Democracy is susceptible to being led astray by having scapegoats paraded in front of the electorate. – Frank Herbert
First, those pasty white Machine politicians were the scourge of black Chicagoans everywhere. But when black folks started getting elected, the blame shifted to Fast Eddie, the Irishman, and the rest of their PONC (people of non-color) city council ilk. After black progressives and their white sycophants started co-opting the council, it was chain stores like Target, Walgreens, and Jewel, who refused to come into black neighborhoods only to be robbed blind that were the problem.
Then it was the few existing Targets, Walgreens, and Jewels that up and left those neighborhoods because they were tired of being robbed blind, that became the issue. When Whole Foods had the temerity to pull out of Englewood because they were tired of being robbed blind, they were culmination of Caucasian corporate food desert malevolence. Well…that was the case until the scurrilous Save-A-Lot stores came into those neighborhoods selling “substandard” produce that wasn’t worth stealing.
But as is always the case with socio-political scapegoats, you have to parade an increasingly nefarious progression of them in front of the electorate or they might start catching on to the real issue.
So, who’s their newest victim? Dollar stores! Yes! Dollar stores! Apparently those deep discounters are the only thing standing between Chicago’s Southwest Side and a sweeping spontaneous prosperity.
Silly unwoke me! I had the temerity to believe that dollar stores were a great place to get sticky notes and other office/school supplies at a very reasonable price. It only goes to show you that you never really know, do you?
In fact, that Second City council is so fed up with these interloper’s pestilent presence they voted 42 to 7 to, among other stupid stipulations, ban any such store from opening within a mile of another establishment run by the same company. That essentially puts the kibosh on any new entries, though any law essentially prohibiting a specific type of business is likely to be deemed unconstitutional.
Why, these alderman are so infuriated by the sight of these heinous ventures they’ve suddenly become prone to some strange and wondrous circular logic. And the circular variety, particularly when spouted by nitwit politicians, is always the most fun.
Far Southwest Side 19th Ward Alderman Matt O’Shea, who led the dollar store limiting charge, told the press this:
When I pass any one of those 149 stores today, you’re likely to see overflowing dumpsters, broken fences, broken exterior lights, buildings in disrepair, shopping carts overturned on sidewalks or in the parking lot. Yet, it is funny, when I drive just five or 10 minutes outside my community, in a predominantly White suburb, I don’t see that. I see clean, well-maintained stores and parking lots. Why does this Fortune 200 firm think it is OK to maintain stores in suburban White communities and yet ignore stores in your communities?
Oh! So, it was the dollar store created that mess? It couldn’t be that poor minorities don’t buy into their neighborhoods the way middle class white folks do, and the “mess” existed long before any business became part of the equation. The Far Southwest Side has never been a threat to appear in Good Housekeeping magazine and the dollar stores know they’re fighting a losing battle in the upkeep regard.
Not to be outdone, in a superb Twainian effort to remove all doubt, Southwest Side 18th Ward Alderman Derrick Curtis told WTTW he regrets that several dollar stores recently moved into his ward and he’s furious that they’ve become magnets for crime and trash.
Ah! So, there was no crime in those neighborhoods before those dollar stores moved in? Ain’t it funny how they don’t seem to have nearly the same effect in nearby white suburban municipalities. Could it be that crime and litter were a problem decades before the dollar stores moved it and they’ll be a problem long after those businesses are gone?
O’Shea wasn’t nearly finished making a fool of himself, something he has a real knack for. He went on to claim the proliferation of these businesses exacerbates the “food desert” that scars the West and Southwest Sides. According to his “logic,” dollar stores make it impossible for poor Chicagoans to find affordable fruits and vegetables because those deep discounters, who don’t sell a wide variety of food products, push other grocers and retailers out.
So, please tell me, Alderman O’Shea, exactly what grocery store or stores has any dollar store ever supplanted? We both know there haven’t been any Southwest Side grocery stores to speak of for decades, which is why these stores rushed in to fill the void. And they moved into your ward because that’s exactly what the market will bear.
But all is not lost, Dear Reader!
The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, and the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce issued a joint statement calling the measure “misguided:”
This sets a dangerous precedent for future job growth in Chicago. This was all avoidable and will severely limit opportunities for new economic development in communities where those investments are needed most.
Exactly!
Because the problem with scapegoating is you eventually run out of them without ever addressing the underlying issue. And now that the overly progressive city councilmen have gone after every entity foolish enough to do business in their minority wards, what’s left to come in? Where will they find the next sucker stupid enough to open their doors only to be robbed blind and hung out to dry like a Trump supporter at their first perceived community misstep?
Worse yet, these aldermanic bleeps are teaching their constituents that the road to success isn’t paved with hard work, it’s pockmarked with the potholes of incessant bitching. O’Shea, Curtis, and their voters should be working with these dollar stores, not against them. Success breeds success, and when the bigger chains see a local government and citizenry that’s willing to go all in, they’re much more likely to give it the entrepreneurial shot.
These dollar stores will eventually get tired of being blamed for everything short of the Gaza War, and after they leave as a result of this ill-advised “crackdown,” no major grocery store will be willing to take that Southwest Side risk.
And why should they?
