1,500 Amazon jobs? No thanks, says Bolingbrook mayor – Crain’s

Amazon wants to build an 825,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Bolingbrook that would employ 1,500 people. “I told them I wouldn’t support it when they met with us,” said Mayor Roger Claar. “Then they closed two weeks later.”

Claar adamantly opposes Amazon’s plans for 119 acres of land it recently acquired in the southwest suburb, saying the 825,000-square-foot fulfillment center the e-commerce giant wants to build there would be too tall and unsightly. He worries that truck traffic from the property would choke a nearby intersection on Interstate 55. And all those jobs? At about $15 per hour, they wouldn’t pay enough.
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Illinois Entrepreneur
4 years ago

This casual “f- you” attitude towards business is what permeates Illinois. It will only disappear when bond buyers will no longer buy local and state bonds, supporting this debt riddled nonsense. Yes, if the site has aesthetic problems, or there are issues, work them out! Don’t act like a cocky ass and tell everyone in the news what a virtuous corporate slayer you are. And as for the $15 minimum wage, I can tell that this mayor has never owned or run a business. What does he think that EVERYONE will be at $15/hr? Does he not understand that facilities… Read more »

nixit
4 years ago

The Old Chicago site has bee a pock mark on Bolingbrook since it closed 4 decades ago. I’m not sure what else would go there other than a distribution center.

debtsor
4 years ago

The ‘living wage’ angle is the progressive angle for these things days but what he what is really saying is that he doesn’t want 1,500 stoners buying legal weed in Romeoville coming into Bolingbrook for their midnight shift at Amazon, not when he’s got some major manufacturers with high paying jobs in town. As for the 9-10 story building with no windows, yeah, that’s pretty obscene, no town wants that. I’d rather see Amazon hire some local talent to build robots to run the place.

Anonymous
4 years ago

Good for you mayor Claar, stand up for what is right. Wish mayor in romeoville had some you know what. Would you like rib fest because 90% of the people in romeoville don’t want it and never had any input.

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