Open Thread for Wednesday
Three topics for your pleasure...City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo battles the City Council on terms limit extension. Who won, who lost?
Why does everyone hate Wal-Mart and Home Depot so much? Is it irrational?
LA Marathon will now start (technically) in the San Fernando Valley. Does anyone care?
Labels: rocky delgadillo
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 8/02/2006 12:00:00 AM
20 Comments:
Big Box stores, like Wal-Mart and Home Depot have similar characteristics that infuriate many people,communities, state and local governments. In the case of Wal-Mart, what people save at the cash register, they often lose in the amount of tax money that must be spent
to pay for Wal-Marts employees who are either medically uninsured or under-insured and wind up at state funded hospitals/clinics for medical care.
In the case of Home Depot, it gets even more complex. This is a company that has a destabilizing affect on many communities. After their predatory pricing has wiped out the competition, local communities soon discover that whatever tax dollars were gained by Home Depots sales are offset by the loss of long established Mom & Pops.Where Mom & Pop Stores conducted most of their business in the community , including banking,hiring, utilizing local vendors, and participating in community activities, Home Depot uses centralized banking through Atlanta, vendor deals are made in Atlanta, and hiring is done via the internet.
A once well-connected community now has to endure the presence of an economic parasite. It operates in their town, yet gives nothing back,
with the exception of their "Team Home Depot" program wherein Home Depot employees are "encouraged" to
build a playground or two, on their own time, for no pay.
And that is just the start of why this company is so despised!
So many reasons, so little time...
The purpose of government is not to generate the maximum amount of tax dollars. It is to provide public services, such as police, fire, streets, utilities, etc. The idea that big stores are bad because they reduce tax revenues is unpersuasive.
As for employers providing health care, rather than employees paying for it directly, do you even know how that came about? I'll tell you. The federal government imposed wage and price controls back in World War II. Unable to offer employees higher salaries to attract them, employers circumvented the laws by offering them "fringe benefits," like "free" health care.
Employers have no legal or moral duty to provide health care, dental care, free parking, etc. Indeed, some backwards people (like me) think individuals are responsible for taking care of themselves, rather than expecting everyone else to make sure they thrive.
One way employees can level the playing field, vis-a-vis large employers, is to unionize, and to negotiate as a group. Unions have shown they can negotiate excellent compensation agreements for their members -- sometimes, arguably, so good that they drive their employers to the brink of bankruptcy. (Airlines and car manufacturers come to mind.)
Some big employers don't pay sky-high wages (e.g., Wal-Mart), but they do pass the savings on to the customers in the form of lower prices -- which is how they got to be so big.
Is there a public interest in promoting "mom and pop" stores that charge higher prices? If so, I don't know what it is. Nor do I understand how one can label as a "parasite" a business that invests millions in a community to build, then employs hundreds of people, and serves thousands of customers. "Parasite" connotes persons or entities that take and take and provide nothing of value in return.
I, for one, hate Wal-Mart because the two times I've walked into one, it made me think, "Jesus, look at all this plastic crap all collected in one huge hellhole."
The same people who do not want Wal-Mart and Home Depot in their neighborhoods are the same people who own stocks like Wal-Mart and Home Depot.
People like Jim Alger and his crew should take a look at their mutual fund portfolios and pension funds or just for fun their parents and they will find the evil owners of these corporations are themselves.
Even better take a look at State and Local government employee pension funds. Yep, cops, teachers, college professors, fire fighters and many more own shares of the evil empires.
I hope Rocky wins this one.
dailynews.com Great Opinion
L.A.'s defiant council
Full and immediate campaign disclosure needed to clean up City Hall...So the council is set to proceed today with plans to ram its attack on term limits down L.A. voters' throats. Defying their own attorney's legal advice, members will cover their bitter term-limits pill with phony ethics-reform sugar.
They are hoping the sweetener will be a multimillion-dollar campaign financed by the special interests that own City Hall and don't want to have to buy newcomers every eight years when they could keep them around for 12 years. In their view, it's just dollars and sense.
NVER MIND THAT DELGADILLO SAYS COUNCIL MEMBERS COULD GET SUED
Unbelievable these clowns want to discuss the school board members hike in pay and not rush into anything. But don't want public input to term limit extensions and is rushing that on ballot. Idiots
"Do we need to do this right now? Is this properly vetted?" asked Councilman Herb Wesson. "Should we not wait to see what is going to happen with the mayor's plan? Maybe after more discussion we can place this on a future ballot."
ed term limits.
how the fuck do you get back to your car after the marathon if it does not end where it began?
In the realm of dumshit villaraigosa things (the only smart thing he did was speak for Israel at the rally) get this: For the marathon, you are supposed to park downtown, then get on a redline train to universal. I wont even get into the abject stupidity of hauling people 10 miles across town on trains that will be so packed as to be revolting and the issues that it raises for those who cannot get past the first few miles and just want to get back to their cars, but the security geniuses on this must have gotten beers when they were offered brains. You are going to have 20,000 or so people using the redline in the space of one hour or so - translates to a daily ridership of like 250,000 people - first off, they will not fit in six trains carrying 600 people a pop, no way. second, i bet you that some muslim cleric somewhere will cause a terrorist attack. what friggin geniuses.
Walter:
If only the people who work at Wal-Mart COULD unionize. Whenever workers at Wal-Mart try to unionize, Wal-Mary will shut down the store, effectively killing any attempt, and leaving elderly citizens with no job. Wow...what a GREAT business to have in our communities. Thank god that people running for West Hollywood City Council seats got more votes than you did.
WalMart and Home Depot are hated because they are privately owned successful, profitable companies. If they were some kind of quasi governmental inefficient mess like Amtrak they would be loved. Another example of Marxist thought alive and well.
The only way that the "park downtown and take the Red Line to the start of the marathon" deal is going to work is if they run express trains from downtown to Universal City. Even with express trains 20,000 people in that short of a period time will be madness.
The start line area is always a zoo and it's OK when it's deserted Figueroa on a Sunday morning, it should be interesting to see what Ventura and Lankershim look like. I'm not looking forward to the bottlenecks on Cahuenga through the pass since it's difficult enough to run with the pack on Fig, let alone where Cahurenga narrows near Mulholland. But other than that I'm looking forward to this new course (I've done the marathon with the old course 5 times) since it seems to be mostly downhill.
As for the people who can't make it the first few miles not being able to get back to their cars, that's always been the problem. But there are Red Line stations at miles 3, 4, 5, 9, 11, and close to 14.5. And there are poop-out buses that will take people to the finish. And, barring an injury, if you can't make it past the first 3 miles (all of which are downhill) then you shouldn't be trying to run 26.2.
GEE CITY COUNCIL CHANGED THE PUBLIC COMMENT TIME TO 2 MINUTES TODAY SO THE PEOPLE THEY ASKED TO SPEAK IN FAVOR OF EXTENDING TERM LIMITS COULD SPEAK LONGER.
THIS IS BULLSHIT.
If this passes everyone should campaign HARD AGAINST THIS. These clowns have the audacity to say they deserve another term because they need more time. Garcetti says the voters need FAITH. No Eric we need city council members who know how to get things done in the time they have and be more efficent. Rocky told these clowns the language was not clear and the voters need it to be. Eric lied and said neigbhorhood councils had a say and that's absolutely FALSE. VOTE NO VOTE NO VOTE NO VOTE NO VOTE NO
Okay Walter, here's the bone I have to pick with your argument. You say that a big box store "invests millions in a community to build, then employs hundreds of people, and serves thousands of customers."
They do not invest in a community. They invest in a store. It tears up the land in a community and then builds an ugly, boring building with a huge parking lot.
It employs hundreds of people, but not necessarily from the neighborhood. As joe b. points out, those jobs are often a strain on the community as workers without health insurance crowd emergency rooms and consume social services.
It serves thousands of customers from outside the neighborhood, increasing traffic and sometimes straining parking. The customers don't necessarily care to keep the neighborhood clean, and the store doesn't either.
I live a block from the Hollywood Home Depot and I'll bet you that the people who don't want it in their neighborhood are the ones who come down here and see its effect.
I'm not totally against it, mind you, and Home Depot was here when I moved in, so I certainly have no place to quarrel, but the question is why don't people like big stores like Home Depot. So here's why:
-It's ugly.
-It's so big that it divides the neighborhood like a freeway.
-Its huge blank wall is a magnet for grafitti.
-Its customers bottle up Sunset Boulevard.
-Its customers leave trash around.
-Its parking lot is filthy.
-It was build over a historic film studio.
And then there's the elephant in the room:
-Every day it attracts day workers who hang out with nothing to do.
-This contributes to the fact that we have a disproportionate amount of social service organizations, which in turn bring more poor, unemployed, undocumented people.
These aren't all arguments I would make, but that I've heard. Our Home Depot does its best and there's now a job center next door. All in all, it's not the worst neighbor.
But would I prefer to have a row of unique, neighborhood serving retail stores? Sure.
Sorry, Walter, one more bone to pick and then I'll leave it. You wrote:
"Is there a public interest in promoting "mom and pop" stores that charge higher prices? If so, I don't know what it is."
Of course there is. Small businesses employ 70% of the people in this country. So one benefit is jobs.
A Republican like you should see the public interest benefit of entrepreneurship. Growing small businesses within the community tend to keep that money here instead of sending it to Atlanta.
If instead of Home Depot, we had a hardware store, a paint store, a lumber yard, a nursery, an appliance store, and a couple of others, the public would benefit from greater competition. The moms and pops would be more responsive to what the community wants and would hopefully take pride in their business' appearance.
You know who wouldn't benefit? The people who come from outside our neighborhood for the lower prices.
Complain! Complain! about getting back to your car after the Marathon, since your already running, run back to your car.
I wish Joe B. would hate Adelphia as much as he hates Wal-Mart, Costco and Home Depot.
Did anyone watch the joke of a meeting regarding term limits today? First, the councilmembers and their aides worked really hard yesterday and today to recruit their 'specially taken care of' constituents to speak in favor of the ballot measure. Second, Eric Garcetti says his wordplay and rhetoric with Rocky was 'not playing games'...but in reality he was mixing up the argument and topics for show. Third, Garcetti continues to attempt to argue that because 'term limits extension' was brought to them by an outside party, it thefore dismisses him and the council from having any influence from it being attended to in council. Garcetti, come on,...even Reyes admitted that this action was self serving, even though Reyes supports it. Garcetti, stop trying to appear like you are objective, when you and your father have a legacy of not being serious about being real public servants. Fourth, this chicken shit city council decides to postpone any LAUSD ballot measures until March, while taking care of their shit this November. Idiot councilmembers, don't they realize that education and kids are much more important than their soap opera jobs. Fifth, most of the councilmembers didn't even look at Rosendahl while he was giving a good argument on his initial opposition to the extension of term limits (argument included a more serious look at comprehensive campaign reform to level the playing field for candidates). Lastly, why the fuck did half the meeting include these lame councilmembers patting each other in the back. Garcetti, especially went on a long rant on complimenting councilmembers' accomplishments...when in reality the councilmembers before them were the real people who made those accomplished projects happen. What a joke today!
that marathon thing will be a huge logistical nightmare. moving 25,000 people just because latinos complained they could not get to church is the ultimate villaragosasoasa dumshit move. I pray that a bunch of runners hyped up the shit they take to get up that early and run get in a riot on the slower than shit redline - i am gonna love when it stops on vermont to pick up more mexicans and there is no room for them to go to the valley. i really think villaragosiasasaas has lost his friggin marbles from all that mongering
Regarding 3:32 p.m.
Thanks for informing us on what the City Council did today. Just goes to show where their priorities are. Being more concerned with their jobs than with the kids of LA? Unbelieveable!
Isn't it about time we shut these gerks down folks?
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home