Take Me To Your Leader

Last week on the long-abandoned site at 18^th and Broadway in the West End, Mayor Greg Fischer announced what he accurately described as the worst kept secret in the history of Louisville, the construction of a new Walmart.

Since news of the coming Walmart deal leaked last fall, the lack of transparency about city negotiations with the company was criticized by labor groups and Councilwoman Attica Scott, D-1, while others expressed optimism about the news, citing much needed investment and jobs in that section of Louisville.

However, Walmarts plan to hire local residents of the impoverished neighborhood is more wishful thinking on the part of Fischers office than a contractual requirement. Though Walmart says they plan to build a career center somewhere in the neighborhood, Fischers spokesperson Chris Poynter told LEO last week that there is no obligation for Walmart to hire any people from the immediate neighborhood in order to receive city money.

Additionally, the city extracted no requirements from Walmart to set wages above a certain amount, hire a specific number of full-time workers, or promise to protect workers right to organize a union. These were concessions that labor groups wanted Fischer to push for in his secret negotiations, citing the giant multinational corporations history of labor practices and studies showing their presence in a community can lead to net negative job growth due to putting competitors out of business.

Several Metro Council members praised the project at the Monday announcement, including David Tandy, D-4, who represents the district where the Walmart is to be built. Tandy described the new store as a complete and total game changer for Louisville, which would help overcome the psychological barriers that are present for people trying to cross Ninth Street.

Councilwoman Mary Woolridge, D-3, was the only speaker to bring up concerns about the rate of pay Walmart workers will receive, but still praised the news as a step forward for the area. I still will be hoping and monitoring how much these employees are going to be paid, benefits, etc., said Woolridge. That is who I am. But we need economic development in west Louisville.

Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton, D-5, also praised the new Walmart, wagging her finger at the unnecessarily negative and hostile tone of people who criticized the lack of public transparency by city officials in their negotiations with the company. In fact, she even praised the move to keep Louisvillians in the dark. Ive always heard that loose lips sink ships, said Hamilton. And in this case, loose lips could have sunk this deal.

The Rev. Kevin Cosby, the president of Simmons College who called critics of the Walmart deal losers on Twitter last week, said that investment such as this new Walmart could help prevent violence like what was seen the weekend before, as a large group of teenagers assaulted multiple people in downtown Louisville. Cosby then recited the lyrics to the theme song of the 1970s sitcom Good Times, ending with Walmart going up, good times!

Councilwoman Scott, who appears to be the lone critic of the Walmart deal on Metro Council, gave a rather pointed question to Council President Jim King, D-10, in the Democratic Caucus meeting last Thursday.

Sen. Mitch McConnells re-election campaign provided another accidental viral video last week, as they mistakenly included a clip of Dukes basketball team celebrating their 2010 NCAA championship first caught by LEO Weekly which was supposed to be a clip of UKs 2012 celebration. His horrified campaign pulled the video, replacing the Duke clip with a photo of UKs star forward Julius Randle, only to also pull that video after UK sent McConnell a cease and desist letter over concern that this violated NCAA rules and threatened Randles eligibility just before their big game against U of L.

Though his GOP primary opponent Matt Bevin aired an ad during the game in which McConnell was seen wearing a Duke jersey with Christian Laettners old number, considering the number of people in Kentucky watching CBS at the time Gumbel highlighted McConnells blasphemous basketball error, its doubtful any negative attack ad could have paid for a more prominent placement.

This article appears in April 1, 2014.

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