Walmart has made several attempts to invade NYC. Each and every time, whether they were aiming to screw Brooklyn, Queens or Staten Island, New Yorkers fought back and kept them out.

Well, they're at it again, even starting a website to try and head off opposition. Bloomerg and the right wing New York Post have been pushing for Walmart to open up in NYC even though Walmart has been shown to deliberately destroy small businesses, use illegal immigrant labor paying them slave wages, and treating their workers badly.

I don't mind big chain stores. I like IKEA and CostCo and Trader Joe's in particular. But Wal-Mart has been shown to be bad for communities they open up in. Walmart will be BAD FOR NYC too. Destruction of small businesses, replacing them with low-paid jobs that Walmart often fills with illegal labor to cut costs...AND sucks at taxpayer money to do it. They KILL jobs in the long run.

Learn about Wal-Mart’s Dismal Record on Worker and Customer Safety (PDF)  read more »

Chinese and Hispanic residents of Sunset Park do nto seem happy with Council Member Sara Gonzalez's justification for her rezoning plan of Sunset Park...or her support of developers who have contributed thousands of dollars to her campaign. From David Galarza's campaign:

CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE DAVID GALARZA, CHINESE AND LATINO LEADERS AND RESIDENTS DENOUNCE STATEMENTS MADE BY COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ

Brooklyn, NY — March 23, 2009 — David Galarza, City Council candidate for the 38th district, was joined today by leaders and residents of the local Latino and Chinese community in denouncing misleading comments recently made by Council Member Sara Gonzalez about affordable housing in the district and the rezoning of Sunset Park.  read more »

Last night was the annual dinner of the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats. This year again my wife and I can't afford both the IND and CBID dinners, so again we chose the CBID dinner because it is in our neighborhood. Hopefully by next year our personal economy will have improved enough to do both.

As my wife reminded me, a year ago, at last year's CBID dinner, Senator Chuck Schumer made his wonderful speech where he declared "I am not afraid of John McCain" and predicted a landslide win for Obama. Well, he was right and the enthusiasm of that win was a theme in many discussions and speeches. But more than that, this year's dinner represented in its honorees quite a cross section of progressive causes.  read more »