Here’s the full list of Walmart closures confirmed this year:
3701 SE Dodson Road, Bentonville, Arkansas
6900 US Highway 19 North, Pinellas Park, Florida
17550 South Halsted Street, Homewood, Illinois
12690 South Route 59, Plainfield, Illinois
840 N. McCormick Boulevard, Lincolnwood, Illinois
301 San Mateo Boulevard SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico
1123 N. Hayden Meadows Drive, Portland, Oregon
4200 SE 82nd Avenue, Portland, Oregon
10330 W. Silver Spring Drive, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
I did not ignore them. I noted that something else happened in 2020 that causes crime to rise. Not just the riots. Again crime is an issue. It’s not the only issue. More importantly it was something that could have been cited by a company that has no problems citing to crime as an issue.
My pointing to the decades was in direct response that this recent crime rise was the fault of decades and decades of dem policies which is nonsense because crime was going down for decades.
As someone who lives near Portland I’ll say this- the town has transformed over the past thirty years- in many ways great and in some ways challenging.
Portland was a backwater town no one heard of 30 years ago. The fact that conservatives freak out about Portland so often is a testament to its success.
How has it transformed? People moved here for the cheap houses and chill lifestyle and then a culture of great restaurants, bars, night life, farmers markets, DIY hobbyists, and small homespun stores grew from that.
Because of its leftist views, it attracted artists, LGBTQ folks and people who think outside of the box- “keep Portland weird” is the unofficial motto.
Then housing got expensive and killed some of that magic for newcomers. Then covid hit and caused a lot of businesses to go under. Like most major cities homelessness also has caused more blight.
So now the city is at a crossroads- trying to come up with solutions for homelessness like every other major city while the business community recovers from covid. It doesn’t have the sparkle of 2010 Portland but it’s still a super cool city to live in. Music, restaurants, bars, quick hop to mountains, rivers and the ocean…Portland will continue to be an attractive place to move to, even with its problems.
And apparently their solution is $1,000 a month no strings if you are homeless. Tell a drug addict you will give him $1,000 a month, no strings attached, just because he is homeless with little, or no, income. There is a well proven premise of economics when something is subsidized.
I haven’t heard of the proposed bill but I’ll take a look.
Right now the mayor has proposed creating camps to remove homeless folks from the city streets. The problem is that unless you force people to move to camps you can’t make them go.
This all started with a judges decision that said that unless there are enough shelter beds, you can’t make people vacate the streets. Then rent went up crazy and what was a problem became a mega problem.
When I look at the issue I don’t see any great solution but handing out money- unless it’s to help truly needy people get into permanent housing- seems wasted.
This is the mayor recently. I just don’t see how he can do it.
…
The mayor of Portland, Oregon, plans to ban camping on city streets and move unhoused people to designated campsites, as the growing homeless population has become the top concern for the vast majority of residents.
It is actually a bill in the State Legislature. If it should pass you can imagine the migration of homeless addicts seeking the free income. The drug dealers will follow the addicts like a pack of wolves following the elk herds.
Yeah looks dumb at first glance. And yeah that’s the problem in general. If you create something attractive for homeless folks- tiny house villages, money handouts, easy vouchers for cheap housing, you get tons of folks coming out of the woodworks for the freebies.
And if you don’t do anything then the problem gets worse. We can’t jail people for homelessness (nor should we) so it seems pretty hopeless to me. Suggestions?
Honestly with Walmart I would guess it’s a mix of things. Some shoplifting issues yes, but also the rise of on line shopping is starting to kill off big box stores. People just buy their ■■■■ on line.
Covid did not cause small businesses to shut down. Tyrannical left wing politicians made them shut down. Walmart and other essential businesses like strip clubs and any place a Lib politician wanted to utilize were allowed to stay open
