(no subject)

[artic-monkeys.livejournal.com]

Howdy,


Have you guys seen  any of this
  in Davis Square?  (Click here)

Could this help? (Click here)
 

Comments

[allthefishies.livejournal.com]

Please close the underline tag at the end of your entry: < /u > , taking out the spaces.

Thanks.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

My entire Friends page is underlined right now and I am wondering if this is why. Even my username in the upper corner is underlined!

[ron_newman]

I'm using Firefox and not seeing any such problem.

[allthefishies.livejournal.com]

I do believe it depends on your friends layout - certain layouts are affected, others not. My friends page is affected after this entry. The davis_square journal page is not.

It's a minor annoyance, is all.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

That must be it - only entries under this one are underlined. Weird!

[artic-monkeys.livejournal.com]

I originally used the "rich text" button, not html to create the link and underline it. I just unselected the Underline for the second link. I can't recreate the issue with my gecko based browser so you have to let me know if it is corrected.

To answer Ron, this law can be pointed to chain stores and other non-local based stores in our Squares. This leaves more of the money that we spend in the local community. Increasing profits for local restaurants and other businesses.

[allthefishies.livejournal.com]

That took care of it, thank you!

[ron_newman]

My understanding of the Chicago ordinance is that it applies only to stores that are both newly built and very large. So it might cover IKEA, but not anything in Central or Davis.

[artic-monkeys.livejournal.com]

We would write our own version tailored more to our local needs. I think it is silly when towns start using cookie cutter approaches to problems that are similar but not the exact same. Even If it covered mostly stores in Assembly Square the effect would be to bring local incomes up to the "local living wage", it would make housing more affordable, and keep more money local rather than go to the high paying jobs where these stores are based out of.

[ron_newman]

While a "Big Box Living Wage Ordinance" may be a good idea, I'm not sure how it would 'help' either Central Square or Davis Square, neither of which have (or ever will have) big-box retail stores.

[arcanology.livejournal.com]

Proper decscriptions help get people who are not incredibly bored to actually look at your links.

I'm not bored enough to click on them, yet just bored enough to note that this post was content free as written.

[foxalbers.livejournal.com]

I think it's interesting to note that some communities back where I used to live, New Jersey, have seen their downtowns obliterated not necessarily by Starbucks, but by the springing up of law offices, mortgage and realty companies, and banks.

While they do prevent the worst possible scenario -- abandoned buildings -- none of the above really foster interest in the downtown the way that a real storefront can. They feed off the energy of a bustling downtown but add nothing to it, and if there are too many of them, they can just plain kill a downtown.

Places have actually fought back with no-bank ordinances, and had some success with it. There's really no reason why any one downtown needs fourteen different banks anyway.

I won't go too much into the big box stores, if only because of my propensity to actually shop there. But I did hear just today about an interesting new way that a town in California decided to fight Walmart: they just plain took away their land by eminent domain. (http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2001070)

Usually, Walmart winds up being the beneficiary of eminent domain, which is why their cries of "eminent domain is unfair" ring kinda hollow with me...but it'll be interesting to see how the courts rule.

[ron_newman]

Harvard Square is a good example of what happens when there are too many banks in one place.

[jadelennox]

What a terrifying precedent, even though the particular story cracks me up. What if the next town over decides to take Planned Parenthood's land? The gay neighboorhood's?

That SCOTUS ruling was the only time I've ever sided with Clarence Thomas.

[ron_newman]

I don't see anything terrifying. The California town was exercising the democratic desires of its population, against an out-of-state corporation. Localism is good.

[foxalbers.livejournal.com]

I'd be terrifying if the California town was exercising the democratic desires of its population to bulldoze your house to put up a Walmart. You'd be surprised how many people would throw you to the curb just to buy a pound of cashews for $2.48 and a six pack of socks for $1.27.

Eminent domain should be used as sparingly as possible, at least in my opinion, because the concept seems distinctly un-American.

[ron_newman]

That's why I made the distinction of "against an out-of-state corporation". Corporations do not deserve the same unfettered property rights as residents.

[jadelennox]

But legally corporations do have those rights, since 1886, according to Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad. My point is that it's all well and good that in this particular case a town has used this SCOTUS decision in a way you and I agree with. But it sets a precedent of behaviour for the completely legal and supported by the SCOTUS potential of Somerville deciding that a Wal-Mart would be better for the town than the Diesel and enacting eminent domain accordingly. This is why Kelo was so frightening.

Again, I hate to side with Clarence Thomas, but his Kelo dissent is well worth reading.

Wal-Mart could have been stopped by zoning laws, rather than by something which smacks damn near of theft and is meant to be used in a condition of last resort. Eminent domain has historically been used as a weapon against the poor and against minorities. Been to Charles River Park lately?

I can be gleeful that a bad law is being used by the good guys, while still fearful of what it means for the future.

[foxalbers.livejournal.com]

Or worse yet, maybe Somerville could bulldoze Diesel just to allow Jimmy Tingle the ability to expand.

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

What if the out-of-state corporation was a progressive company that supported, say, domestic partnership benefits, and the local community was, say, Topeka, Kansas? Sometimes, majoritarianism is a good thing, and sometimes, majorities suck.

[jadelennox]

I was going to be annoyed at your post, but I am mollified and amused by the fact that your icon is an actual sock puppet. Go, self-awareness!