighborhoods.
ReplyDeleteKind of interesting. It is a POPEYES in South Chicago where a kid got shot and killed last night.
The emplyees are behind BULLET PROOF GLASS where they hand out chicken and take money under a small opening.
"Two young men were shot to death during another night of gun violence in Chicago Friday: One inside a well-lit restaurant along a West Side thoroughfare,...
The Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen at 5500 W. North Ave. where Marshall Fields-Hall died is fortified: a chain link fence with barbed and razor wire encircles part of the roof near cooling units and thick glass separates the dining area from the cash registers. Food and money exchange hands through small openings at the counter.
Fields-Hall's killer was on foot when he fired four shots into the restaurant from the outside about 9:15 p.m., police said..."
So, if ya want fried chicken in the HOOD, ya gotta go to a place that is built like a bank, with guards, bullet proof glass, concertina wire, cameras, etc etc so the employees can live long enough to serve gravy to people living off of government gravy.
What a fuckin culture.
+100 chuck
ReplyDeletePlus was in Chicago where there is suppose to be stiff gun control laws hahahahahahahaha Epic Fail!
ReplyDeleteI do not want a gun store in Waldo.
ReplyDeleteIts a walmart grocery store moron! Its not a walmart retail store. Its called walmart neighborhood market. They sell GROCERIES not guns. Wtf... Its not hard to understand. Google it.
DeleteChuck carries the scent of my semen on his lips and tongue.
ReplyDeleteThank you 1/20/13, 11:38 AM
ReplyDelete11:38: I'll put my understanding of economics up against yours any day of the week. All you offer is denying people jobs because you have a hard on about who might offer those jobs. To you the best option is no job rather than a bad job.
ReplyDeleteIt probably never occurred to you that people who get those jobs don't necessarily stay in those jobs. I once worked for minimum wage ($1.25 at the time) at a grocery store. That gave me an incentive to make sure would be able to find something better.
Your approach is like Marie Antoinette's: The people have no bread, well let them eat cake.
The people need jobs? Well, by all means let's not let Walmart open a store where they might find jobs.
And calling people who don't see the wisdom of your ways "asshole" does not lend credence to your case.
1:46: What does a gun shop have to do with anything?
ReplyDeleteWalmart sell more guns and ammo than anyone else.
ReplyDeleteI was thanking the second 11:38 of the three posted at that time. Just to be clear.
ReplyDeleteThe rumors of him planning an
ReplyDeleteorgy for his birthday last year
are too numerous and to
specific for there to not be some
degree of truth to them.
This is a grocery store, 2:09. Now do an Emily Latella, say "never mind" and go away.
ReplyDelete1/20/13, 2:19 PM you believe anything don't you?
ReplyDelete1:04 PM
ReplyDeleteNo Silly. Robyne Stevenson sent Instant Messages on Facebook and I copied saved them. She told me that they fuck regularly but that Airick hurts her feelings when he tells her he would marry her if she were younger. He needs to breed.
Now back to the game. Go Niners!
Oh I'm sorry. I didnt think you were on facebook.
ReplyDeleteNow I know you have the wrong woman listed--- on purpose it seems. Not cool.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that situation could describe a relationship between West and more than one older White woman. I wonder how they get past the smell since he only rarely bathes?
ReplyDeleteTony's is off the chain today.
ReplyDeleteI am a black woman and lived in Waldo for about 4 years. I lived near the building in question until about 2008. If the Aldi, Dollar General, CVS and Walgreen on 75th didn't bring in the "wrong people" then this will not either.
ReplyDeleteAlso don't forget some of "those peole" already live in Waldo. Lest we forget the area behind the school, just off the trolly track was called "Dogpatch" in the 70s and 80s by the more well-heeled Brooksiders. Waldo has always been a mix of people. It is more blue collar, lower-middle to middle class than upscale and yes minorities (black, brown and those in between already live there and frequent the area.) Gown gallary is minority-owned. There are Asian-owned stores selling black hair care products.
Also remember it is just a grocery store not the full-blown Wal-Mart with all of the bargains that draw people near and far. It will not be selling anything to compete with the mom and pop clothing, hardware and household goods stores.
There is nothing magical about the word Wal-Mart that trouble-makers respond to. If they wanted to come and buy cheap groceries in Waldo they can already do that. Like I said you have an Aldi and one of only two Price Choppers located in the heart of the city (the other is down the road in Brookside on 63rd) All 3 stores are a stones throw from Troost and right on the bus line and everyone is still managing to stay alive and well.
Also stop the all things Wal-Mart bad stuff. All retail jobs suck. What makes Wal-Mart a worse employer than Target with is just over at Ward Parkway? Even those upscale shops on the Plaza have similar employment practices. They pay just a dime or two above minimum wage and offer no benefits.
These are not jobs you are supposed to stay in forever. They were meant to be part-time, short-term and to supplment retirement income. We just have an economy that is so strapped that people are stuck in these gigs. The key is get the economy moving and retrain workers for something that will move them out of Wal-Mart and others like them.
Thank you for having some sense. Its a nice change of pace on this post.
Delete4:36
ReplyDeletePretty reasonable comment imo.
Waldo welcomes minorities. It is a Walmart these people don't want. Not because of "who it attracts" but because it is a 100% start-to-finish shitty corporate jobs killer. People in a COMMUNITY (which is what Waldo is, and why "dinky homes" there cost more than they do in anonymous JoCo and Northland culsdesacs) have a right to have imput about what kinds of business build in their community.
ReplyDeleteIf a specific NEIGHBORHOOD - you know, those things that don't exist in car-dominated suburbs - decides it doesn't want a specific business, they have every right ro have input.
And there is good reason to not want a Walmart "neighborhood" market:
www.wakeupwalmart.com
Agreed 4:36
ReplyDelete1/20/13, 4:36 PM
ReplyDeleteIt is the Walmart people who are playing the race card.
No one should shop at Walmart. The opposition to Walmart is concerned with Walmart's disgusting business model and traffic patters. NOT WHO will shop there.
No one should shop there.
ReplyDeleteAll this BS has convinced me to seek out Walmart stores of every kind to do my shopping.
Also, I'll never spend another dime in Waldo.
Oh, my. The shopping nazis now want to tell us where to shop in addition to how big a soft drink we can buy, how much salt we can eat, etc.
ReplyDelete4:59 is delusional. Waldo is a neighborhood, and we're pretty car-dependent here because KC's bus service sucks. Also it's amazing that such delusional people think they can speak for an entire neighborhood because they happen to live here. Don't tell me what "the neighborhood" wants. I'm part of it, and I'd prefer the proposed grocery store to keeping the building as it is--a decaying mess.
5:53: You're only hearing from the lunatic fringe. Most people who live in Waldo are not of the "my way or the highway" persuasion.
ReplyDeleteCome and bring your money!
That chick from Coffee Girls Cafe has hot tits. Show them sweetie.
ReplyDeleteMy, 90 comments.....just thought I would make it 91....by the way is there much of anything sold in America that isn't made in a third world communist sweat shop?
ReplyDeleteIf we could trust Walmart to be an honest broker there would not be so much hatred. But this company doesn't even treat their own employees right so you can't believe a word they say.
ReplyDeleteBut the profits at least go to workers' salaries and benefits in other companies.
ReplyDeleteFor those who claim that your should not STAY working at Walmart: Why does Walmart hire so many poor older people who depend on Social Security, Medicare and/or Medicaid?
Because nobody else wants to hire old people
ReplyDelete7:12 p.m.
ReplyDeleteYou obviously don't know what retail salaries are. None of the profit goes to the workers. Most pay about a dime above minimum wage and will not schedule you for enough hours to have to pay you benefits. They all suck when it comes to pay for part-time work.
Older people prefer working a job like Wal-Mart becasue you can only work so many hours and still qualify for the full amount of your social security and/or private pension.
Wal-Mart keeps prices low by offering mainly part-time work. Like I said you are not supposed to stay there and make it your career unless you are moving up to management or corporate.
The real questions are why can't people find other jobs and why isn't social security enough where an older person doesn't have to supplement their income?
I blame Bush!
ReplyDeleteI blame liberals like obama.
Delete1/21/13, 12:19 AM
ReplyDeleteYou got that backwards. Clinton's budgets were rarely cut, and sometimes expanded. It was Reagan's budgets that were cut but a Democratic Congress. Clinton had money to spend on the public good because he raised taxes in progressive manner in 93 with a Democratic Congress and the the economy flourished.
Youre delusional at best and lying at worst. Either way youre creating your own "facts."
Delete1940's 42 workers for every 1 person on S.S.. Today its 1.2 workers for every person on S.S. Blame whoever you want. That's the reality of it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, 8:40, in the 1960s when Baby Boomers started paying into Social Security the "trust" fund was treated like an ATM and spent. Now the powers that be treat Baby Boomers as pariahs for expecting to collect after paying in all their working lives.
ReplyDelete9:36: Which of the 105 posts are you referring to? If it's to the one just before yours, which "facts" do you object to?
ReplyDeleteWhen Boomers started paying into Social Security they created a massive surplus. That's a fact. That surplus was indeed spent. It was replaced by IOUs. That's a fact. People are now saying Boomers should be ashamed for wanting to collect Social Security. That's a fact.
Waldo is very well served by buses, as is the entire KCMO urban core. South of Waldo and north of the river sucks, but those are suburban neighborhoods. Waldo is easy to walk in and to get to and from by bus. Both MAX line run through it with very short headways like 15 minuts max.
ReplyDeleteGet out of your KC "buses aren't transit" bubble and visit a real city. 90% of all transit use is buses, and KC bus service is pretty solid.
Come on Waldoinians fess up. Do you know where the 15K is?
ReplyDelete10:04 Yes, they want you to think it is an entitlement. It isn't you paid into it all your life. But not everyone did.
ReplyDeleteThey have given it away to drug heads and lazy people that wont work and never did. So everybody put that in your crack pipe and smoke it.
Waldo went down the tubes about the time Jaspers closed and Walgreen's moved in. Pretty sure it will become a really nice place to build flats.
ReplyDeleteWalmart shoppers are about as dumb as they come. Eating their seed corn to say the least.
ReplyDeleteWaldo started looking like Prospect over 20 years ago...it is a disgrace
ReplyDelete