202-360-4697

I just received the same pre-recorded phone call about 30 minutes ago regarding Walmart being built at 83rd and Steward in Chicago .

Same call...just got it at 7/28/09 at 4:47 CST...and also, to my cell.

Yep got this call on both my cell and home phone

I got a call today at 230 from that same number and I live no where near the proposed site for the new Walmart.....thanks everyone for your input...i knew 202 was DC and that made me a nervous wreck!

Wal-Mart steps up pressure on City Council
Posted by Dan P. Blake at 10 p.m.

Wal-Mart representatives tonight tried to increase the pressure on Chicago's City Council ahead of a committee hearing Wednesday where the prospect of a new South Side store could come up for debate.

A spokesman for the company announced a polling firm made automated calls today to more than 75,000 Chicagoans with a one-question recording that touted the benefits of a new Wal-Mart, including more than 400 jobs and "a wider availability of fresh groceries and other goods."


The company said the recording also said opponents "say the jobs are not good enough."
Wal-Mart officials said the results show Chicagoans overwhelmingly favor a second store for Chicago, but it's unclear whether their latest public relations push will win them converts among aldermen who have so far sided with organized labor groups that oppose the store.

Union leaders have fought hard to keep Wal-Mart out of Chicago, saying the company's wages and benefits are too low.

The company also sponsored a farmer's market last weekend at the South Side location of its proposed store. But while local Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) supports the effort, his proposal has been stuck in a council committee.

Before Wednesday's full council meeting, proponents will try to free up the plan for a future public hearing and vote. But it's unclear if that will work.