Plans for building a Mall at Bronx Armory in New York have been recently rejected by City Council. In my opinion, what is relevant about this is that the reasons argued inclued the low wages that were expected being paid -$7.25 an hour (minimum wage) for many-, pay that was called “too low to support local families”.
This seems to be common in many US cities, in projects involving public money.
You may check more details at:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/nyregion/15armory.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion