The Sun-Times reported recently that the Chicago City Council and union leaders are questioning the timing of Ald. Howard Brookins’ plea for a vote to build a new Wal-Mart Store in his South Side ward. “Why now?” they ask. Why now? How about the fact that during the worst economic crisis in over a quarter century, Wal-Mart is willing to bring 500 permanent jobs, hundreds of high-paying union construction jobs and $5 million in sales tax revenue to our cash-strapped city coffers? Or that a South Side Wal-Mart would provide quality groceries and fresh produce to residents living in a food desert to help alleviate the scourge of chronic disease plaguing our poorest neighborhoods?