As mentioned, Walmart Chicago is closing all locations, more than likely due to theft, like Portland. If you ask me, I’d say rip up the buildings and parking lots and put a lot of flats or bus stations or something as a replacement.
As mentioned, Walmart Chicago is closing all locations, more than likely due to theft, like Portland. If you ask me, I’d say rip up the buildings and parking lots and put a lot of flats or bus stations or something as a replacement.
In some areas of some cities, yes. But that’s not entirely what’s at issue here (though this is what many companies will claim).
Some US cities are dealing with opiod and homelessness crises which are on a scale that most cities have never faced. The complete lack of a social safety net is creating areas that are, for lack of a better word, overrun. Those areas are functionally devoid of commerical activity.
I want to be clear that the fault of those who are homeless and those who are suffering from addiction lies predominately with the government and shitty policies enacted over the last 50 years. With that said, it is understandable that people are only going to be in spaces with a lot of homeless if they are 1) homeless themselves, 2) helping the homeless in a humanitarian capacity or 3) harassing the homeless (talking about cops here).
Combine all of that, and you have areas of cities where customers aren’t going to go (because they don’t feel safe) and that have a higher proportion of crime (due to the lack of priority of law enforcement).
I’ve left the US, by my home town (city) has areas that are just no-go zones. Like, you only go there if you’re desperate. And the McDonald’s in that areas has long shuttered because they weren’t making any money and they were dealing with a bunch of issues caused by vandalism and attacks on their employees.
The US is showing what happens if you have no social safety net.
Yea, it’s not that bad here, but the mess of the other big cities has leaked over to our area, mostly because the government is not willing to do anything with the issue and has pushed it to smaller towns who don’t have the ability/nor probably want to deal with all of this plus their own issues on top of it.
It’s honestly sad how bad things have gotten.
For what it’s worth I hate the term “social safety net”. It implies that government systems are only there to catch you if you fail. In reality government systems are supposed to be systems that work for everyone. Public schools is a system, not a safety net if your parents “fail” and can’t send you to private. Universal healthcare is a system that works, you pay in via taxes and you get healthcare. Not if you “fail”. This is how it works in civilized countries.
Every now and then you see these mass-theft videos in Tiktok. I wasn’t sure how common these were.