Statement from the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce

The mission of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, of which Walmart is a member, is to make our region the most business-friendly in America and enhance our members’ success through programs in advocacy, member benefits, services and actionable information. The Chamber proudly supports the effort to bring businesses including a Walmart to the south side of Chicago, which would create hundreds of jobs, millions in tax revenues and provide access to fresh fruit and produce.

As part of our support on this issue, we have delegated our own resources to create and manage a Web site called www.ourcommunityourchoice.com to provide the latest information on the Walmart issue to the public and help connect the public to their Alderman. We named this Web site based on the large amount of community support for the south side Walmart as illustrated in several polls, (including our own). We have always clearly stated the Chamber’s involvement on its homepage and in countless briefings with our diverse stakeholders. We also issued a press release on July 28, 2009 explaining the “Our Community. Our Choice” platform.  Take a look at the entire poll we did by clicking here.

We also work in partnership with others to provide support in fighting inaccuracies and misinformation published in the blogosphere about our issues. Posts are made using our email address which is wechoose@ourcommunityourchoice.com. If you have any feedback for us, please don’t hesitate to drop us a note at this address. Walmart also maintains its own advocacy Web site which can be found at http://chicago.walmartcommunity.com/.