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July 31, 2009 (Vol 6, #31)

In This Issue:
• Weekend Traffic: What's Up This Weekend and Beyond
• Useless Facts About Chicago: Cool July
• In Other News: This week in Our Topical Blogs
• The Party Line: The Wal-Mart Debate
• Sausage Links: Put On a Shirt
• Administrivia: Fine Print, Etc.

Have you checked out On Ramp presented by Gapers Block on ChicagoNow yet?

Weekend Traffic
GB GET-TOGETHER! And the Printers' Ball — both in one place! Tonight!
PASTIES ATTACK. Broadzilla burlesque destroys Tokyo Exit tonight.
SQUARE ART. Logan Square, that is. The Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival kicks off tonight.
GIRLS ROCK. Particularly at the Girls Rock! Chicago concert and barbecue Saturday at the Hideout. (More details here.)
RIDE FREE. Logan Square is the destination for the Open Streets Boulevard Tour Saturday.
MUSIC & WORDS. Local authors and musicians share the Old Town School stage Saturday night.
MAKE MAKI. Learn how to roll sushi at the Japanese Cultural Center Sunday.
PARK RADIO. The Third Coast Festival picnics in Millennium Park on Monday.
...and so much more. Check out the full listings on Gapers Block.

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Useless Facts About Chicago
"The National Weather Service says 2009 has seen the coldest July since the official recording station was moved away from the lakefront in 1942. The average temperature this month in Chicago has been a mere 68.9 degrees."
...
"There have also been far more days than usual with high temperatures less than 80 degrees this year. In 2009, there were 13 days where the temperature did not exceed 80 degrees. Only three Julys in the past 67 years have had more days in Chicago with highs less than 80 – there were 18 such days in 1992, and 14 in 1996 and 2000."
—CBS2Chicago.com

In Other News
A/C: Our Arts & Culture Section
An artist holds a moving sale, SplitPillow calls for entrants for this year's Chicago360, comic Al Madrigal at the Lakeshore, the Harris Theater wants you to eat to the beat, Steve at the Movies reviews Funny People, The Ugly Truth, In the Loop, Humpday and Soul Power and more! Get cultured!

The GB Book Club
A recap of Open Books' blogathon, Prairie Avenue Books is closing, Chicago magazine profiles Marcus Sakey, Windy McClure's latest project and more -- plus a review of Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun. Read on!

Drive-Thru: Our Food Section
A new brunch Jam, Rustik becomes Rustico, a City Farm tour this Sunday, bacon lollipops and more. Yum!

Mechanics: Our Politics Section
An abandoned Noble Square church endangers residents, Maldonado replaces Ocasio on the Cook County Board, boutique parking(?), a conference on Midwestern high speed rail, Ickes Homes are next on the CHA's demolition checklist, how Chicago rates on lake pollution and more. Plus the Tribune's brass bawls and tons of 2010 election candidate announcements. Get informed.

Tailgate: Our Sports Section
The Fire extend their lead, Brian Anderson's sox go from White to Red, a radioactive race in Palos Park, Mark Buerhle sets a new record but still loses, Urlacher and Cutler talk dirty, the Cubs look for lefties and more! Play ball!

Transmission: Our Music Section
Jessica Hopper guides your girl rocking, photos from last weekend's Thriller Zombie Walk and the Pitchfork crowd the week before that, Bloodshot Records takes over this year's Hideout Block Party, a preview of tonight's Dylan McDermott show and much more! Tune in!

The Party Line
The Wal-Mart Debate

Did you get the call this week from the poll asking if you wanted a Wal-Mart? Did think you'd get a fair and balanced presentation of the question? Did you also expect to get a clear picture from the media of the nature of the poll or the problems inherent in the Wal-Mart model?

The Tribune reported that the automated poll stated the plus side of the argument was that the new Wal-Mart would provide "more than 400 jobs and 'a wider variety of of fresh groceries and other goods.'" But they miscued by saying that the poll claimed "opponents 'say the jobs are not good enough.'" I got the call myself. It was presented substantially as follows:

• "Press 1 if you support a new Wal-Mart in Chicago, because it will provide more than 400 jobs and a wider variety of fresh groceries and other goods."

• "Press 2 if you oppose a new Wal-Mart in Chicago, because the jobs it will bring are not good enough."

Gee, nothing like putting words in the mouths of 75,000 people.

Crain's also reported positively on polling. Their rather puffy headline reads: "Chicagoans Support 2nd Wal-Mart: Poll". This seems to be a different poll, apparently much more thorough. Still, it would be nice to see their methodology and question list, and perhaps get the other side of the argument.

Chicagoist took a more helpful position, emphasizing that the polls were the brainchild of Wal-Mart's public relations army and providing other balance. (See other background commentary here and here.)

Veteran Chicago journalist Dennis Byrne, on his shiny, new ChicagoNow blog, gushed about the potential of a Wal-Mart and lionized its hero, Rev. Leon Finney, as if there weren't a few hundred thousand other African-Americans in Chicago who might have differing opinions.

But then Byrne himself says it best when he quotes one of his adoring fans:

"Dennis Byrne...[and others] have been so consistently wrong on so many issues...[they should] open barbershops, where they could pontificate to their hearts' content but with much less potential damage to the body politic." --Moti Rieber, Chicago Tribune, Letter to the Editor, Feb. 12, 2007

If Mayor Daley has so many black friends, why is it that whenever there's a need to show support from the black community for some controversial idea, the Finneys are all he can ever find? The only supporters of the Wal-Mart were Finney's busload of blind followers from Woodlawn, who, no doubt, he and his wife (director of the organization) lured with chips and soda just like when they brought them to City Hall to support putting the Children's Museum in Grant Park. When I polled 15 or 20 of them about the museum, most had no real opinion, and several didn't even know what they had been brought downtown for.

Tom Tresser, open-space advocate and current leader of No Games Chicago, objects to Finney's abuse of The Woodlawn Organization, the historic grassroots group nurtured to life in the late 1950s by Bishop Arthur Brazier and legendary organizer Saul Alinsky. "They got started by sending buses to City Hall to challenge white power...and 45 years later, they send buses to City Hall to be a stooge for white power," Tresser recently complained to me. I've admonished Finney publicly several times that he mustn't do this, but of course it's hard to resist when your primary means of support comes from a white mayor.

Wal-Mart's public-relations army also planted the now-famous term "food desert" in our minds, citing a 2006 study (PDF) by researcher Mari Gallagher. This study, funded by the generally big-commerce LaSalle Bank, was Gallagher's debut into punditry. In it she coined the term, which characterizes large, predominantly black swaths of the South and West Sides as places where there are no grocery stores for miles. The results have been used to great effect in arguing for more Dominick's, Jewels and Wal-Marts, but practically nothing else. I've pointed out to Gallagher and the city that there are many smaller-scale solutions that fall between the convenience stores and the national profit centers -- such as Andy's, Pete's, Fair Play and even Aldi.

But Gallagher has been too busy making piles of money to bother with details. In case you aren't convinced you know which side Gallagher's bread is buttered on, she's now on Wal-Mart's payroll (PDF), cutting down a Loyola study which claims that the existing Chicago store may already be causing damage. (Read the Loyola report here (PDF).)

If all else fails -- if, after seeing the curious melange of Chicago politics and Wal-Mart executive cupidity, you're still thinking that maybe more Wal-Marts is not such a bad idea -- then you should probably watch Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.

Unfortunately, this movie was based chiefly on the boring world of facts and evidence -- not on hype and slant, not on expensive PR firms, token blacks, glassy-eyed journalists, and pinstripe research -- so it's not well promoted. Why not host a screening of this movie? Now would be a perfect time.

Sausage Links

• Ript Apparel: sells a new t-shirt design each day, for one day only. Today's is the Fireside Bowl.

• Maybe a Polish Chicago shirt is more your speed.

• Or perhaps the Jerusalem Bulls?

Administrivia
This is the Party Line, a weekly email from GapersBlock.com, a Chicago-centric website. The Party Line newsletter is edited by Andrew Huff; the column is by Peter Zelchenko. Pete's opinions are his own and don't necessarily reflect those of Gapers Block or the rest of its staff (although sometimes they do). Napoleon said, "You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy's ranks." We're always looking for new events, ideas and droids. Send your ideas to inbox@gapersblock.com.

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