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Speaking truth to power in Jamaica Plain, at least until BTD showed up
By adamg on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 1:17pm
Boston Indymedia reports they struck early this morning: Opponents of the "the attempted takeover by Whole Foods of the former Hi-Lo market" in Jamaica Plain hoisted a "Whole Foods = Higher Rents" banner at Centre and Forbes streets in Hyde Square:
Held in place on a traffic light overhanging the street, the banner stayed up for nearly three hours before being removed by the Boston Transportation Department.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
:/
I know it's journalistic and all, but I just hate the idea of giving attention whores what they crave.
Journalistic?
Confession: I didn't post this item because of its breaking-news value, because I don't think it has any, but because of the Woody Allenesque (pre-Manhattan Woody Allenesque, that is) nature of throwing up a banner in the middle of the night when nobody will see it (except, of course, the people who put it up before slapping each other on the back for a job well done and taking photos).
The banner was up during AM rush hour.
I saw this banner hanging up at about 8:30am this morning while on my way into work. It was up during AM rush hour!
Sunrise isn't until like 7am right now so they probably put it up right before rush hour.
Anyways, it was pretty cool to see this today, it put a little variety in my commute. I'm glad to know people care enough about their neighborhood to do actions like these!
Oh billy, billy, billy
This comment was super awesome... when you posted it on Patch as "Chris" a little while ago. I know one thing Whole Foods won't need to sell, as IndyMedia's giving away the spam for free:
Chris
3:25pm on Monday, March 14, 2011
I saw this banner hanging a little after 8am during my rush hour commute to school. So if it was up for three hours, hundreds of locals must have seen it.
It's great to see that there are people who care so much about the affordability and diversity in JP that they are willing to perform creative actions like this to defend it.
Hey JPSouth, Billy is my
Hey JPSouth,
Billy is my friend. We carpool together and saw this banner at the same time this morning. We were talking about it the whole rest of the ride in. We're not the same person, just two friends who love JP. Thanks for trying though!
-Chris
Hey, JPSouth. Billy and Chris
Hey, JPSouth.
Billy and Chris are both my friends! I also carpool with them but I didn't see the banner because I have to ride in the trunk, but I definitely heard them talking about it or at least I think I did because it was really hard to breathe. We're not the same people, though, nice try! We're just three friends who love carpooling and posting about banners.
-Bobby
haha
haha, that was pretty good. So I came off as a little cheesy, oh well. I just thought it was silly that the two of us got called the same person by JPSouth :P
I've been following this issue since it began and this is just one of the cooler things I've seen so far.
Cool?
That's funny, it was nice and warm when we used it as a dropcloth in the garage today. Nice and absorbent. One guy wanted to wipe with it, but we told him not to be selfish.
+1
Outstanding.
Play that game
It would be a fun game to try to match the posters with names (some may be actually real) on the JP Patch site with the anonymous posts on UH. Maybe it could be a fundraiser for a local non-profit.
How the F
did somebody hang a banner from an urban traffic light without getting caught?
My guess
The banner's author has previous experience with quickly and stealthily climbing over tall things in the dark.
[size=3]I mean like he might live on a really high floor in a walk-up[/size]
Bunch of High School kids?
I helped hang a banner celebrating a friend's HS graduation back in the day. Did it right under the noses of the local constabulary no less. It involved a couple of tree-climbing guys and some soap-operatic acting on the part of the girls to hold up the patrolling cop. Of course, this was in the boonies of Connecticut, not the middle of Boston, but still, not that difficult.
However, I can't help but think that while a bunch of just-about-to-gracuate high school kids might literally not have anything better to do with their time on the eve of commencement, the anti-Whole Foods crew might be able to find a better focus for their efforts...
because the E-13 night shift doesn't patrol
They park their cruisers in various parking lots, hidden somewhat out of sight, and take naps. I used to live near one of the community centers, and they'd be there almost every night, starting around 1-2AM.
Power to the People! Smash
Power to the People! Smash the Corporations!
That's right smash the
That's right smash the corporations which employ lots of people and make all the goods and services people enjoy. I mean look at the Heaven on Earth people were experiencing in the Mad Max films free of those damn corporations!
Corporations
Especially how they are now, are a rather new phenomenon. Mad Max was more about the breakdown and lack of Government, and the breakdown of society.
Either way, large corporations do suck. They antithetical to free Capitalism and a large middle class.
Mad Max was made up
As much as this Whole Foods thing seems like fiction, it's not. JP wasn't built as a slum; it looks like the pendulum may just be swinging back.
let's face it, i'm sure most
let's face it, i'm sure most of the people complaining don't even pay rent (or for food) in their taxpayer-subsidized housing.
Boston Needs A 'The Rent Is Too Damn High' Party, Clearly
That's one concrete thing that's absent from this whole fiasco. In other news, the anti-WF peepz should be lauded for their proper Spanish punctuation.
Rents are so high because so
Rents are so high because so many rental units were turned into condos. Your solution?
Get rid of the homeowners decution for housing over 400K
Provide incentives for smaller, more affordable housing and rental units. Make it worth developers effort.
As it is now, developers are still throwing in 20K worth of hard wood, metallic fixtures and polished granite and calling a 3rd floor, triple decker condo a "luxury" condo (IE asking for 120K more).
It's just another bubble waiting to pop, and it also has the added misfortune of driving away young, college educated graduates from our top tier universities and colleges.
MA is experiencing a next generation Brain Drain, and that's not good for our long term economic outlook. It has everything to do with the cost of housing in this state, and the dreary state of salaries.
So your solution to brain
So your solution to brain drain is to increase the cost of living for those of us who have worked hard and can afford a house over your arbitrarily chosen limit? Awesome.
No class warfare here, folks. Please move along.
Wait, you can afford a house
Wait, you can afford a house that costs more than $400K but not being able to deduct your mortgage interest would break your bank?
Who said break the bank?
Who said break the bank?
But fair is fair, and his "solution" makes no sense at all. Removing the tax incentive for home ownership does nothing to keep the supposed "brain drain" from affecting Boston, because the people we want to keep here are precisely the same people who can afford homes over his arbitrarily chosen limit: highly educated (and well paid) engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs. So if you would like to debate the merits of the information economy, that's fine, but don't be surprised that the people who make that economy go and grow want to be incentivized to stay. Or in this case _not_ dis-incetivized to stay.
You are not thinking clearly
Those of us that pay taxes and don't own homes have been subsidizing your precious little lifestyle via the various tax breaks you've been granted.
Right, with the $0 in
Right, with the $0 in property tax you pay, you are subsidizing me. Try again.
Thanks for the
Thanks for the translation--saw that this morning and thought it said "Whole Foods--Now Hiring!"
God forbid
the rent goes up. Wouldn't want to make it a nicer place to live or anything.
Thank you to whomever placed this banner...good post-lunch laugh.
Property owners certainly
Property owners certainly want further justification to raise rent, but why would renters want to see this? That is absolutely ridiculous. Boston is already one of the most expensive cities in the country to live in and JP is one of the few remaining neighborhoods with reasonable rent prices for working class people. Your comment that raising rent will result in a "nicer place to live" is disgusting and a slap in the face to all the working people struggling to earn enough money to live in their community and support their family. Not everyone has a cushy high-paying office job.
Rents are on the rise here because of the incoming of wealthy people who decided this would be a nice place to move into and live and correspondingly landlords are increasing rent prices of retail and residential units. Meanwhile, it's becoming harder and harder for existing moderate and low income people to survive here, especially if they have family to take care of. Do you realize how many people in JP work multiple jobs and a crazy number of hours a week just to make ends meet here?
Jamaica Plain is very highly regarded by the residents here. The diversity and community involvement in this neighborhood is tremendous. People stay in JP for the community, local flavor, diversity of people, and the beautiful spaces, to name a few.
Do you live in JP? If you don't think JP is a nice place to live, move out! We don't want your "investments." We want to maintain the diversity that makes this neighborhood great!
So then maybe
we should not build any parks, or bring any new public transportation routes, or even try to attract new jobs to the neighborhood. You know, those things that increase the *value* of a neighborhood and raise the *standard of living* that, in turn, raise *rent*.
No, indeed, we wouldnt want those terrible, insidious things to upset the diverse balance found in this neighborhood.
For your information, I do not live in JP (so you dont need to worry), but I do live in a much worse part of the city...a part where new businesses having been popping up left and right, much to my pleasure. I *do* work two jobs (and have for many, many years), in order the get the things that I want in life. And, as you can guess I am all for value-based increases in rent.
How can anyone argue this? It truly boggles the mind.
I'm waiting for Chris
to weigh in on this one.
Hey, this is Bobby! Another
Hey, this is Bobby! Another glorious carpool with Billy and Chris today! We're just three guys who love carpooling and love JP. The spring air is really increasing the ventilation in the trunk! Billy and Chris were talking today about JP being one of the few Boston neighborhoods that had affordable rents for working class people. Since I want to eventually get to ride in the backseat for carpool I yelled from the trunk that similar rents to JP are available in East Boston, Hyde Park, Dorchester, Mattapan, Roslindale and Roxbury. Or how Chelsea and Revere are also nearby and have good deals! I think they heard me! I can't be sure but I heard someone cough or something, I think. Can't wait until tomorrow's carpool!
- Bobby
Whole Foods
Whole Foods also causes AIDS, led to the recession and is responsible for the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Down with Whole Foods! Down with Whole Foods!!
/Ignorance is fun
It's George W. Bush's fault
Bush Lied/Hi-Lo Died!
yeah, funny how my rent's skyrocketed for the last 5 years
Also, for the fifty thousandth time:
WHOLE FOODS IS NOT "TAKING OVER". HI-LO WENT OUT OF BUSINESS. WHOLE FOODS IS LEASING THE PROPERTY. IT IS A PRIVATE TRANSACTION. IT IS A ***COMPLETED*** TRANSACTION, NOT AN "ATTEMPT". THIS IS A FREE COUNTRY.
If you don't like it, move your ass to a country where you have LESS freedom and the government can step in and say "oh, gee, sorry, you can't run your market here. Some people in your neighborhood didn't like you, so we're going to cancel that lease you made with the property owner and force them to accept a lease with Jose here."
Seriously, the whole thing seems driven by a local lobby of middle-age-to-retirement-age trustafarian JP residents who are protecting their own local businesses and THEIR opinion of what JP should be. People who have spent the last 20 years being "social activists" because they or their parents were rich enough that they've never had to work a real fucking job to pay the bills, or they own rental properties and have been living off poor people and college students.
Seriously, look at the JPNC board. Most of them are rich, white, own property (they're not renters) and live nowhere near Hyde Square.
Best post on the page.
Best post on the page.
Just a few basic corrections:
Just a few basic corrections: hi lo was doing great. Did not go out of business. The owner of hi lo was approached by whole foods with a huge offer. Also, the entire leadership council of the whose food movement are people of color, not a single white person on it. These are just corrections.
Unfortunately one person's private decision (to lease) will directly affect hundreds of low income peoples ability to stay in their homes when rent prices spike. So they do have some say in it.
This is not freedom, this is economic tyranny. And the anti whole foods movement is not state intervention, as you seem to suggest, it is POPULAR intervention and that,.my friend, is democracy.
Corrections to the corrections
1) Hi-Lo wasn't doing all that great.
2) The ownership group of Hi-Lo approached Whole Foods, not the other way around. They wanted to get out of the Hi-Lo business.
3) There's no evidence that Whole Foods will somehow directly cause rents to spike. "Whose Foods" and the neighborhood still has little say in whether a private company agrees to lease their space to another private company except through regulation that would affect everyone equally.
4) Democracy has nothing to do with this. Democracy is a state construct, not a private construct.
But thanks for trying.
picky picky
Not to get off the topic of gentrification and produce prices, but I've never heard democracy described as a "state construct," if what you mean is a construction of the state. It's the form of political organization most associated with people as opposed to the bureaucracies, oligarchies, feudal systems, fascist systems and whatnot that end up being self-perpetuating, construct creating state entities all about nasty things.
So I'd say it's a people construct not a state construct. Democracy can be used in non-state contexts and when misinformed or confused can lead to mob rules kinds of scenarios...like when a bunch of people tell one person what they can or cannot do in some part of town even though it completely complies with all the pertinent laws and ordinances that are applied equally to everyone.
And as long as I'm being picky, I'd like to refute the quaint notion that in Boston regulations are applied to everyone (especially businesses) equally.
Semantics
What is a state if not the organization of the people within it? Those people can choose to organize their state in whatever way they choose. If they choose Democracy, then the state has constructed a way for the people to determine their structure and how to change it through rules decided on by the people. Democracy always applies to the political apparatus of a "state" and while that state may not be Massachusetts (as it is in this context), all of the other contexts still require a "state" or organization which is going to use "Democracy" as its means of decision making. People don't make Democracy, the organization of people does.
But I think we are in agreement that private business transactions aren't a Democracy.
Also, my quaint notion is correct. The regulations are applied equally. If you have the money, leverage, or power to do whatever you think those with money, leverage, or power do to be "non-equal", then you could equally have the same influence. The regulations may be poor at keeping the playing field level between those with power and those without, but the regulations as they exist are applied equally.
semi-antics
That's why I didn't study poli sci in college. Too many arguments over semantics. Worse than engineers (because the arguments aren't about anything all that practical at the end of the day anyways).
But they should be made more practical
The reason I wanted to pick an argument over the semantics is because it's important in cases like this.
People have become LARGELY disengaged from the political process due to their disenfranchisement as the have-nots. I think people are starting to see that in doing so, they've ultimately given up a lot of control to those with money who have a vested interest in getting rules that they want because they benefit those with money.
If the JP protesters want more control over Whole Foods coming to their town to replace the Hi-Lo, then they need to stop picketing the Whole Foods and start dealing with the political system that enabled it. In this case, they should look to get legislators to change the zoning laws in some way that prevents this change.
HOWEVER, they should also use some critical thinking to decide whether they want rules in place that would let a group who might be of the exact opposite mind do what they don't want done (i.e., be careful what you wish for).
But that's just it. I put this out there and feel that the semantics are important because the right way to do this requires critical thinking and personal engagement in the political process...not Facebook groups that mindlessly say "Whole Foods is for the Bourgeoisie! Down with the upwardly mobile!". These people think Arroyo is on their side in this "fight against Whole Foods"? Then where is his legislative efforts to curtail this kind of change in their neighborhood? I'm guessing it's nowhere and these people should be engaging him to find out why it's taking so long to support them legislatively.
(NB - I don't want nor think there should be a legislative action to stop Whole Foods in JP. I just think that the only way to truly effect the actions these people want done would be via the legislature not meaningless foot stomping and whining)
How about a re-focus that might actually serve the mission?
Too bad these folks don't hold rallies and put up banners to support the effort to preserve/maintain/create affordable housing. How many JP area affordable housing programs haven't gotten off the ground because they haven't been given the support they need?
Exactly!
It bothers me that Whose Foods/Whose Community advocacy for an affordable JP is solely about Hyde Square and a grocery store.
Where was the outpouring of support from WhoseFoods folks in response to vehement opposition to many other affordable housing projects throughout JP over the last couple of decades that faced one barrier after another? And why is it when developers/non-profits try to create affordable housing in areas that are already "gentrified" and there is tremendous public outcry against it, the WhoseFoods people weren't rallying enormous amounts of time, energy and resources in support of this housing?
Are we really talking about all of JP being affordable or do we just want to create a "Diverse Reserve" in Hyde Square?
If you want to advocate for affordable housing, advocate to landlords in all JP neighborhoods (Pondside, Sumner Hill, JP Center, etc. ) to accept Section 8 (which actually pays the difference between what the tenant can pay and market rent). Create websites/blogs/Facebook pages/Youtube videos to educate residents in all JP neighborhoods to support subsidized housing next door to their property. Or support the many non-profits which create a lot of affordable housing in JP and would love to develop more in every JP neighborhood.
And the hypocrisy regarding gentrification is confusing. Many of the people in the WhoseFoods group are just as much a part of gentrification as I am. Like the woman on one of their videos who first states she has lived here for 30 years (as if the amount of time you've lived here equals your dedication to affordability and diversity) and says Whole Foods will turn JP into a community that is increasingly white, yet she is totally unable to acknowledge the role she and those like her played in "whitening" and gentrifying JP. So what does that mean? Gentrification stops at them?
All this makes me wonder where will the outcry from Whose Foods/Whose Community folks be should Whole Foods not open? Will they wave their victory banners high and breath a sigh of relief that the pressure's off to take real action to ensure residents of Hyde Square have the opportunity to live affordably in every JP neighborhood, including their neighborhoods, and not just one that now has the added benefit of another big vacant building.
Whose Foods activities
@ Mariann-I encourage you to contact some of the Whose Foods members to talk to them about their work in JP. I think you'll learn that many, probably a majority of them, have been very involved in local efforts to either bring or preserve affordable housing in JP. Many of them have also worked with merchants and residents to ensure that there is a diverse mix of businesses in JP, especially Hyde Square, as well as support many organizations with their time and money.
There is no incentive for a
There is no incentive for a landlord to pursue section 8 if they are already able to rent their properties at market value. In addition to the headache of dealing with section 8 bureaucracy, section 8 apartments will lower the desirability of the adjacent, market price units.
Yes but when will the issue finally be addressed
By the Cambridge City Council? Now that they've reduced the Libya thing to it's proper place, and WF in JP be far behind?
What's the big deal?
Sorry, I'm new to this discussion, but how is a Whole Foods going to make JP suck more, exactly?auq
but what about the jobs
My former roommate worked for Whole Foods. They paid higher wages than any other grocery store chain, full benefits to anyone working over 24 hours per week, including medical, dental, REAL profit-sharing (I saw it myself in her paychecks), stock options, 20% off groceries, etc. I am sure that this is better than what Hi-Lo offered its workers. From what I hear the workers had little notice that the store was being shut down by its owner. Is better-paying community jobs missing from this conversation? If the real concern is an erosion of a Latino quarter in JP, that is not the fault of Whole Foods who probably doesn't have a perfect record, but seems to want to treat people fairly in its dealings. Also, companies just follow trends when deciding locations. I first moved to JP in 1988, and after abolition of rent control in Brookline and Cambridge, JP has been trending up ever since. Stopping Whole Foods would not stop that trend.
I love that the JPNC, most of
I love that the JPNC, most of whom, according to the bio page, moved to the neighborhood less than ten years ago, are so concerned with gentrification.
hypocrisy at its finest
After the anti-WF crowd finishes up their WF protest for the day they'll probably head across the street to Tres Gatos for upscale tapas. Because you know, one gets simply famished after an hour of protesting organic radishes! People, lighten up and give it a rest... aren't there more important issues in JP than organic grocery stores???