Small Townie - Urban Assault

Urban Outfitters: Ventura Mayor Weir - Soft on Sweatshops

VIEW Issue 12, Mar. 2009: Ventura Mayor Christy Weir is urging Venturans to “shop local” so that their retail “tax” dollar will be ‘kept’ local. What about the larger picture of non-local chain retail outlets who send their (our ?) dollars overseas? (This Article http://bit.ly/2gNcxmG)

Philadelphia based “yuppities” Urban Outfitters are at it again. Shamelessly refusing to publicly disclose a code of conduct or policies that incorporates International Labor Organization conventions (Source: New Mexico Business Weekly), unlike competitors the Gap, Limited Brands, and American Eagle, Outfitters say that they only “hope” their suppliers adhere to child labor laws and forced labor prohibitions.

Comforting to know that your made-in-china jeans and wanna-be-cool t-shirts were made by volunteer child labor....After all, children should be kept quiet and busy, idle fingers are the devil’s workshop.

Marketing to the mainstream buyer who wants to delude themselves into thinking they are crossing the line to buy something truly coooool, they market their own “private” labels to make you think they are designer clothing.

Made in America might describe the actual shoppers at Urban Outfitters, but most of their vendors are overseas. Just to make you feel confident though, they assure the buyers that no more than 10 percent of their merchandise comes from any one supplier. This is protection for the buyer in case of a riot, military coup, increase in export tariff or any other event which might interrupt the flow of crap...er clothing. Now that’s spreading the wealth wayyy out of town…

While “Urban Outfitter touting” Weir is head-in-the-clouds smiling and telling the Ventura Cowtown Public that there are at least two new businesses opening every month in Ventura… is she also counting the three that are closing? Perhaps we can give some of those vacant buildings to Urban Outfitters so they can give some of their manufacturing er jobs to Californians?

Speaking of children, if the Ventura City Council has it’s glutenous tax-us-to-get-city hall-outa-self-made-living-hell way and, after losing a fortune by gambling with taxpayer money ($10 Million Ventura TAXPAYER dollars not-so-frugally LOST one year ago (not in the recent crash) due to their mismanaged Bear Stearns (BS) HIGH-RISK “investment” bank debt obligations; (wheela-deala get-rich-quick- scheme), your children will be paying off Ventura’s idiotic financial incompetence for years to come. As the “council” tries to play catch up, (with your wallet as their catch-all), using various implements such as huge sales tax increase gimmicks, paid parking meters and grandiose visions of taxpayer ignorance.

And what does Ivory Tower Mayor Christy have to say about it all, to quote a Feb. 1 Time-Warner piece,“I just love driving ‘down there’ and seeing the new streets….um, they’ve all been repaved. And all the um lights we have called ‘festival lighting,’ they make the downtown look you know brighter at night, you know, more fun. All year round now, not just for the holidays. And we have new benches for people to rest on while they’re eating their ice cream or sipping their coffee….We love to encourage people to shop locally in Ventura because the City of Ventura gets a portion of the sales tax and that tax goes right back to our city parks, our police, our fire, all that. But it’s not only for that, but it’s for the feel of community…”

– Joel Anderson, editor

SOURCE: VIEW Issue 12, Mar, 2009
LINK: NewVIEWWebsite
LINK: Classic VIEW Website
LINK CONTACT: © 2009, Ojai and Ventura VIEW.com