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Will Walmart Snarl Traffic or Remember 9/11 or Wait, What?
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 3, 2011
Modified Feb 3, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 3, 2011
Modified Feb 3, 2011
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Today's the big City Council hearing on Walmart's all-but-confirmed NYC debut, at the Gateway II shopping plaza in East New York. And of course the "Ground Zero" mosque protesters will be on hand to add their voices to the pro-Walmart side of the debate... because not allowing Walmart to open in NYC would mean the terrorists have won and make a mockery of 9/11? The relationship between the two issues may seem opaque to the untrained eye, but anti-Islamic gadfly Pamela Geller sees it, and she's calling all Ground Zero patriots to ask the City Council, "Who are you working for? Christine Quinn shilling for the pro-sharia mega mosque is... sad. What happens to those who share Quinn's lifestyle in a Muslim country?" Do they save money and live better?
The NY Post is also pushing hard for the big-box retailer, and in a humorously decorous editorial, the tabloid stands up for the working man in the fight against those elitist politicians who criticize Walmart... for screwing the working man. "Chris Quinn's Clown College presumes to sit in judgment of the largest, most customer-friendly retailer on the planet," the Post opines. "It is to laugh, really. The transactional hacks in City Hall will be busy pouring cement shoes for city shoppers once again, under orders from their union-boss pals."
Yesterday Walmart agreed to use union workers with the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York on any stores that Wal-Mart opens or renovates in NYC in the next five years. But the Post brings up the Kingsbridge Armory project, which foundered after the City Council demanded the developer—The Related Companies, which is also doing Gateway II—guarantee a living wage for workers. The Post contends that the City Council would prefer "no jobs, rather than a low-paying jobs... That scorched-earth policy burned The Bronx, and it would be a pity—a crime—for the City Council to do the same to Brooklyn." Well, at least nobody's getting hyperbolic about any of this.
On the other side of the rant divide, the anti-Walmart crowd says the real crime would be the traffic jams created by a Walmart in East New York. In a report released yesterday, Walmart Free NYC predicted that the Walmart would attract 10,692 more cars every weekday than the mall's developers predicted in their environmental study. The Daily News calls this a 32% jump in traffic, but an attorney for Related Companies dismissed the claim. It seems the traffic engineer who cited in the report also predicted that IKEA would cause a traffic nightmare, and because that prediction was off the mark, it means he's wrong here, too. "He just makes hysterical claims," said the lawyer for the multi-million dollar development.
As for the City Council hearing, it probably won't amount to much more than political theater. Walmart has declined to attend because other big box stores aren't being given the same degree of scrutiny, and it seems unlikely that any of the small business owners scheduled to speak today will contradict Quinn's anti-Walmart stance. Quinn tells the Observer one of her main concerns is "that the company—it's a fact—in the history of the United States has had the most gender discrimination claims against them of any company in history." But we all know what this is really about: She hates 9/11 and doesn't want Walmart standing in the way of her scheme to build a Muslim caliphate in East New York. It is to laugh.
Tagged
christine quinn
City Council
ground zero
mosque
walmart
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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