Yesterday morning I had a great post all written up about how childish and petty it was that the Lincoln City Council voted 5-2 to deny Sam's Club (87th and Highway 2) its liquor license in order to "send a message" in protest of the proposed Walmart at 27th and Yankee Hill. (The Liquor Control Board actually has the final say.) It was one of the better pieces I've written in quite a while.
And then, just as I proof-read it one last time, I accidentally deleted it.
I pouted for a day, but this morning I figured I had better come back and at least say something about the move. Although I called out the City Council on Twitter -- as did many other Lincolnites -- they need to be shamed in as many venues as possible. Despite all the claims Lincoln's leaders make about wanting Lincoln to attract jobs and move forward and all that, we still fall victim to the same old small town political baloney that we've always put up with. The City Council ought to be ashamed of itself.
Incidentally, despite only having a kindergarten education, my six year-old son has managed to figure out the situation pretty well: "Why don't the people who don't like the store not shop there, then if they get enough people to not shop there Walmart will have to close". The kid's got a future, I tell ya.
Comments
See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.
... and signifying nothing. Seems about par for the City Council.
This vote proves nothing. I can’t see why the Liquor Control Board won’t give them the license they seek. If not, how will we ever afford cheap beer and wine in my area? Oh yeah, we’ll walk next door to Walmart and buy it there.
I understand fully that Walmart has its detractors. If you don’t like the place, don’t shop there. However, I have to give them credit for bringing their total to 6 large stores in town. They keep upgrading or remodeling the older stores, too. They employ a lot of people. We’re getting property taxes, sales taxes, plus income taxes from the employees.
It’s hard for me to feel sympathy for people that moved into a place that is zoned for this kind of store. Now that store is coming to life, and they are mad. They should have done their homework. I could maybe see the outrage if Walmart had come to town, greased some palms/pulled some strings to change some zoning and pulled a fast one over our eyes. They didn’t. They found land that is zoned for their store, and decided to build a smaller store there. I can’t see that they’ve done anything wrong.
The City Council just looks bad in this no matter how you look at it. One issue clearly has nothing to do with the other.
I have a hard time believing this is really about having another big box store in that neighborhood. It is about Walmart.
Walmart is objectively bad, it isn’t just, like, my opinion, man.
No one deserves to be shamed for trying to make things difficult for them. Walmart is a shameful company. They haven’t gotten to where they are by being a good employer and scrupulously paying taxes.
Nobody wants to hear the “Walmart is evil” screeds anymore, though. Anti-corporate moralizing isn’t going to get results around here, so maybe arguments about traffic and zoning were the best that could be done.
We don’t need another Walmart. Lincoln would be better off with someone else in that spot.
But this isn’t your opinion?
Share your thoughts with the community.
Commenting is no longer permitted on this post.