‘Pop tax’ on hold, yet people still panic

I couldn’t help but be amused when I was at a Jewel-Osco supermarket on Saturday, and not because of Jo-Jo the mascot or the other costumed characters who were present.
 

Waiting to see if tax takes effect July 13

But I happened to be present because I wanted to buy a container of lemonade, which is among the beverages that qualify to be taxed under Cook County’s new sweetened beverage tax.

THE PRICE TAG indicated that the lemonade was on sale, but also that the dollar amount on the tag did not reflect the additional $0.01 per ounce that is being charged to raise money for county government to fulfill its financial obligations.

One of those saying that the additional tax would be “added at checkout.”

Of course, nothing was added when I made my purchase on Saturday, but only because of the circuit judge who issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the new tax from taking effect on Saturday.

So no more tax monies will be collected, at least through July 12, when a court hearing is scheduled to hear legal arguments on the merits of the injunction. A permanent ban on the tax could be issued at that time.

THE POP TAX has become one of those things that gets people worked up. How dare the government think they can do anything to boost the price of a bottle of pop or whatever other sweetened beverage (such as my lemonade) that we might want to buy?!?

The activists are trying to make this into some sort of moral crusade. They have turned to the courts to try to prevent the Cook County Board from imposing the pop tax it approved late last year, with provisions that it take effect as of July 1.

Which is why the retailers such as Jewel made a point of warning people about the potential charge. My guess is they don’t want any customer to claim they were somehow tricked into paying more money for their beverages.

PRECKWINKLE: Cook needs pop tax monies

Just like I have heard some complain about the fee that retailers in Chicago now charge if one chooses to ask for a plastic bag to store their purchases in when they leave the store. It’s only $0.07 per bag, but I’m sure some people are going to argue about the “principle” of the issue.

ALTHOUGH IT’S NOT just city-based retailers addressing the issue. It seems that some of the larger supermarket chains that operate just across the Illinois/Indiana state line are already publishing advertising inserts advising people they ought to make a trip to their Hoosier-based stores so as to avoid paying the Cook County tax.

Some activists are trying to use those inserts as evidence of how Chicago-area businesses will lose out because of the tax – those businesses just outside of Cook County will prey on Chicago customers like leeches to suck up their money while depriving our own businesses of revenue.

I’ve heard figures as high as “40 percent” being tossed out – as in that’s how much pop sales could decline in Chicago and the Cook County suburbs. That could be a financial blow.

Except that I wonder how many people are going to want to make a lengthy drive to buy cheap pop. There may be those people who live near the border areas who will make the trip to the “next town over” to save a little money.

THEN AGAIN, THEY’RE probably the same people who make a point of making the same trip to get cheaper gasoline for their car or will feel the need to head out to the Land of Hoosiers for a dose of firecrackers and other explosives so as to terrorize the neighborhood little ol’ ladies and pets with the “rockets’ red glare” come Tuesday and Independence Day.

So we may have some people freaking out about the price of pop going up, while others will go out of their way to show just how minimal the cost increase will be. While we spend the next week-and-a-half in a lull, waiting to see whether the county’s pop tax will be permitted to exist.

Although personally, a part of me wonders if pop is something along the lines of cigarettes – another product that officials try to tax so as to raise revenue while also possibly persuading people to lessen their consumption.

Which might be for the best. Because personally, while I enjoy a Coca-Cola from time to time, I find that too much of it gives me gas.

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Dominick’s task force put in public eye

I don’t envy the people who will be serving on a newly-created city government task force that will draw the public’s scrutiny – even though the issue it is dealing with is far from the most significant problem confronting Chicago these days.

Will Dominick's stores soon have no parked cars nearby?

That problem being, of course, Dominick’s.

AS IN THE chain of supermarkets that are about to cease to exist in Chicago and surrounding suburbs. Jewel early on said it would purchase a few of the Dominick’s locations and convert them to their brand.

While the new Mariano’s chain of supermarkets came in last week and said it would purchase a few more Dominick’s stores, while also building some new sites for their brand of upscale markets.

But those two deals account for about 15 supermarkets out of the 72 facilities that were part of the Dominick’s chain.

Come the end of 2013 (Dec. 28, to be exact), there are likely to be a whole lot of Dominick’s stores that suddenly become vacant storefronts – even if companies such as Whole Foods or Pete’s Fresh Market come in and buy out a few more Dominick’s locations.

IT’S ALSO NOT the same as if a little neighborhood market were to close its doors. We’re talking about the large stores that, with their parking lots, can easily take up an entire block.

Those are going to be gaping holes in the appearance of Chicago and the suburban communities. Just envision the kid whose teeth are falling out, giving him a smile with gaps.
 

Only in Chicago’s case, there’s no equivalent of the tooth fairy coming along to leave money to help us cope with the loss.




How many will live on like this former Dominick's store?

Instead, Mayor Rahm Emanuel created a task force to be chaired by Deputy Mayor Steve Koch whose purpose will be to figure out what to do with all those “gaps” – as in the stores that no other supermarket chain has interest in obtaining.

WHAT OTHER KINDS of businesses might be capable of using the structures for their purpose? Or, might be capable of coming in and using the land upon which those former Dominick’s stores are built?

The one thing that ought to be apparent is that we can’t just do nothing about the situation.

These kinds of gaps in a community can become a blot that spreads to a major hole going far beyond the lack of a supermarket nearby.

It’s also important because, while this task force is only concerned with the soon-to-be abandoned Dominick’s locations in Chicago, the way the city handles this issue will also impact the way surrounding suburbs will cope with their loss of a Dominick’s supermarket.

YOU’RE GOING TO have the public watching to see what becomes of their former Dominick’s, and you’re going to have suburban municipal officials taking their lead from this task force.

Which means this task force is going to face pressure. If it manages to screw things up, it is going to get ridicule on a level far above its mere dollar figures.

Because Dominick’s was a part of the Chicago character – one of the chains that for many decades dominated where we got our food from. What could be more important to some people than that?

There may be deals that would have a larger economic impact on Chicago than the replacement of supermarkets. But this is one of those deals that people will place undue attention to.

Will a vacant Dominick's be uglier than '13 baseball?

SO FOR THOSE city, organized labor and industry officials who will devote their coming weeks to figuring out how to replace the Dominick’s stores, they had better realize we, the public, will magnify the significance of their every screw up.

So they better not make any, or else they’ll become even more detested among Chicagoans than either the White Sox or Cubs are these days after the god-awful seasons they produced in ’13.

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Looking for a neighborhood market? Or is this just a political deal w/ payback?

By now, I’m sure anybody who cares has heard the “story” – the Whole Foods chain of supermarkets geared toward upscale items is planning to build a new store in the Englewood neighborhood (63^rd and Halsted streets, to be exact).

Will we soon see fliers like this on South Side?

Yes, the same Englewood that is one of the city’s lower-income neighborhoods – and often is the focal point of much of the urban violence that ideological idiots would have you think is taking place across all of Chicago.

THE PEOPLE WHO like the idea see the fact that people who live in that area have to go to some extremes in order to shop for groceries because of the fact that there really isn’t a full-scale supermarket in the area.

Those who hate the idea of Whole Foods say they don’t see the practicality of putting a food retailer whose image is centered around getting the business of upscale customers who want “elite” (allegedly) versions of products in a neighborhood where there would be higher percentages than usual of people relying on LINK cards.

Which, by the way, Whole Foods officials made a point of saying this week that they DO accept.

Personally, I find the latter attitude to be just a bit snotty – almost as though they’re saying certain people aren’t worthy of having a Whole Foods near them. These are the ones who’d rather have the Food4Less chain (an offshoot of the Kroger Co.), because it better fits their image of what Englewood “deserves.”

NONETHELESS, I’M SKEPTICAL over whether Whole Foods will gain much in the way of customer support when the store is finally built (right by the Kennedy-King College campus).

I actually live within a 10-minute drive of a Whole Foods store. Personally, it strikes me as the place where I might go occasionally to pick up a few specialty items if I’m planning to make a special dish or two.

They also do have some vegetable items in their produce section that aren’t readily stocked in the Jewel Foods store that is located one block from where I live.

But I can’t help but think that anybody who does all of their grocery shopping at a Whole Foods is someone so pretentious about themselves and wanting to buy into the store’s upscale image. They definitely have too much money to waste.

PERSONALLY, I WONDER what Whole Foods is getting out of the deal?

Although I couldn’t help but notice the Chicago Sun-Times story Thursday about the $10 million subsidy city government will provide Whole Foods to help prepare the site for store construction.

Municipal governments routinely offer up such deals to businesses of any size that want to locate within their boundaries. In and of itself, the subsidy isn’t unusual.

But it makes me wonder if the developers who are bringing Whole Foods to the Englewood neighborhood are counting on some sort of political good-will from city officials.

BRING THIS STORE to one of the city’s “food deserts” and help make it look as though the Emanuel Administration is doing something to benefit the inner-city to make it easier for its residents to shop for groceries (believe it or not, they eat too).

In return, it would seem that those developers can now call in a favor or two – perhaps some easier approval for a future project that they will want to build somewhere within Chicago.

So what do I really think about the concept of Whole Foods coming to Englewood? It would be nice if the store can help residents of that South Side neighborhood get access to better food. Maybe it could even help bolster the surrounding neighborhood.

But the political cynic in me can’t help but wonder about that payback. What future project will get greased through the system because of the Whole Foods willingness? And how much of a stinker will that future deal be?

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