Chicago trying to figure how to attract as much retail opportunity as possible

Where does Chicago go shopping?

Leaving the South Side

There’s time when it appears we don’t have much of a clue. As much of it may well depend upon which demographic we happen to have been born into – and whether retailers are all that anxious to have our business.

A PAIR OF stories in the news of late would impact the ability of us to purchase the goods that enable us to get through our lives.

For some of us, that has now become something we do on the Internet from our homes, with items shipped to our homes (or what other address they happen to find most convenient).

While others of us still prefer the concept of a physical store to shop at. Which is why interest is being paid to municipal government trying to figure out how to get Target to back of off its intensions to close two of its stores in South Side neighborhoods.

Specifically in the Morgan Park and Chatham neighborhoods, both of which are majority African-American populations. Which has some people convinced that Target is dumping those locations because they’re not interested in selling goods to black people.

AFTER ALL, IT’S not a cutback by the retailer whose fanatics like to mockingly think of it as a French-like outlet. Because Target has plans to open new stores in the Rogers Park and Logan Square neighborhoods. Along with various other locations throughout the suburbs.

But none of those are majority non-Anglo like the locations of the two stores that are to be closed.

Target supporters try to argue that the retailer will still have South Side locations. Although you have to admit, the Hyde Park neighborhood is noted most for being so unlike the rest of the South Side in so many ways – including in its racial composition.

Putting Chicago off to the side

I won’t be surprised if Target decides to merely ride it out, and figure they don’t have to do anything to change their stance on store locations.

SO IT MIGHT be in vain the city’s efforts to offer millions of dollars in tax increment finance benefits – which allow the property taxes the company pays to be put into a special fund by which they could get it back to pay for future improvements.

It might not be enough to sway Target officials, who likely will tolerate the racial rhetoric of the next few months that claims the retailer is deliberately snubbing people based on race.

Even though I’m sure they’ll claim it’s mere demographics – even though I often wonder if such talk is merely a way of covering up a desire to be more selective about how they do business with.

Not that Target is the only retail issue that has city officials concerned. There also are concerns over the second corporate headquarters that Amazon.com wants to have beyond Seattle, Wash.

THE REPORTER RUMOR mill of recent weeks says that Amazon is about to choose a site – and it ain’t Chicago.

Supposedly, Amazon is interested in the Virginia-based suburbs of Washington, D.C., and the borough of Queens in New York. Which some will try to say means they want to be in D.C. and Noo Yawk. Although it’s really more like they want to be on the fringes of those two major cities where they can escape the grittier aspects of urban life.

Which might well include people of the same types of economic demographics that Target is trying to avoid by pulling their stores out of Morgan Park and Gresham.

The key to comprehending businesses and where they choose to locate is that they usually pick locations where their self-interest is fulfilled, with the underlying idea being that the day will eventually come when their self-interests are better served elsewhere. Meaning even if Amazon.com were to pick Chicago, it’s likely the day would come when they’d decide to move elsewhere.

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We can all dream about Bryce Harper wearing our favorite team’s laundry

We’re in the off-season, with some of us intrigued by that U.S. All Star team now traveling across Japan to promote the game, while others of us are intrigued by the Silver Slugger awards for the game’s top hitters.

Tired of playing for 'Walgreens?'

Jose Abreu of the White Sox was amongst the winners, making him truly the highlight for the team as they enter Year Three of an alleged rebuild.

YET I SUSPECT most fans are getting worked up over the “free agents,” as in the ballplayers whose contracts have expired – making them free to negotiate with any team they want.

Star Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals apparently is fed up with the notion of being the capital’s sports celebrity, and is the guy that every team wants to fantasize will head for their city to play beginning in 2019.

That even includes both Chicago teams. The speculation has put both the Cubs and the White Sox on the list of teams intrigued at the thought of having Harper play in their outfield.

There actually once was a time when people seriously were saying that Harper himself fantasized about playing for the Chicago Cubs someday. Harper as a kid grew up in the Las Vegas area, as did Cubs star Kris Bryant.

Childhood/star pairing not likely for Wrigley

THE TWO KNEW each other as kids. They considered each other friends, and both went on to play professional baseball at high levels.

The notion being that Bryant and Harper would unite on the North Side, giving the baby blue Bruins a pair of stars to go along with some of the other talent they have amassed in recent years. A Bryant/Harper pairing could become bigger than the Jordan/Pippen pair that led the Chicago Bulls to basketball stardom back in the ‘90s.

Of course, there’s always the possibility that the very notion was wishful thinking on the part of Cubs fans who have always carried the delusion that EVERYBODY deep down wants to be a Cub or root for the Cubs or have some sort of association with the Cubbies. With that kind of arrogance, you'd think they were the Yankees!

Negotiation prep? Or prank of the Sox?

Now, there’s talk that the Cubs’ payroll obligations are so high that they can’t afford the kind of money it would take to sign him (just to give you an idea, Harper recently turned down an offer of $300 million spread over 10 seasons to remain in Washington).

IN FACT, IT may be that Bryant is too big a financial obligation to the Cubs in the future for them to afford more big name ballplayers. The idea of a Bryant/Harper pair may be too fantastical for the Wrigley Field scene.

Yet in recent days, there has been speculation arising that the White Sox may try to juice up interest in the ball club by spending the big bucks it would take to add Harper to the Sout’ Side scene.

It was spurred on by photographs that were made public of digital images at the United Center depicting Harper’s name, uniform number of 34 (the same as one-time Chicago Bear Walter Payton) and the White Sox’ Old English script logo.

Some say the White Sox (who share the same ownership as the Chicago Bulls) were preparing some sort of video display that could be used as part of a marketing effort to make Harper realize Chicago has two teams -- and that he could become extremely wealthy being Bryant's crosstown rival.

OTHERS SAY IT may have been someone messing around and trying to get White Sox fandom worked up over a ballplayer they can’t have. Although if that was the intent, it flopped. Most White Sox fans are actually ridiculing the notion of Harper playing ball on 35^th Street.

Remains D.C.'s star baseballer of all-time

It may well be that the idea of Harper coming to Chicago on either side of town is too outlandish an ideal. Philadelphia Phillies fans in particular are being fed loads of information implying he’s headed for their team, But it is the time of year where everybody can dream they’re going to get the stars that will make them winners!

But a part of me thinks Harper is being a big short-sighted in not staying in Washington. Admittedly, the Nationals of recent years have been a team with playoff dreams who consistently have managed to fall short.

But could Bryce have become the biggest-name ballplayer ever (topping Hall of Famer Walter Johnson?) to wear a “W” for Washington on his ball cap? Or is he just that tired of having people mistake the curly-cue “W” for a “Walgreens” logo?

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The mayor’s not eating; will it make a difference in immigration battle?

There’s a group that has been gathered in Washington on the National Mall for more than a month now – they’ve been engaged in a fast the entire time to try to draw attention to the stalemate in Congress that is immigration reform.

President Barack Obama made a point of visiting those protesters on Thanksgiving. Now, his one-time chief of staff seems determined to horn in to gain himself some needed attention on the issue.

MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL – the man who ticked off many Latino activists during Obama’s first presidential term by creating the perception that he wasn’t all that interested in having the president address their concerns – said this week he plans to fast.

Of course, he’s not going for weeks on end without eating. His fast began Thursday night and will end Friday – 24 hours without eating.

Which is probably something that 98 percent of the population of Chicago (particularly those of us too enamored with the Italian beef sandwich or stuffed pizza) could afford to do without any negative impact on our health.

Emanuel wants to make a statement on the immigration reform fight – which is stalled in the House of Representatives as the ideologue segment of the Republican majority that was more than willing to shut down federal government to spite Obama has thwarted action on this issue to express their disgust with the fact that the Latino population is growing so significantly.

HE NEEDS TO make such a statement. Because there are those among the growing Latino community who believe that the reason Obama didn’t tackle the issue during his first term in office is because Emanuel didn’t want to (as he perceived it) waste political capital on it.

I’ll be the first to admit that taking the issue on would have detracted attention from just about anything else.

Getting immigration reform approved during his final term as president will probably take up such attention levels that Obama won’t achieve any other significant accomplishments as president.

Then again, making sense of our nation’s immigration policy (by eliminating the bureaucratic mess that it has become) AND tackling health care reform despite the solid opposition of conservative ideologues might well be a significant legacy.

DENYING HIM THAT legacy seems to be the goal of the ideologues – not the achieving of anything significant!

But back to Emanuel, who began his fast while attending Catholic Mass at St. Pius Parish in the Pilsen neighborhood.

Thursday night was the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe – which in parishes with significant Latino membership becomes one of the significant days during the year.

It is the day that Latino Catholics recall the birth of Jesus Christ, and parishes literally reenact the search of Joseph and Mary of a place where the “Son of God” can be born.

EMANUEL, THE MAN who has had to act aggressively to overcome the apathetic impression toward Latinos he gave as White House chief of staff, is now the guy who’s going to skip a day’s worth of meals (along with several Latino aldermen who also are partaking in a fast) to try to make political amends.

Perhaps, the combination of Emanuel along with a whole lot of other officials will be what it takes to draw attention to the immigration reform battle. Because this probably will be an issue where a combination of Democratic senators along with just enough Republicans to overcome the Tea Party types who think in terms of a fight “To The Death!!!!”

With those as stakes, perhaps skipping a day’s worth of meals (which in Emanuel’s case will probably mean having a late supper Friday) is a slight sacrifice – one that is overdue.

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Detroit/S.F. match-up may disappoint, but it's still the World Series

I’ll be honest – I was hoping for a World Series matchup this year between the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals.

Not only would it have been a matchup between the two ballclubs that finished the regular season with the best winning records in their respective leagues, I would have loved to see the frustration from Chicago Cubs fans as yet another city with a losing history made it to the series before their precious Cubbies.

WASHINGTON, AFTER ALL, hasn’t had any of its assorted baseball teams throughout the years play in a World Series since 1933. No D.C. ballclub has won the Series since 1924.

But that isn’t going to happen. The Nationals blew a playoff lead to the St. Louis Cardinals, while the Yankees who appeared so significant in the first round of playoffs against the Baltimore Orioles withered away into insignificance against the Detroit Tigers.

Those same Tigers who barely scraped past the Chicago White Sox will go into the record books as American League champions for 2012. They will take the field in San Francisco Wednesday night – where the World Series against the National League champion Giants will begin.

Detroit versus San Francisco. I’ve heard of worse series matchups, I suppose.

BUT THAT’S WHAT it’s going to be for the next few days – possibly through Nov. 1 if the World Series actually manages to drag through all seven games.

I must confess to being unsure of who to root for in this particular pairing. I am a fan of the American League, and I usually root for the American League champions come World Series-time (and the league’s All Star team come the All Star Game).

I know some White Sox fans are so appalled at the fact that their ballclub didn’t even make it into the playoffs that there’s no way they’d even think of rooting for Detroit. Although considering how badly the White Sox played the final month of the season, I’d argue they didn’t deserve a playoff spot.

But a part of me has to confess to admiring this particular version of a San Francisco Giants ballclub.

THEY WERE THE team that was one game away from elimination in the first round of playoffs against the Cincinnati Reds – then came from behind to win three straight games.

Then in the second round of playoffs against St. Louis, they were down 3 games to 1 – at which point Giants manager Bruce Bochy made a wisecrack about having the Cardinals “right where we want them.”

Yet as it turns out, the Giants then managed to pull off three straight victories against St. Louis to win the round, and the National League pennant.

That last game in particular amazed me – particularly the final inning when the rainfall that had been hitting San Francisco all day Monday came down in a deluge. If it hadn’t have been the final inning of Game Seven of the National League Championship Series, I’m sure the umpires would have delayed the event – if not postponed it.

WATCHING GIANTS’ INFIELDER Marco Scutaro struggle to avoid slipping on the slick grass while catching the pop-up that was the final out of the Giants 9-0 victory was a truly nerve-wracking moment. I’m sure Boston Red Sox fans, in particular, are wishing their last-place ballclub had never gotten rid of him. It also was more intriguing than the final presidential debate, which seemed more like Mitt Romney trying to moderate himself into another Barack Obama when it comes to foreign policy that I can envision his followers being utterly repulsed.



Washington continues to wait for World Series


It’s kind of difficult for me to think of rooting against this Giants ballclub – even if it has been a few years since an American League team won a World Series and the American League “fan” in me feels like it’s overdue.

And I’m sure Detroit Tigers fans are gleefully awaiting a chance to see if their team’s acquisition of rotund slugger Prince Fielder for a big-bucks, long-term contract will pay off.

Being able to say that the Tigers got a World Series victory in the first year of the Fielder contract will go a long way towards erasing the complaints that will arise in the final years of the contract when Fielder is nowhere hear the feared hitter he is now – but will still get paid as though he is.

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