PETITION CLOSED

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Tell Chicago's Mayor: No More Walmarts!
  1. Signatures
    178 out of 200
    Petitioning
    1. Chicago mayoral press secretary (Jacqueline Heard)
  2. Created By
    Jean Stevens
    NY, NY
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates

Earlier this month, the Chicago City Council gave in to about six years of aggressive lobbying from Walmart and its supporters, approving a zoning law that will clear the way for the city's second Walmart store.

Walmarts, which claims it will eliminate the city's food deserts by selling fresh produce to the area's low-income residents, now plans to open about two dozen more stores, thanks to negotiations by Mayor Richard Daley, who met with Walmart officials to convince them to build more.

But Walmart is the worst solution to ending food deserts. Urban centers do not need a major corporation that swindles food workers and disrupts the work of real, grassroots efforts to establish sustainable, local food systems. Tell Mayor Daley that he must renegotiate with executives, drop his support for new stores, and direct funds and efforts into local, sustainable food initiatives.

Recent Signatures

Mayor Daley: Say no to Walmarts, yes to sustainable food systems

Greetings,

While you claim that new Walmart stores in urban areas will eliminate food deserts, the truth is, these stores are a cheap Band-Aid, if not a contributor, to the greater problems of poverty and inequality.

Cheerleading for 21 more of these non-unionized stores undermines the work of community food activists who are trying to build sustainable food systems. These local groups promote living wages for farmers and workers, investments in local land and resources, community sharing, and spending of food dollars in their own local economy. These stores will also devastate the livelihoods of farmers and food workers who are forced by Walmart to keep prices impossibly low.
Creating sustainable, local systems and providing living wages for workers are the only ways to reduce food inequality and improve access to local, nutritious food.

We say no to more Walmart stores in Chicago. As Mayor, it's your job to truly care about the health and well-being of the Chicago community. Please renegotiate, and stop more Walmart stores from opening.

[Your name]

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