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Rally against Whole Foods in JP scheduled for Monday 6 pm. By whom?
By deselby on Sun, 02/27/2011 - 5:35pm
A group calling themselves "The Coalition for an Affordable and Diverse JP" or "Whose Foods?" is organizing a rally tomorrow at 6 pm at Mozart Park, Mozart and Centre Streets. Who are they?
View Map Mozart and Centre Streets
The stated purpose of the rally is to oppose the opening of a Whole Foods market at the site of the Hi-Lo Market. According to its website, http://whosefoods.org/ the group will rally and then proceed to the JP Neighborhood Council meeting at the Kennedy School at 7 pm.
A Herald story http://bit.ly/hP60Zx and a Globe story http://bo.st/gtP2Xr today quote a Rosa Nin, a Jen Kiok, a Rosaldo Solis, and a Christy Pardew saying they are members of the group. Google reveals: Rosa Nin works from the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations. Jen Kiok is the Executive Director of Spontaneous Celebrations. Christy Pardew is Communications Director of Resist, Inc., a non-profit which funds small grants to "social justice" projects. Rosaldo Solis "heads the Latin American Family Culture Network" according to the Globe story. In other words, all of the identified members are affiliated with non-profits more or less dependent on government grantmakers or private donors. Nothing wrong with that, but why aren't any of these leaders ordinary residents not tied to these groups?
The "Whose Foods?" website is very slick and loads fast. It has embedded videos of suitably sympathetic elderly Latina ladies talking about how Whole Foods will cause their rents to be raised and how they won't be able to buy the foods they like. The videos have movie-quality subtitles. The domain name "whosefoods.org" is registered to an anonymous proxy with a Paris address. There is also a Facebook page for the group at http://www.facebook.com/whosefoods . The Facebook page indicates the group has been doing phone banking this weekend for a turnout to the rally. To me, all of this indicates a very high degree of sophistication and copious funding. Looks like astroturf to me - a corporate or PAC funded "grassroots" movement with links to non-profits and government.
Spontaneous Celebrations gets money from the City of Boston, Community Development Corporations get money from federal, state and Boston governments. Who knows where Resist, Inc., and the Latin American Family Culture Network get money from?
Why are they doing this and what do they hope to accomplish?
There is the stated reason - to oppose gentrification. Valid, but just about every business opened on Centre Street in the last ten years has catered to the new JP gentry. I didn't see anyone protesting when Kennedy's was replaced by City Feed and Supply, or when Ten Tables expanded.
There is the possible anti-competitive aspect. Are any of these groups funded by or otherwise friendly with the groceries which would lose business to Whole Foods?
There is the political aspect. Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez has made statements opposing Whole Foods in the past. He stands to lose if the Latino voter base from Hyde to Jackson Square is eroded by gentrification. Ironically, or hypocritically, he moved from Armstrong Street in the Hi-Lo end of his district, to posh Moss Hill in the always-gentrified other end of his district.
Another possible political aspect is to punish the CEO of Whole Foods, John Mackey, for his statements against the Obama health care law.
There is the shakedown aspect. Who might want to extract donations and in-kind benefits from Whole Foods? The list is long, starting with city government, politicians, and runs through the non-profits.
According to the law, there would seem to be little that could be accomplished by this "activism." This is legally and essentially the change of ownership of a supermarket. There can't be any zoning issues, unless Whole Foods wants to change the size of the lot. The only licenses needed are of the Common Victualler type, which should be granted as of right according to the legal criteria, which Whole Foods will undoubtedly satisfy. But when did the law ever matter in Menino's Boston?
This bears watching, and promises to be entertaining. If this is what is out in the open, what's being said behind closed doors?
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Comments
Really?
Spontaneous Celebrations and Resist are astroturf and Whole Foods is the underdog? Seriously?
Seriously.
Yes.
a little calrity around roles
I called Spontaneous Celebrations and the person who answered the phone said Jen Kiok hasn't worked there since Fall 2010 if not earlier.
Spontaneous Celebrations is an authentic JP organization
There is no basis for your attack on them. They produce the very successful Wake Up the Earth festival every spring.
Their activity probably won't prevent Whole Foods from opening, but if it makes them more responsive to community needs (what you call a 'shakedown'), good for them.
Wow - for an "article"
Wow - for an "article" attacking individuals' motives without a chance to respond, you would think the author would at least sign their name so everyone else could google them and opine about their equally spurious motives.
He did sign his name -
He did sign his name - Deselby.
that's not a name
that's not a name
Right. And Eeka, Swirlygrl,
Right. And Eeka, Swirlygrl, Kaz, Anonymous, JPSouth etc are all real names.
I am a troll. ^ | | | No one
I am a troll.
^
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No one can do this to me. I'm a registered user so I'm protected from Uhub identity theft.
You just named a bunch of people and I know EXACTLY who you are talking about.
Geppetto, when will I be a REAL person?
It's not my legal name, no, but in under five minutes of googling you should be able to find my legal name, my home address, my phone number, etc.
I'm not out to hide who I am; I'm just going for one-way slight anonymity, in that a client or someone who googles my name won't immediately find, say, my UHub account, but someone who sees what I post on UHub can very easily figure out my legal name and see my other stuff.
Oh, and going to my neighborhood and asking around if anyone knows eeka would also locate me pretty easily.
Heh.
So says "anon (not verified)".
Lets see if everyone here
Lets see if everyone here will be as supportive for this rally as they were for the previous rallies over the past week. Or maybe thier quest for Social Justice stops at their opportunities to shop for Mojo bars or Flax cereals in their neighborhood..
The quest for social justice
Stopped at the donation jar. Spontaneous Celebrations and Bikes Not Bombs just got cut in for a bit of the profits, according to last night's meeting. Those groups will live to fight another day, just not against Whole Foods.
Wanker
One thing you see more and more of is right-leaning or outright right-wing groups using the tactics that have been used by the left for years. Glenn Beck has been doing it (in between certifiably insane paranoiac rantings) and Fox frequently does it and this article is a variation of it. No idea if deselby is right-wing or libertarian or a Tea Partier or just a "concerned citizen" but this article fits a pattern.
(Disclosure: I have nothing against Whole Foods, but don't shop there. I don't necessarily support what Whose Foods group is doing but I'm not against it either. Gentrification is a nasty thing, but it's been going on for a while in JP and if what people have is a problem with corporate gentrification, as opposed to entrepreneurial gentrification, well that's a different conversation.)
Anyways, this thing reads like Toxic Sludge is Good for You, with shadowy relations and hints -- "their web site is well designed and loads quickly...must be a front for the Maoists!!" But instead of shadowy connections to people (corporations) with money who have something to gain, its community folks who have secret connections to the back doors of big power progressive money (which, incidentally doesn't exist). To think that CDCs and "community-based" non-profits like Spontaneous Celebrations are somehow tapped into hidden progressive power structures and funding sources is quite laughable. Now if you want to draw a connection between the more corporate non-profits which would include good organizations like Boys and Girls Clubs and their links to local Meninonomics and political clout (hello Mr. Fish, thanks for the check) -- you might have a nice investigative piece going.
But in this case the thought that this part of some larger sinister granola conspiracy is just Beckian in its assininity.
Make any assumption you want
Have at it, you can assume for the purposes of argument that I'm paid by Whole Foods.
That will not change the facts I wrote about the non-profit affiliations of the "activists" involved, the non-profits' connection to government donors, the past statements of Rep. Sanchez against Whole Foods, Boston zoning and licensing law, or the anonymous registry of "Whose Foods?" slick website.
You can also assume that Whole Foods wants to build its supermarket to make money. It would be a stretch to believe that Whole Foods has any other motive. They are not building a supermarket to change the neighborhood, elect officials, evict elderly Latinas, or anything else. The opponents, on the other hand, could have several motives, as I said.
As for Spontaneous Celebrations, I once defended them in a case of other shadowy agendas, here: http://www.universalhub.com/2010/gay-friendly-cent...
I've got nothing against them or non-profits in general. Then as now, I'm aware that a stated purpose might not encompass all purposes of a movement, some purposes might be undisclosed.
I'm just watching and wondering whether the law will be subverted and an investment in a community that needs jobs stymied.
Agree in part
I agree with your assessment that this group's activities to date reflect an expenditure of some nontrivial amount of money and other resource (my guess: $5K-$10K). It is worth asking who is paying for it and to what end.
No one expects Hi-Lo to reopen, and Whole Foods really doesn't need anyone's permission to move into the space. If this is really an effort to extract some money or other concessions from Whole Foods, the leaders of the effort ought to be up front about that.
Cui bono?
$5K - $10K? That's a lot of money for a "grassroots" organization purporting to represent the poor to raise in a short period of time.
How many resources paid for by government grant money are being used in this effort? For example, according to newsletters posted on its website, Spontaneous Celebrations gets grant money from the "Mayor's office," and they were running the phone bank to turn out people for the demonstration today. Money is fungible.
scale
Your point is right on, but seems a bit misplaced. The non-profit sector can be just as seedy and cheezey as defense contractors, but the scale differences are huge. In this case any local political interests are exceedingly small in relation to the pockets of Whole Foods or whatever.
No one doubts that Whole Foods is there to make money. No one doubts that a small business owner who opens up a froo-froo restaurant is doing so for the same reasons. People's fears about gentrification pricing people out of the neighborhood who have lived there for years (or generations) get far more fired up when it's a corporate chain, symbolic of bourgeois consumer tastes as opposed to a small business (that is no less bourgeois or indicative of a changing neighborhood). Some of these people have gotten together to voice these fears and you seem to think it's part of a larger cabal of local politicians looking to either control the demographics of the n'hood or to squeeze concessions out of the corporate chain that's coming to town (which shouldn't be too hard as I understand the Whole Foods usually makes being a good corporate community member part of their image).
I don't understand why. If you have a hunch or proof of something come out and say it. Otherwise you end up sounding more like a Tea Bagger not wanting his tax money to go to "those people." Someone guesses as to the cost of a web site/on-line campaign and you're saying that's beyond the budget of a community-based non-profit. Maybe not one in a community where there are many artsy types with the technical skills to produce something like this. If your axe to grind is non-profits receiving some grants from the local, state or Federal government, why not take that head on?
You could be entirely correct about it, but even then, how is this different from local Sports Teams using non-profits as PR tools or construction firms with substantial business in the city contributing to charitable efforts that burnish the image of the mayor and his projects? There's some serious money there, but we're talking about a supposed "$5-10K" investment in a JP pissing match?
Some things don't need to be said
Since I don't know where the money is coming from, I can't show a smoking gun indicating one clear motive.
There may not be a clearly articulated "conspiracy," but rather a shared consciousness or subconsciousness within this group and their affiliated non-profits and political allies. As Martin Lomasney said, "Never write if you can speak; never speak if you can nod; never nod if you can wink." This might be more of a nod or a wink among the opponents to Whole Foods.
You're right, there isn't much difference between this and the mayor's extortion of money from developers and event organizers for charities that in turn "burnish the image of the mayor." It's that climate that makes the opponents feel they have some chance of success, in that the non-profits and CDCs are among those who are Menino's political auxiliaries. In fact, in one of the earliest stories about this, it was reported that Menino demanded a "private meeting" with the Whole Foods people.
I disagree with your ideas on scale. Yes, Whole Foods is a big company. But to them, this is about one store and its potential profitability vs. the degree of expense and political risk. That's all. On the other hand, you have CDCs, "Task Forces," and social service non-profits funneling government money up to the millions and politicians whose future is at stake in the composition of that neighborhood.
My hunch is that the opposition is driven by a shared consciousness that if Whole Foods gets in, the Hyde Square area will further gentrify, their political ally Rep. Sanchez could lose his seat, and the raison d'etre for these poverty agencies will disappear. Sanchez can't come out four-square against, but his role to date can be characterized as "concern trolling," as in “This neighborhood carried the Hispanic consciousness and still does. The question is, where does Whole Foods fit into the character of this community? Is it going to affect rents in the neighborhood? Is it going to affect property values?” http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/201...
The wild card would be a large check from one of JP's existing grocery stores, or from a political organization, but it's certainly possible.
Councilor Arroyo
For those who didn't attend the first JPNC meeting, here is Whole Foods shopper, At-Large City Councilor Felix Arroyo, organizing the Whose Foods crowd against Whole Foods. Amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC_Tt9ohzaQ
Add Arroyo to the list of suspects
He's obviously got a motive to preserve his ethnic voter base.
That was a pretty blatant call for obstruction and shakedowns.
He also mentioned Tony Barros of the Mayor's office as an organizer of this.
Cable talk
Here's a video clip of Tony Barros from the mayor's office expressing "concerns" and apparently getting ready to dismiss the idea there's nothing that can stop Whole Foods.
http://www.youtube.com/user/javierjmarin#p/u/1/496...
It's safe to assume the mayor gave him the party line beforehand.
Arroyo and Sanchez are also there.
hmm.. intriguing...
Interesting... I don't necessarily disagree with you. But I do feel it's unlikely, mainly because it's hard to get progressive types to really be organized even in unconsciousness. (As my Dad would say "they couldn't organize a shit-fight" -- I still don't know what exactly that means, but I think it applies.)
I don't think any CDC is trying to keep its community in poverty so they can continue to have work, even unconsciously. And for some (NOAH in Eastie) they've recognized gentrification and the lack of cheap properties to rehab by looking outside of Boston to produce "worker housing." Definitely CDCs are real estate businesses with a community development appendage. They do receive some government funds, but they are still dwarfed by private developers.
In the end I have no idea who could be "behind" this, if in fact there is any "this" to be behind (conscious or otherwise). But it's good to know that people are paying attention.
But isn't this highly organized?
If you are right, and it is hard to get progressive types to really be organized, wouldn't that be a reason why this smells funny?
Within a few weeks, an organization has been formed, themes developed, videos have been professionally shot and subtitled, domain names registered anonymously, servers and bandwidth procured, websites designed, and phone banks and media (Spanish language radio and interviews in the major daily newspapers) deployed. Someone is extremely motivated.
In form and style, the website resembles the type of websites generated in a PR campaigns that might be described in the book you mentioned, "Toxic Waste Is Good For You." Except that it is more anonymous than most of them.
If there weren't people profiting off of poverty, the term "poverty pimp" would not be so commonplace - do a Google search of it.
Uh, are you for real? Did you
Uh, are you for real? Did you know that you can purchase a domain, server space and bandwidth for $17 a year through wordpress.com, and all you have to do is log in, click buttons and enter really basic code in order to have an incredibly snazzy-looking website? Do you think nobody within this group can afford to donate $20 and get change back, or that they can't find seventeen people to throw in one dollar each? Did you know that there are tons of artists and filmmakers and website designers/developers in and around JP who are happy to donate their time and resources to causes like this, or to do it on the cheap, or to do it for free and turn it in as college credit, or to do it for free in order to claim it as a resume point? Did you know that it's really easy to 'deploy' media when someone wants to consume it, because websites like the Globe and the Herald make advertising money from page hits, which stories about the Whole Foods controversy provide in droves?
This is the most hilarious conspiracy theory I've heard in a long time. For real. Glenn Beck called and he wants his conspiracy theory back, so you should get on that posthaste. You should also take an Internet 101 class, because this article is laughable to anyone who knows even the most basic information about blogging, social networking, et cetera.
Also, "poverty pimp?" Really? I hope you're aware that throwing around terms like that makes you sound like a terrible person to plenty of people reading this.
Also-also, who posts articles on the internet without signing their name to them? Why don't you back your incredibly bizarre, borderline slanderous, outlandish theories up? I'm writing my (real, non-made-up) name above and posting my email address, which is about one hundred times more gutsy than any sentence in this troll rant you just posted.
In summary, there is plenty of room for discussion on all sides of the Whole Foods debate. I think most of us out there are all about it; Jamaica Plain has thrived on that for decades. This "article"(if one can call it that), however, is ridiculous and uncalled for. You haven't one iota of evidence to back up anything you've said here. I'm grateful that it's so out there and bizarre that nobody will fall for it unless they're total fruitcakes.
welcome to the hornets nest
News Flash!!!! JP is filled with artists n activists. Both have high levels of tech savvy. Oh and they have that other annoying thing on their side.....
Yep, it's called history...
and history has told us that when gentrification comes, the artists and activists sell out as quickly as possible. Your group sold out for a measly 5% of the take. All along, there were two competing interests in the Whole Foods opposition: The "artists and activists" who didn't like the idea of a chain coming in and the Hispanic community that has concerns about its way of life going away. I didn't think the former would sell the latter down river that quickly, but 5% of Whole Foods' per-store annual sales (estimated by the company at $28 million on average) is a healthy $1.4 million that those charities won't need to raise on their own.
Whose Foods? isn't a protest, it's a negotiation. I wonder if the ladies in the videos will receive any of that $1.4 million as thanks for their services.
Still not buying it
If Mayor Menino is against Whole Foods moving to JP, all he'd have to do is make a public statement saying so. That would be a lot easier than cobbling together some coalition of local residents and nonprofits to speak on his behalf, as you seem to be suggesting.
If the 'Whose Foods?' folk succeed in getting most of the Hi-Lo employees rehired by Whole Foods, and Whole Foods pledges to sell some of the Latino foods that have disappeared from the neighborhood with Hi-Lo's closing .... that will be a sufficient accomplishment.
What, and subject the city to a lawsuit?
Menino's pretty heavy handed, demanding a "private meeting" with Whole Foods, but he's not that unsubtle.
This is something that Whole Foods and the owners of the property appear to have a legal right to do.
If he made a public statement against it, wouldn't that be Exhibit A in a lawsuit over any Licensing Department or Inspectional Services delays and impositions driving up Whole Foods costs?
Anyways, as I said, it's not just or even primarily the mayor behind this. It's a case of groupthink and converging interests, with some substantial money.
That's the question
John-W writes:
People's fears about gentrification pricing people out of the neighborhood who have lived there for years (or generations) get far more fired up when it's a corporate chain ... Some of these people have gotten together to voice these fears ...
But that's the question, isn't it? Is this actually a concern shared by significant numbers of long-term JP residents, or is it an effort that's being orchestrated to extract corporate donations from Whole Foods or for some other purpose?
If you have a hunch or proof of something come out and say it.
Not to speak for deselby, but it seems that the basis for his/her hunch is as follows:
1) The "Whose Foods?" group's activities to date suggest a significant expenditure of resources on somebody's part. Ever tried to put together a web page for a nonprofit? A phone bank? It usually takes some money. Not six figures, to be sure, but not pass-the-hat kind of money.
2) The leadership of the group aren't a group of random JP residents -- they are leaders of significant local nonprofits.
3) If the effort is to "stop gentrification" or to "stop Whole Foods" it seems obviously doomed: WF doesn't need anyone's permission to open a grocery store in a location where another grocery store just closed. That suggests that the group's actual intention might be to accomplish something else.
4) The ownership of the whosefoods.org domain has been deliberately obfuscated.
That said, and for what it's worth, I think it is extremely unlikely that any competing grocery store is involved in this effort.
I am not so sanguine
Plenty of things which should have no lawful problem getting opened or built get obstructed in this city.
I think Boston's been rather moribund in the last few years for this reason - the mayor's shakedowns and micromanagement of private development are a drag.
Now that's the economy's poor, you'd think that they'd want to support the tax base.
Maybe not sanguine
..but dogged, yes. Why are you both SO interested in this particular case? I mean between casinos at Suffolk Downs, the Big Dig and any number of Menino-related development debacles there are more than a few examples of Boston-style politics either buggering development or lining the pockets of a few at the expense of the public and common good of the city. Granted, the spectacle of gentrifiers decrying obvious, un-hip corporate gentrification, or of windmill-tilting idealists defending a store they may have never frequented is good blood sport for Herald columnists, but the stakes are pretty unimpressive.
Do you think the fortunes of Arroyo, Sanchez or any other Latino politician hinges on one supermarket? How much money could possibly be squeezed out of Whole Foods before they just slide the damn thing down the street to a less pain in the ass but still accessible location? (full disclosure: I don't live in JP nor do I work for or belong to any of the organizations involved. I actually don't care too much about the subject either, but your conspiratorial narrative caught my fancy...only after so many posts I'm boring the shit out of myself, so I can't imagine how you must feel...)
It's a diversion, commenting on blogs.
Might as well be interested in something, and I'm tired of people who think they can exercise control over everything in a neighborhood.
Whomever Deselby is, he/she
Whomever Deselby is, he/she sure is on to something. The JPNDC and Arroyo-Sanchez are up to something and it smells like shit to me too. I think it is some extremely small potatoes--but I think that's all they're good for anyhow. It would be enough for them to score a few political points (they are going to lose more than they will gain from this and they have to know it by now--but it's too late for them to stop), to show off for their "progressive" pals, and I suspect JPNDC has an interest for the same reasons Arroyo-Sanchez do, but there also must be a some money involved--maybe nothing like a cheque, but rather a desire to keep things the way they are so the "redevelopment" money keeps rolling in. If you're a JP resident and you want to live in a safe and decent place you have got to have nothing between your ears if you support these clowns and their misguided agenda to--what? Keep a stinking grocery store in business that went out of business? WTF?
$$$$$$
Didnt spend a dime we paid up front with genuine love for the commmunity.
Ahem
As we found out at the meeting last night, that's "genuine love" from a community, not the community. The community -- you know, all of JP and not just the part railing against newcomers, pondsiders and the other "gentrifiers" -- seemed pretty evenly split on the Whole Foods issue.
I agree, though, that it doesn't take a whole lot of cash to set up a decent Web site with HD video of even modest production value. It's hard not to call it Astroturfing, however, when the Jamaica Plain Patch reports this:
Funny how all of those organizations are listed on the Whose Foods Facebook page. Good for them for getting a piece of the action -- especially Bikes Not Bombs -- but that statement more than implies that their resistance had a price tag attached to it. Don't say the left can't organize -- they just organized one of the best collective bargaining efforts in JP history. It paid off, too.
"Whose Foods" says they are entirely volunteer
Thanks for linking to the Patch article above. In that article, organizer Christy Pardew told me the effort was entirely volunteer, with lots of hours put in and any donations made as "in-kind."
Thanks for covering the event
The Patch is working out just fine. The status of the volunteers isn't in question. I was more curious about whether those volunteers would eventually be rewarded for their efforts if, in fact, the groups they helped came into a 5% to 10% ($1.4 million to $2.8 million) windfall as a result of this campaign.
I absolutely hate this stupid debate. I love Spontaneous Celebrations and Bikes Not Bombs and support their businesses and events whenever I can. I disagree with them on this issue, but part of me is rooting for them to take the money and put it to good use. I think their efforts in this protest will only lead to good things for each of them, but it's tough not to point out that they're fighting against something that will ultimately be good for their organizations.
Charitable giving
I read the article as indicating that the listed organizations are groups that have received grants from Whole Foods in the past, not that they are going to get future pay-outs as a "kick-back" for not putting up a stink about Whole Foods coming into their n'hood.
Which would mean that these groups are actually "biting the hand that feeds them" -- although I doubt Whole Foods grants make up a large or consistent portion of their budgets. Of course if you are already convinced that the "hippies are up to no good" you'll obviously see this as the local granola mafia shaking down the good corporate citizen. You say that this "collective bargaining" has paid off -- was there some sort of resolution from that meeting? I mean Whole Foods could open their store and then tell the folks who opposed them to go pound sand and not give them any more grants. Nothing legally could stop them. And folks like yourself will probably shop there just to spite the patchouli hordes, so I doubt their business would suffer. (me, I'm a Market Basket man.)
Usually among the patchouli hordes
BNB built my bike and gets a check from me each year. Spontaneous Celebrations introduced me to BNB in the first place through Wake Up The Earth. I actually want to see each of these organizations get something in this deal, but I wouldn't call it a shakedown. As I said, it's a negotiation.
I read the article as saying these organizations stand to receive a 5% cut of store profits, which is something that Whole Foods has at least agreed to. Isn't that what the opposition wants? Investment in the community, jobs for the Hi Lo employees (seven hired so far)? Isn't that what this debate is all about?
I'm not one who sees this in the extreme sides that the poles of this debate has taken. If Whole Foods wanted to come in, steamroll and tell everyone to "pound sand" (a phrase that should definitely enter the UHub glossary given the frequency with which it's used here), it would have done so. If the entire JP community was opposed to this, WF would already be packing its bags as K-Mart, D'Angelo and Domino's have done before.
The answer's in the middle and negotiating, bargaining and agreeing to viable solutions that benefit all sides is what's going on as everyone else shouts at each other. If there's money on the table for local organizations, and that money's guaranteed every year at the percentage mentioned, the organizations would be crazy not to take it.
That's money that would go into the Hispanic community and help the JPNC and Harvest create the buying center and co-op in Hyde Square that could fill some of the Hi-Lo losses.
Those losses will never be completely filled because Hi-Lo is gone. However, if its replacement is amenable to investing in the community and a local shop like Harvest is willing to step in and take up the slack -- potentially in the Blessed Sacrament location -- that's a pretty good return. Whole Foods could tell them to pound sand, sure, or they could take the approach they've taking in Brighton and Fresh Pond and stock the foods that the Russian and Asian communities there asked for.
I won't shop at the Whole Foods out of spite. I'll shop there for the same reason I'll continue to shop at Harvest: To support a business in the community that's supported this community right back.
Clarification
Jen stepped down as director of Spontaneous Celebrations last year (2010), in June I believe. What was that about facts you were spouting?
Our group has mad skills and big heart, not deep pockets.....deal with it, and deal with the issues while your at it instead of muckraking.
I do not think you are paid by Whole Foods, just under the soft mind control of the Corporate States of America. (on second thought muckraking is kinda fun, but i feel a bit dirty now, is that normal?)
Crime and Poverty Have Been Eliminated in JP!
That must be the case if they are spending all this time and effort to protest a grocery store.
Gentrification is a "nasty" thing? Not for me it's not. I love it when the value of my property increases. Oh yeah, if the value of my property increases, then I get to pay more taxes on it which leads to more money for schools and other city programs. What an awful thing to happen.
Excellent piece. And I agree
Excellent piece. And I agree with your last sentence--it will definitely be (and has been) entertaining. However as a JP/Hyde Square resident I can tell you that I will NOT be amused in the (highly unlikely) event that the "Committee to Keep Jamaica Plain Ghetto" has its way...
In other news...
In other news, major record labels across the globe are scoffing at the digital music craze and beefing up their investments in brick and mortar stores.
Oh good lord people. It
Oh good lord people. It doesn't cost $5-10,000 to make a 'slick' website if you can do it yourself.
So..I don't see an outpouring
So..I don't see an outpouring of protest here by the lower income community. It's a good thing there are activists out there to speak up for these people and protect them even though they don't seem to care. Hi-Lo was a shithole....it had crappy groceries and produce...it went out of business. What should go there instead of Whole Foods...another crappy ghetto-mart eye sore? Lower income families can still buy all the stuff they got at Hi-Lo at Stop & Shop and all the smaller mom and pop stores in JP. I like the term "coalition to keep JP ghetto". Thats funny! Thats what it seems like these people want. Maybe Whole Foods will hire some of these poor downtrodden people of JP. I'm sure they pay better than Hi-Lo. Just sounds like a bunch of self righteous, activists out for there own agenda. Whole foods is great...I love shopping there...and I'm certainly not rich..or a pondsider...or whatever. I am a hardworking JP resident though, with just as much a stake in this as any other JP resident. This isn't like when they were trying to put a highway through JP in the 70's and the community rallied...now that was a fight worth fighting for...I highly doubt this absurd effort to stop WF will succeed. Sorry but the annual "Wake Up Hyde Sq" festival, resulting from the people of JP making a stand against WF, will not be happening.
Uncle Ted
This is Uncle Ted in front of the house. This is Uncle Ted at the back of the house. And this is Uncle Ted at the side of the house. This is Uncle Ted, back again at the front of the house, but you can see the side of the house. And this is Uncle Ted even nearer the side of the house, but you can still see the front. This is the back of the house, with Uncle Ted coming round the side to the front. And this is a troll hiding behind the coal shed.
Or maybe it's one of the guys from JP Electric
who kicks my ass at trivia at Costello's on a regular basis. Or Penshorn. Or any of the other old-timers in this community who've seen this debate unfold a few dozen times already and just want to try out the new business. Why just generalize and call him a troll? The best way to hack your argument off at the knees is to dismiss it entirely.
They love urban decay
Too bad these non-profit poverty programmers and white college educated hipsters with web skills won't consider the perspective of a resident of the Bromley-Heath projects that might want one of the 70 full-time jobs will health benefits and superior wages Whole Foods will be offering. They'd rather keep the store vacant searching in vain for their perfect ethnic grocery. There are lot of other now-vacant storefronts in Hyde Square, maybe Whole Foods might bring activity which will fill those and provide jobs, too.
It seems like a bunch of non-profit employees and leaders dependent on constant "development" and anti-poverty programs for their salaries are fronting this effort, along with those young white hipsters who are just deluded. They seem to equate "diversity" with poverty and underdevelopment, which is questionable to me. Behind the curtain, who will you find? Rep. Sanchez and Councillor Arroyo trying to social engineer the neighborhood to preserve their voter base, or the groceries who will face competition?
...suck out the poison...
"I got bee-ten by a snake!"
Well drop the pretense and come on out with it ferchrissakes! You've obviously got a major axe to grind here. The issue of fighting Whole Foods seems a bit senseless to me, but the issue of gentrification is worth discussing, but you're not even going there. You just have a strange hatred for people who make their living developing affordable housing, promoting community involvement, offering ESL classes and advocating for better public education and parks. (Of course they only do that because they're reaping fat six figure salaries right form our tax dollars thanks to their cronies in the upper echelons of power, like Rep. Sanchez and Councilor Arroyo.) And in the meantime you're up late at night worrying about the well-being of the poor folks at Bromley-Heath -- you know, the ones that hopefully the designer granola crowd will force out of the n'hood because they're always shooting each other anyways. Wish the damned do-gooders would just get a real job in an office park on 128 or something.
If you're schilling for someone who's planning a run against Arroyo or Sanchez, come out and say why we should be voting for them. If you're advocating for cutting all CDBG funds or eliminating HUD, come out and say it. Trying to link a community reaction to a grand conspiracy just makes you sound like Glenn Beck.
Whole Foods
From 89-91 I worked in Jamaica plain and occasionally shopped at Hi-Lo. Although the selection of produce was wide the store was dirty to say the least.
It is worth mentioning that I was one of the few Anglo customers.
20 years later crime has decreased noticeably. Large corporations, and Whole Foods is one, are no longer afraid of urban neighborhoods.
Indeed, they are now viewed as underserved markets.
The Anglo, hipster demographic "discovered' Hyde Square when Brendan Behan's and Milky Way/Bell Luna surged in popularity. What was discovered what what was there all along, a pleasant, affordable neighborhood with easy access to downtown Boston.
A decrease in crime and popular nightspots paved the way for Whole Foods.
"We have met the enemy and he is us." Walt Kelly/Pogo