Slam Wal-Mart (KC event)

[scratchtasia]

I just learned about this event and it's happening tomorrow night (Friday, Jan. 27). It's called "Slam Wal-Mart" and it will include "unconventional entertainment" such as anti-Wal-Mart songs, guerilla theater, and spoken word performance.

Details:

Friday, Jan. 27 @ 7:00 PM
UMKC University Center
Pierson Hall
2nd Floor
50th & Rockhill, KCMO

Free admission

Here's their flyer in PDF format:

http://web1.umkc.edu/labor-ed/documents/SlamWal-Mart.pdf

***

In addition, UMKC's Institute for Labor Studies is holding a conference called "Rollback Wal-Mart" this weekend. Here's a web page about that conference:

http://web1.umkc.edu/labor-ed/RollbackWalmart.html

[ochazuke]

1. In this connection...

I think the conference has something to do with reclaimdemocracy.org, a seriously progressive bunch. And K.C. has one of the few local chapters.

BTW, the Friday slam is free, but I think there's a charge for the conference. You should be able to find more at http://web1.umkc.edu/labor-ed/RollbackWalmart.html

[ochazuke]

2. Old shopping malls go down, Wal-Marts go up

A few years ago, a Super Wal-Mart went in (formerly a field) at 133rd St. and State Line Road.

The old Blue Ridge Mall has been torn down to make way for a new Wal-Mart.

Now, Sears having pulled out of Bannister Mall, there isn't much left of what was once advertised as the 'most successful mall in kc history'.

Rumors are that a Wal-Mart may go in there, too. (Is there still a Hyper-Mart near there? I avoid that area like grim death.)

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Yes the area's only Hypermart is only a block from Bannister Mall

I never understood all the hype about Bannister Mall. There were never enough parking spaces and the shopping areas they built right behind it - where Hypermart is - were much more well designed. Bannister Mall was always kinda doomed.

[pstokely]

7. Lack of security at Bannister Mall killed it.

Properly value around the mall declined after large amounts of Section 8 housing came to the area. Crime (nothing deadly) scared aware the Johnson County people. The Hyper is now a regular Super Wally World. They just replace the mall with a Costco. It will work there if it works in Midtown.

http://www.deadmalls.com/malls/bannister_mall.html

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. I think it was doomed from the get-go

I already mentioned lack of parking. It was just so poorly designed. Traffic getting in and out was always a mess. At one time, the intersection in front of that mall was one of the busiest in KC. They need to put adequate roads in before they open these malls. There is one on Lee's Summit that is really bad too.

Now if they had been able to put BassPro there, the mall may have survived.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Oh also, the city of Mission refused to let WalMart take over Mission Mall

Thank gawd.

[chat_noir]

3. Kansas City TIF $9.1

One of the speakers:

Phil Mattera, author of Shopping for Subsidies: How Wal-Mart Uses Taxpayer Money


http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/pdf/wmtstudy.pdf#search='Shopping%20for%20Subsidies'

Page 20: Kansas City TIF $9.1 in 2001 for Super Center at 135Th and State Line

The city used a tax increment financing district to improve roads for a development anchored by Wal-Mart and Lowe’s, both of which were built by the same developer. The TIF district will eventually be used to make a total of $90 million in infrastructure improvements within the district. A local official estimated that $9.1 million of the funds were used for Wal-Mart’s access roads.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I have lobbied hard against TIFs for a couple decades now

They have a devastating effect on school districts. I have proposed to my reps that if a company gets a TIF, then they should be required to support the local schools in some other way. They could send volunteers into the schools to help, or donate used computers and discarded office supplies. There are so many things they could do. But giving them a free ride from supporting education is just completely wrong. Those area schools are responsible for educating their future employees.

My superintendent gave a speech a couple years ago where he listed the dollar amount of lost property taxes to TIFs in our district alone. It was an incredibly high amount. I wish I could remember the exact figure.

The TIF that really pissed me off is the one given to H&R Block to move downtown. Number two is the one given to The Star to move a block away from where they were, after The Star had had mucho editorials over many years opposing TIFs. So it isn't okay for other companies, but it is okay for The Star.