Is Walmart Biased Against Inner City Residents?

Tonawanda said:

A new Walmart in Western New York is opening soon in a mostly suburban area without planning or agreeing to a new bus stop in front of their store, or drop off in their parking lot. This store will likely be frequented by many inner city black residents as well as some white residents.

This store is located near a mall that serviced the same community on the same bus route 20 years ago. That mall paid a 2.55 million dollar lawsuit based in part on prejudice/racism. In spite of the fact there is a bus top and signal with crosswalk quite a bit of a walk away from the store, the NFTA (bus provider) and a local politician are calling on Walmart to take action.

Bias on the part of Walmart?

Should Walmart capitulate?


BUS ACCESS CONCERNS AT WALDEN AVE WALMART | WGRZ.com

Mall Accused of Racism in a Wrongful Death Trial in Buffalo - NYTimes.com

Bus stop uncertain at new Walmart, raising echoes of Cynthia Wiggins tragedy - City & Region - The Buffalo News

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Walmart tried to build 4 super stores in the low income areas of DC and the cit passed a law targeting Walmart to demand $15 an hour for all new large stores (excusing existing and small stores) so Walmart canceled the 4 new stores.

So I think that inner city government, in DC at least, has a bias against Walmart.

This seems to be a similar shake down by another authoritarian city government.

The city has a lot to gain from having a Walmart in the neighborhood as well, so maybe the city should be funding the addition of a bus stop if they really want one.

Tonawanda said:

A new Walmart in Western New York is opening soon in a mostly suburban area without planning or agreeing to a new bus stop in front of their store, or drop off in their parking lot. This store will likely be frequented by many inner city black residents as well as some white residents.

This store is located near a mall that serviced the same community on the same bus route 20 years ago. That mall paid a 2.55 million dollar lawsuit based in part on prejudice/racism. In spite of the fact there is a bus top and signal with crosswalk quite a bit of a walk away from the store, the NFTA (bus provider) and a local politician are calling on Walmart to take action.

Bias on the part of Walmart?

Should Walmart capitulate?


BUS ACCESS CONCERNS AT WALDEN AVE WALMART | WGRZ.com

Mall Accused of Racism in a Wrongful Death Trial in Buffalo - NYTimes.com

Bus stop uncertain at new Walmart, raising echoes of Cynthia Wiggins tragedy - City & Region - The Buffalo News

Click to expand...

Geezus, this country has gone stark raving mad.

No, this is all about the economics, plain and simple. Which is certainly WalMarts right given that they are in business to make money.

Bus stop? WTF?

It looks like there is a bus stop there, its just on the other side of the avenue its on. So to get to the Walmart you have to go across a crosswalk. I am not sure why Walmart would not want a bus stop on their side of the street, but its not uncommon at all for Walmart to make infrastructure demands on the communities it has stores in. The Walmart in our little suburb made the city council make a short street one way that allowed access from Walmart to Lowes in order to make it a pain in the ass to get from Walmart to Lowes and force you to always have to drive across the Walmart parking lot to do so (such a traffic diversion is a safety issue for pedestrians). It was like that for years before the city council finally relented to all the bitching by residents and changed the street to both ways.

As a side note, can you imagine how miserable it would be carrying bags of groceries all that way in the dead of winter outside of Buffalo?

SouthernDemocrat said:

It looks like there is a bus stop there, its just on the other side of the avenue its on. So to get to the Walmart you have to go across a crosswalk. I am not sure why Walmart would not want a bus stop on their side of the street, but its not uncommon at all for Walmart to make infrastructure demands on the communities it has stores in.

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There is actually 2 bus stops. One across the street, and one a couple of 100 feet down the street from Walmart. I think the NFTA's position is to make Walmart petition the local/state government to install/pay for moving or putting in a new sign. I'm not sure why Walmart doesn't want the sign in front of their property.

The street is a state highway, the NFTA is a government supported agency, the municipality Walmart is in is a Town and the politician demanding the bus stop is from the city. Can you imagine how long it will take to get a bus sign moved or put in?

SouthernDemocrat said:

As a side note, can you imagine how miserable it would be carrying bags of groceries all that way in the dead of winter outside of Buffalo?

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Depends on if they have to return the cart (kidding!) Yes, lived here for a long time.

danarhea said:

Nothing to do with racism. Black, white, brown, yellow, or red, Wal-Mart shoppers are the reason I go to Wal-Mart. It's to watch them. It's like going to the zoo, and not having to pay admission. :mrgreen:

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People watching is very interesting at Walmart stores.

Wait a minute, since we both go there, the people we're watching are watching us:doh

JumpinJack said:

Walking doesn't make a person thin. And yes, obesity is caused by food, unless there's a genetic problem. No amount of exercise can make up for gluttony or eating the wrong kinds of food. Heck...you can lose weight just lying in bed for two days not eating. But walking is great for health. It is harder for an obese person to walk, of course. Just pick up some 100# weights and try to walk 2 miles.

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I would beg to differ, I was losing weight when I was in basic training, eating anywhere from 7-9k calories and still always hungry. If you excercise you burn the calories, the difference in metabolism is the difference in the speed it does it. There are bodybuilders who eat close to 13k calories a day and do not get fat, because they constantly burn them off.


Calorie intake is proportionate to calories burned to maintain weight. Oh and obese people lose weight faster than those close to the normal weight range. It takes alot more calories for a 400 pound man to walk a mile than it does for a 180 pound man to walk four, there is the weight factor, and there is also muscle conditioning, where people who exercise more use less oxygen and calories during strenuous workout due to muscles optimizing and adapting.

Blue_State said:

Didn't walmart just announce a 2.7 billion dollar increase in wages over 2 years to employees? Seems helpful.

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That equates to 10 cents a piece.

Top Cat said:

That equates to 10 cents a piece.

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Actually in CT, this year, it is a 50 cent per hour increase for every employee making minimum wage. With two more years of pay increases in the next two years.

chuckiechan said:

It's not up to Walmart whether or not their is a bus stop. That is city infrastructure.

I suggest you do some digging and see who is getting paid off.

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Or who didnt get paid off more likely.

Okay this is St. Louis, but there was a whole section of the city that fought hard in court to not let the metrolink come by through a certain route. It went through downtown Clayton, which is where investment firms, banks, and doctors and what not do business, it's literally the richest area in the entire city; then there is a stop right by a mall. You would think, that the mall would want the traffic for business. They fought it to the T.

The courts eventually allowed Metro to build the new route.

I don't want to get too far into it because it could derail the entire thread, but there are examples in our society where businesses do not want black people around, and whole communities who don't want black people around. In fact, where I live, there is like no sidewalks. We think that is the case to deter people, most notably, black people from walking outside for various reasons.

Again, this is my city, I can't say for others. But I have said time and time again on these boards, there is EXTREME racial tension in St. Louis. Blacks don't like whites, and whites don't like blacks. It's like conditions, somewhat, during the 1960's.

"Don't want black people around?"

Maybe if they dressed like Tiger Woods and didn't throw hard looks, maybe they'd blend in. Perception counts.

sookster said:

Okay this is St. Louis, but there was a whole section of the city that fought hard in court to not let the metrolink come by through a certain route. It went through downtown Clayton, which is where investment firms, banks, and doctors and what not do business, it's literally the richest area in the entire city; then there is a stop right by a mall. You would think, that the mall would want the traffic for business. They fought it to the T.

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What reasons did they give as part of their official position for not wanting the bus route? It seems to me that its also possible that the mall did not want lower income people including blacks in their nice upscale mall. Of course color would also play a role. In the Buffalo situation involving the mall, I believe race was not much of a factor.

sookster said:

I don't want to get too far into it because it could derail the thread, but there are examples in our society where businesses do not want black people around, and whole communities who don't want black people around. In fact, where I live, there is like no sidewalks. We think that is the case to deter people, most notably, black people from walking outside for various reasons.

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You're not off topic. The mall I referred to in the thread was sued in part based on a racism claim. The current Walmart issue is presented like a charge of discrimination against poorer (majority of black) inner city residents. General prejudice is another thing all together.

sookster said:

Again, this is my city, I can't say for others. But I have said time and time again on these boards, there is EXTREME racial tension in St. Louis. Blacks don't like whites, and whites don't like blacks. It's like conditions, somewhat, during the 1960's.

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Very unfortunate.

As a side note, I have been in Cape Girardeau a couple of times.

Tonawanda said:

What reasons did they give as part of their official position for not wanting the bus route? It seems to me that its also possible that the mall did not want lower income people including blacks in their nice upscale mall. Of course color would also play a role. In the Buffalo situation involving the mall, I believe race was not much of a factor.




You're not off topic. The mall I referred to in the thread was sued in part based on a racism claim. The current Walmart issue is presented like a charge of discrimination against poorer (majority of black) inner city residents. General prejudice is another thing all together.



Very unfortunate.

As a side note, I have been in Cape Girardeau a couple of times.

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Cape!? Cool! Small world.

You made me realize that it is a problem with low income people, which turn out to be a black majority, which in my mind is a very distinct difference.

The mall was The Galleria, I don't know if you recall that mall. Their official stance unfortunately I don't know. In my mind it went to court for the very reason these court cases are being filed - being unfair to the lower income. To be fair, when this first opened, there were way more police and security calls to the mall. However, it has been years, and now everything is peaceful and everyone behaves well. In fact, you can tell people dress up, lower or higher income, when they are entering that mall. So it has worked out for the best.

sookster said:

Cape!? Cool! Small world.

You made me realize that it is a problem with low income people, which turn out to be a black majority, which in my mind is a very distinct difference.

The mall was The Galleria, I don't know if you recall that mall. Their official stance unfortunately I don't know. In my mind it went to court for the very reason these court cases are being filed - being unfair to the lower income. To be fair, when this first opened, there were way more police and security calls to the mall. However, it has been years, and now everything is peaceful and everyone behaves well. In fact, you can tell people dress up, lower or higher income, when they are entering that mall. So it has worked out for the best.

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Way to keep an open mind! And, glad it worked out for your area.

Yes, I do know the Galleria. I was at the Cape for a total of 4 weeks. Last time was when the Mississippi was at flood stage. It was interesting.