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Enough bang for bucks?

Niagara Gazette, By Timothy Chipp, October 12, 2011. A new study released Wednesday is shedding some light on “wasteful spending” happening in Niagara County development. The report addresses a lack of sufficient return New York residents are seeing on their billions of dollars invested in development each year, Magavern said.


‘Yay’ to bike-sharing, ‘nay’ to Walmart

Downtown Express, Aline Reynolds, October 12, 2011. Representatives from Walmart Free NYC also appeared at the committee meeting to rail against the opening of the national chain in Lower Manhattan and elsewhere around the city out of fear that the stores will jeopardize the existence of local mom-and-pop shops. In the coming months, the group is hoping to start a “shop local” campaign Downtown and elsewhere to assist the local businesses.


New York City poverty rate rises

Queens Ledger, by Lisa A. Fraser, Oct 04, 2011. The poverty rate citywide has risen in the last year, reports the United States Census Bureau, with one in five New Yorkers now living below the poverty line. According to the Census, the one in five translates to a family of three earning less than $18,000 a year.


Economic hardships hit boro hard: Census

Times Ledger, By Joe Anuta, September 30, 2011. Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau last week painted a bleak economic picture of Queens, where one in seven residents lives below the federal poverty line and the percentage of residents who are struggling to meet basic needs is far higher.



Wal-Mart’s Manhattan Project

The Huffington Post, by Al Norman, September 25, 2011. Unlike the top secret Manhattan Project in the 1940s, which produced the first atomic bomb, Wal-Mart has made no attempt to hide its ambition to carpet bomb all five boroughs of Manhattan with its stores. But a new study this week says that for the giant retailer to match the market share it has across America, Wal-Mart would have to open 159 stores in New York City -- and nearly 14,000 jobs would be lost at other merchants. This would be the retail equivalent of an atomic bomb dropped on the retail economy in Gotham.


The Latest from the Census

WNYC, by Brian Lehrer, September 23, 2011. WNYC reporters, Arun Venugopal and Cindy Rodriguez, talk about what the latest census numbers say about poverty levels and other demographic measurements in New York City and the U.S.


New Study: Walmart Could Open an Estimated 159 Stores in NYC

“The Walmartization of New York City,” a new study released today by ALIGN, a New York-based nonprofit organization, reveals that Walmart's growth plans for New York City could lead the company to open an estimated 159 stores here, most of them smaller format stores designed for urban areas, a finding consistent with Walmart’s oft-repeated declaration that it is evaluating opportunities for new stores across the five boroughs.


New Yorkers Still Struggling as Poverty Rate Climbs

Newly released Census Bureau statistics, including poverty data released today, show that the economic recovery has not yet reached New Yorkers. A significant and growing percentage of New York City’s individuals and families continue to live in poverty. Nearly half of individuals living in poverty worked full or part time jobs in 2010. Racial disparities in earnings remain high and household incomes have fallen.


Bloomberg’s Record on Poverty

Gotham Gazette, by Gail Robinson, September 22, 2011. For many months, the Bloomberg administration has boasted that as poverty rose elsewhere in the country, it remained constant here, thanks in part to his policies. Unfortunately, he can no longer say that.