The Great Chicago Ire

Everyone: 1, Amazon: 343,123,653, which, I mean, still pretty bad, but hey, at least they won this one, right? Which one? Why this one: the City of Chicago's Park District moved a bank of Amazon lockers they for some reason--ok, money, but we'll get to that--agreed to instal in the middle of the sidewalk. Like, just right there, bolted to the concrete.

"Are you for goddamn kidding me?"

-Everyone who tried to

squeeze past this

Remember when they were content
to just run bookstores out of business?

The lockers, which we're supposed to refer to as an Amazon Hub™Locker System, are, well, lockers where packages can be securely delivered or picked up. They have some at convenience stores and other businesses and I was apartment hunting recently and I saw a place that advertised a Hub as a selling point. And I guess it's slightly less invasive than say, letting the delivery person open your door and come in to your home, which is another "service" the company offers, but it's still an unsettling reminder that they have their tentacles everywhere.

"You left out the part where I get a
cool hat and go to space, but yeah, that's
pretty much been my business model."

-Jeff Bezos

While part of the public outrage in Chicago was practical; the lockers blocked park access, especially for people in wheelchairs. It also came from the idea that public spaces should be free of commercialism. The petition that went around referred to Amazon as a predatory business and it is. They can sell things for less because they underpay workers and they don't have to pay for overhead (or taxes). This kills brick and mortar retail, leaving more people unemployed and desperate, leading to crime like porch piracy, hence the need for the lockers. Am I warm? 

Ok, people wanted them gone because they're a business-y eyesore in what's supposed to be a retreat for city-dwellers. But I guess what I'm left with is utter bewilderment at how anyone at the Park District could have thought that everyone would just be cool with these things? Turns out it's money. Try to act surprised. 

"Whaaaa?"

-No one

"Our aim was simply to improve the park
by utilizing otherwise wasted green space."

-Amazon (probably)

According to Alderwoman Rosanna Rodriguez, whose office took the brunt of the complaints, it's a case of a municipality desperate for income:

"When you have public institutions that are not well-funded, and can't function with the budget they're provided by the government, they need to look for other sources of revenue. This is how we get a company like Amazon to have a presence in our public parks. It's disheartening."

-Rosanna Rodriguez on the corporate 

dystopia we're sliding towards

Yup. Disheartening is the word, although the fact that the reaction and subsequent removal was so swift (it took like three days from tweetstorm to crowbar) gives me some hope--like, the faintest hint of a whiff of hope, but still quantifiably hope--that we've not completely surrendered to our hyper capitalistic overlords.  

Remember how in Blade Runner the future was just a constant barrage
of advertisements and copora-oh, sorry, that's actually a picture of now.