Walmart Wants to Open in DC, Local Commish ‘Fears Temptation to Steal’
- Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:12pm by
Mike Opelka
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First Lady Michelle Obama is credited with talking Walmart into stocking more healthy food choices in their stores. The fact is when Walmart sells anything it seems to make it cheaper for the customer. For everyone who shops at Walmart, and for the country as a whole, that is a good thing. Saving money and eating better are a combination rarely experienced in 2011. That news only further complicates the story out of Washington DC where the discount retailer has designs on opening as many as four stores.
As with their efforts to open in New York City, Walmart has met with push-back from the locals, but this time for different reasons. The Washington Post is reporting there are the usual concerns about what the store will sell;
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Mya Harris, 24, said skeptically. “Sure, you can put the store here, but what are they going to put inside it?”
This reporter has been in Walmart stores from New Hampshire to Arkansas and the one constant noted (aside from the standard, vest-wearing senior citizen greeters) was that once inside any store, the place was pretty much identical to all the others. Yes there were a few regional differences, but Walmart’s success is must be connected to the cost control achieved when you buy products for every single one of their 2500-plus stores.
There was another, very bizarre objection raised by more than one person as well as a local politician;
“There’ll probably be a lot of shoplifting going on. They’ll need a lot of security,” Terriea Sutton, 35, said.
Brenda Speaks, a Ward 4 ANC commissioner, actually urged blocking construction of the planned store in her ward at Georgia and Missouri avenues NW partly because of that risk. Addressing a small, anti-Walmart rally at City Hall on Monday, Speaks said young people would get criminal records when they couldn’t resist the temptation to steal.
What? Bringing Walmart to the neighborhood would cause young people to “get criminal records when they couldn’t resist the temptation to steal?” Imagine if you tried to apply the same twisted logic to an ice cream parlor, or ANY kind of business.
WaPo reports that the unemployment figures in that part of the District are nearing 20% of the population and Walmart, with the potential to open four large centers in the region, could offer 1200 full time jobs.
Walmart has made it clear that they are listening and talking to the people in the White House. The company stands to make great public relations gains if the healthy food initiative provides affordable, better choices and the new stores bring jobs with fair wages and upward mobility.
DC, let’em in and then maybe NYC will follow suit.
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Comments (82)
popeyebedford
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 6:27amGuaranteed, if they build a store in southeast, they will need an army of security people to keep the locals from robbing them blind. Washington DC is the worlds biggest ghetto…and with a President and attorney general who won’t prosecute bad negros, it will be all about taking what they want. Cannot imagine why WalMart would want to go there or New York City at all…
Report Post »Blight14
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 6:51amWell stated………
Report Post »cykonas
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 5:07amThe proverbial idiots are running the asylum, in DC anyway. Maybe we should stop paving the streets because too many young people can’t resist the temptation to speed?? DC already has some of the strictest guns laws anywhere in the US so we know there isn’t any violence there. I always thought giving them home rule was a mistake.
Report Post »mrhate
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 2:37amI am originally from D.C. and where the Walmart would be located would be a good shot in the arm for N.W. D.C. economy! And besides, It would be across the street from the police station!!! Yeah I know that means nothing to stopping crime in D.C.!!!
Report Post »Harvey
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 6:19amThat means that all the policemen will get caught shoplifting and then what will they do.It could also mean that some of our members of Congress may get caught,no no Wal Mart we cant take that chance.
Report Post »GHill7.62
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 2:22ami’m sorry but anyone who has had econ classes should know that walmart is bad.
okay okay you cought me i shop at walmart. i’m a college kid. sue me.
anyway we all know about the “invisible hand” of the economy?
walmart undermines it.
walmart demands prices from its suppliers. how is that supply/demand? how is the market to regulate itself when walmart is doing all the negotiating?
just saying.
think about it.
love the prices, hate the economies of scale..
Report Post »cykonas
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 6:29amMay I respectfully suggest that you continue your education and don’t leave out some additional Econ courses. Being a tough negotiator, either as a person or a company, is not contrary to Free Market economics, it’s part and parcel of being successful in a Free Market system. No matter the system, the losers of the world will always cry foul. But, crying foul doesn’t make it so.
Report Post »mcellu
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 8:29am@GHill7.62
Report Post »You hate economies of scale?! That’s ridiculous! That‘s how the gov’t is supposed to work – if they take care of EVERYONE’s health care, they will save money, right?! HA.
In WalMart’s case, it actually works. A supplier doesn’t HAVE to sell to WalMart, so he doesn’t have to meet their price. But he’d be stupid not to. And prices are going up at WalMart just like they are everywhere else.
missionarydad
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 1:16amI am no fan of Walmart as they have been a major cheerleader for Obamacare and I can think of many descriptions of Walmart but fair wages is not one that comes to mind. They do provide jobs and low prices and are a great example of capitalism and Sam Walton their founder was a great American, but they have betrayed many of his values since his death. I will say that in Washington DC there will be a lot of shoplifting and criminal records when Walmart comes in but give me a break that is really taking the victim mentality to a new level.
Report Post »hercaveman
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 1:05amI’m sure walmart will get a bail out if the kids steal too much..
Report Post »Rights of Man
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 12:06amWalMart hasn’t yet greased enough palms in the government/mafia, that’s all.
In socialism/communism you have to pay the elite government goons to do business on their turf.
It’s Tony Soprano with an official government logo.
Welcome to your “kinder” socialist America.
Report Post »Chuck T
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:46pmWorried about thieves in Washington, DC? I’m amazed.
Report Post »Scott
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:45pmIf you build it the crooks will come?
Report Post »spreadcommonsensenot pc
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:26pmITS TRUE—-ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Report Post »its the same as politicians who get elected who…………………….
banjarmon
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:19pmFurnish the security team with the “The Punisher.”…that will stop sticky fingers.
Report Post »Togger
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 10:32amA mezzanine with sharp shooters with laser sights…when they see the laser dot come on them they will put whatever it is they were going to steal back…you would only have to shoot a couple of shop lifters for the word to get out.
Report Post »Hillbilly Tim
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:17pmWal-Mart is Tram-Law spelt backwards.
Report Post »ihatetotype
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:05pmMy Daddy used to tell me; “You can’t legislate against stupidity”. Now I know where stupidity got elected. Speaks real well of these folks up in D.C., huh?
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:03pmI can’t believe that putting a Walmart somewhere will increase the stealing. If they don’t steal from Walmart they will just steal from someone else. But I guess you have to live there to understand their way of thinking. It’s probably more about wages than anything, either that or that the UNIONS can’t get their claws into Walmarts.
Report Post »loudandproud
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:54pmDid it ever occur to these dingbats that perhaps these youths would get a job at Walmart and have money of their own and won’t be tempted to steal?? And the extra security? Gee, you mean Walmart might have to higher more people…and therefore more jobs? This has to be THE STUPIDIST rationale of an argument next to Nancy Peloski’s rationale that more unemployment checks creates economic recovery and jobs. I don’t support abortion, but some gene pools are maybe need to be sterilized to not infect the rest of the population with the birth of more of these idiots. I had one acception to Pro-choice and that was seeing Lady Gaga in the womb….perhaps in the case of a mothers life abortion would be necessary, and whatever spawned that freak should consider how it endangers us all. Chill libs, just using absurdy to illustrate the absurd
Report Post »DADA
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:52pmUsing that logic, it should be illegal to have a nice car because you are creating the temptation for grand theft auto. It should be illegal for a woman to be beautiful because she is creating the temptation for a rapist or stalker to attack her. It should be illegal for banks to exist because they create the temptation for bank robbery. The list can go on and on. What a moron.
Report Post »jagr1850
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:51pmthose same young people might get a job at the walmart….and become productive members of society.!!!!!!!! GOD BLESS WALMART….brenda speaks should be fired today for her statement !!!
Report Post »bkeely
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:50pmYou can’t fix stupid.
Report Post »=============================
Buck
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RightPolitically
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:49pmSince the Obamas are now cozying up to Walmart, why don’t they have Michelle stand out in front of the doors of the first one that opens up, holding a big sign in her hands that reads, Yo bro, those cashiers need to see you on the way out! In all seriousness though, it’s pretty darn pathetic that a representative of that area of D.C. is worried about young people being arrested because they might not be able to resist stealing! A Great Society alright!
Report Post »mossbrain
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:48pmThey should put beacons in their products that if not deactivated by buying the product at the checkout stand, the beacon would guide a robotic armored flame thrower to fry the shoplifters until they were only a spot of grease on the asphalt and a cloud of steam.
Report Post »TheRev1776
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:12pmAs harsh as that sounds, the vision you implanted in my mind brought me back to Terminator Two with those flying ships. I saw myself standing next to a youthful man and then running when I realized his fate. Ha ! thank you for the funny thought.
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:54pmThat would work! Save the cost of housing them in the city jail, too. Just sweep out their ashes with the rest of the trash.
Report Post »Islesfordian
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:41pm“Speaks said young people would get criminal records when they couldn’t resist the temptation to steal.”
If they can‘t resist the temptation to steal isn’t it highly likely they are already stealing, with or without a Walmart?
Report Post »dmforman
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:57pmI can’t believe that she said that. Why are people like this being elected again, and again and again?
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:59pmYes, but with more security, they’ll get caught. Also, 200+ jobs will take them off the dole. Can’t have people being self-responsible!
Report Post »kentuckypatriot
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:39pmI guess Wally World isn’t good enough for those elitists in DC?
Report Post »13thGenerationAmerican
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:02pm“The reason liberals hate Wal-Mart is that it is living evidence that capitalism works better than socialism.”
Come again….Almost everything they sell is made in Communist China
Report Post »CatB
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:07pmSo no one forces anyone to shop there .. or is that the problem? Seems choice and capitalism works … libs don’t want the “word” getting out … keep the poor — poor … no jobs and no discount shopping.
Report Post »GHill7.62
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 2:27ami’m sorry but anyone who has had econ classes should know that walmart is bad.
okay okay you cought me i shop at walmart. i’m a college kid. sue me.
anyway we all know about the “invisible hand” of the economy?
walmart undermines it.
walmart demands prices from its suppliers. how is that supply/demand? how is the market to regulate itself when walmart is doing all the negotiating?
just saying.
think about it.
love the prices, hate the economies of scale..
Report Post »mcellu
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 8:26am@GHill7.62
Report Post »You hate economies of scale?! That’s ridiculous! That‘s how the gov’t is supposed to work – if they take care of EVERYONE’s health care, they will save money, right?! HA.
In WalMart’s case, it actually works. A supplier doesn’t HAVE to sell to WalMart, so he doesn’t have to meet their price. But he’d be stupid not to. And prices are going up at WalMart just like they are everywhere else.
GHill7.62
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 10:49am@mcellu
walmart demanding prices causes companies to find cheaper production alternatives, like.. say.. outsourcing to other countries like.. uh.. china for example..
if they don‘t meet walmart’s price demands walmart simply stops selling their product, which is obviously not good for sales.. Levi jeans for example, became “Levi Strause”, originally a cheaper version of good ol levi’s…
Report Post »capecodsully
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 11:44amAlmost everything in every store is made in China, how come you lefties only mention Walmart? You have to come up with a better argument than that. In Mass. Walmart pays better wages and benefits than union stores. Seems they are better all the way around.
Report Post »Jaycen
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 12:20pm@13thGenerationAmerican
The business is a Capitalist business, which means….they…can…sell…whatever…they…want…to…whomever…will…purchase…the…product…from…where ever…they…can…purchase…their…stock.
I wanted to say that slowly, so you could understand. That’s the beautiful thing about Capitalism. It’s synonimous with “Economic Freedom”.
I know you tend to purposefully take posted statements out of context, but I still wish you the best of luck in your life.
Report Post »GHill7.62
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 4:23pm@capecod
I’m not left at all..
but walmart is dangerously large, it undermines the guiding principles of the free market system, while it may be good for local economies, it has a bad long run macroeconomic effect.
Report Post »Lone Ranger
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:38pmThe reason liberals hate Wal-Mart is that it is living evidence that capitalism works better than socialism.
The median household income of Wal-Mart shoppers is under $40,000. Wal-Mart, the most prodigious job-creator in the history of the private sector, has almost as many employees (1.3 million) as the U.S. military has uniformed personnel. A McKinsey company study concluded that Wal-Mart accounted for 13 percent of the nation’s productivity gains in the second half of the 1990s, which probably made Wal-Mart about as important as the Federal Reserve in holding down inflation. By lowering consumer prices, Wal-Mart costs about 50 retail jobs among competitors for every 100 jobs Wal-Mart creates . Wal-Mart and its effects save shoppers more than $200 billion a year, dwarfing such government programs as food stamps ($28.6 billion) and the earned-income tax credit ($34.6 billion).
A discount store that outdoes the federal government in holding down inflation, creating jobs and helping the poor? Well, we just can’t have that! Without the poor depending on government, what use is there for Democrats? Far better to curse a successful business venture as “evil” than to get out of the welfare slavery business altogether.
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:58pmDoes nudging come to mind? Has the city/district just run out of things to control?
Report Post »TeenageConservative
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 12:11amAnother thing about Wal-Mart that you may not have seen- I just heard about this in my JROTC class- is that when they employ soldiers who are later deployed, they don’t give their job away. They hold that spot for them to come back to work when they return home. And if they die while serving the country, Wal-Mart will send their families whatever ‘leave with pay’ or whatnot that they earned while employed but overseas.
“Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.” ~Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States of America
Report Post »cheezwhiz
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:36pmIs this the same people who put walmart in their crosshairs last month ?
Report Post »TheNewCivility
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:52pmtsk, tsk, CheezWhiz. Let’s not forget to use a little more civility ;-)
Report Post »TheRev1776
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:09pmSee now, according to your “cross hairs” remark and their logical functioning brain, we are now going to have a shoot out in the Walmart if it is built. So, no, we can’t allow them to build it. Man, it’s really crazy and hard to mimic their thinking….I need an Advil now.
Report Post »brliantedj
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 12:54amI suppose walmart could do a smiley face with a bullet hole in the forehead (instead of crosshairs) just for our nations capitol market.
Report Post »davida61
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 5:59amOh no you said crosshairs. We really need to get away from that kind of language.
Report Post »S_Malc13
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:36pmWha, what? What’s this story about??
Report Post »cheezwhiz
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:48pmImagine if you tried to apply the same twisted logic to an ice cream parlor, or ANY kind of business.
Report Post »————
Community organizers of inner city disenfranchised communites apply this logic all the time. Its just that MFMedia makes sure that no one knows about it. For example, in the city of Oakland CA , a community organizing success story , they have a problem of “ inner city yoofs” hanging out ALL day and night outside mini-marts / convenience stores / liquor stores etc, dealing drugs, tagging buildings and sidewalks and basically gang-banging , as is their right under the racist US constitution. The city council came up with the perfect solution to the problem–close down the stores outside which these bangers hang out. Because you see, its the store-owner’s fault that these low-life goons stay on the side-walk all the time, interrupting their gang-banging to commit vandalism , shoplifting and robbing the same store-owners for money.
So they close down the stores , so that the communities can come together for justice.
But the criminals are never punished and they are free to loiter, while an honest family loses its livelihood. .
CatB
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:05pmLOL .. really has a low opinion of the people supposed to represent! What’s the point .. all stores have security and loss prevention .. part of doing business. Sounds like grasping at straws trying to keep Walmart out … I thought cheaper produce was a good thing — isn’t that what MO preaches to the rest of us .. while she dines on lobster and steak?
Report Post »S_Malc13
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:21pmHmm, nice guise to stall a private business. Urban renewal even considered? Or am I being naive again about liberals wanting true social justice (that puts a broom in every hand for a paycheck)? Poverty pays better in the US. Might as well close all Walmarts. Get your Faded Glory gear woven and sewn at the White House.
Report Post »thepatriotdave
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 12:34amThis one had me going for a minute. I thought a local politician was giving up dirt on our Reps in D.C. and telling us what we already knew… they are all a bunch of thieves!
http://tinyurl.com/4rv8xsm
Report Post »WhatTheHuh
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 12:36amIs it just me, or does that comment sound racist? The person who said that had to be black and a democrat, because if a white person said it they would be vilified. Can we now dispense of the notion that Democrats are looking out for black people? This is a glimpse of what they really believe; that all blacks are somehow victims, permanently destroyed as a people by “the man”, and needing to be “taken care of” because they don’t know better or are unable to take care of themselves. It’s insulting and condescending.
Report Post »A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 12:50amDon’t let Michelle Obama guilt trip you into selling certain kinds of items.
Go Walmart!
Report Post »WhiteFang
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 12:52amWard 4 must be a wonderful place to live, with all those criminals just waiting for a Wal Mart, to steal from.
Report Post »Doesn’t say much for that community. Perhaps Wal Mart should rethink their plans to help the good folks in Ward 4.
alshere
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 1:36amTimes have changed for this old man. When I was a kid we didn’t loiter around store or busness districts. If you did the cop on the beat told you to get lost and if you didn‘t WHAM and ghe went on his way and you went home with a knot on your head and you didn’t hang out on his beat again. People were and felt safe.at that time but now we have a different frame of mind where the victim is wrong and those poor misbegotten young people have to be taken care of with soft and cuddley feeling while they make a fortune selling drugs where they want. Yes siree wonderful country America.
Report Post »komponist-ZAH
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 1:48am“’I’ll believe it when I see it, ‘ Mya Harris, 24, said skeptically. ‘Sure, you can put the store here, but what are they going to put inside it?’”
Ummm….geeee, Idunno… The kind of products that its customers want, maybe? (And apparently the kind of things young people D.C.’s Ward 4 want to steal…)
Report Post »decendentof56
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 6:47amWhat is this story about……are you kidding?
Report Post »This story is about a black commissioner admitting that blacks will steal. That’s it!
Let’s stop the crap, wherever you have inner-city blacks, you have high crime rates. Go check the stats. Stop the PCBS.
grandmaof5
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 7:30amListen, talk but don’t ever unionize! And, by the way, if the youth in DC are going to shoplift, they will do it at Walgreens, CVS, KMart or anywhere else. It is probably due to their lack of “youthful wisdom”, and in the case of DC, education.
Report Post »TexasCommonSense
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 9:39amThis is an argument for not allowing a Walmart store to be built? Some people are so ignorant, and this is a government official. Then again, I’m being redundant.
Report Post »jzs
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 1:41pmIf you want an example of Blaze deception, reread what is said about Michelle Obama being “credited” with getting Walmart to sell healthy food, and then follow the link. The article says the First Lady joined an announcement by Walmart about the addition of healthier foods, but not being “credited.” That’s a deception to bring out the anger against the First Lady, and it worked.
Second, Walmart may be a lot of things but they are not stupid and are not selling healthier foods to be nice. There is a huge market for “healthy” foods (and least that people think are healthier). Witness the success of Whole Foods internationally. Walmart is simply trying to make more money, which their job.
Go ahead and hate Michelle Obama, I don’t care. But don’t even get the idea that she had anything to do with this WalMart decision.
Report Post »betterthantv
Posted on February 16, 2011 at 2:46pm@ S_MALC13 I was wondering the exact same thing.
Report Post »