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Why are some people in Jamaica Plain more concerned about a supermarket than a school?
By adamg on Wed, 03/02/2011 - 9:06am
BJ Ray doesn't get why people are organizing protests over the closing of the Hi-Lo but not the Agassiz School:
Boston Public School administration has given the school the kiss-off and, it would seem, is readying it for private development. For a school whose majority percentage of students were minorities in the community, this should be greater cause for alarm than an organic food chain. THIS is where the attention should be paid. If you google ("Agassiz School" & "Jamaica Plain") you get about 4000 results. If you google ("Whole Foods" & "Jamaica Plain") you get about 150,000 results. You don't have to be a mathematician to see where the public's priorities align. Clearly its easier to rally behind the cause that has the face of corporate influence.
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Comments
I dunno, I don't have kids or
I dunno, I don't have kids or ever plan on having any.
I feel the same way about the schools as I did the libraries -- no one WANTS them to close, but there's a finite pool of operating funds.
There is a time to speak
and a time to stay silent.
The fact that Whole Foods is
The fact that Whole Foods is replacing Hi-Lo is not the real controversy here. The thing that is drawing the most attention is the hypocrisy. If a store that the hipsters did not worship was taking the place of an ethnic grocery store the shrill outcry would be deafening. They would decry an evil corporate chain hurting the diversity of their neighborhood (even though the will move out of JP when they start a family). But if the corporate chain offers the progressive community organizers some truffle oil or organic gluten free range muffins then anti corporate pro diversity feelings get pushed aside. And these same progressives turn into George Bush free market pro corporate capitalists. Absolute hypocrisy.
Shrill outcry
From across the river I'm not going to take a side, but it looks to me like there's a lot more "shrill outcry" BECAUSE the replacement store is Whole Foods, rather than (say) DeMoulas Market Basket.
Seriously
Have you not noticed shrill outcry? Because there's a video-laden Website, a Facebook page, three rallies, three public meetings and thousands of blue mimeographs worth of "shrill outcry" in JP as you write this. Nobody's been silent on this issue.
Thoughtful piece...
I would say immediately though that comparing the hoo-hah over WF and the Agassiz is really apples and oranges. The Agassiz, by virtually all accounts, was failing on every level, including some serious health concerns about the actual building. This was not a thriving, successful community institution. And as far as I know, the Agassiz is not significantly more diverse than the rest of the BPS, or in some way serving minorities or Hispanics in some additional way. What I don't understand is why no one seemed concerned before the announcement of the closing with the problems of the school, and in a broader sense, why black and Hispanic students are getting left behind when it comes to getting into the better schools, including the exam schools, starting in the lower grades and the advanced work classes that start in grade 4. The expectations of teachers, administrators, and yes--families seem to be disappointingly low which is why I find it puzzling that when told that a school is actually bad for their kids, people continue to cling to it instead of demanding something better. This isn't like Hi Lo, where many have argued that local folks can't afford better food--this is public school. Why wouldn't we want to raise the bar?
The parents were certainly organizing
They had a large showing at the School Committee meeting (held in JP of all places) to shut the Agassiz and the other schools. And they were basically lied to by BPS about repairs.
Still...
My point is basically that by most accounts it was a lousy school, in addition to the health issues. I just don't see the discontent, the outrage or the organization to make it better and then when they finally close it, people act as if it's outrageous and now that it's actually racist to close these poorly performing schools. It reinforces some really negative stereotypes, frankly, and provides a lot of fodder for the mouth-breathers at the Herald, etc.
Also
Probably because the majority of the Whole Foods freaker-outers are planning on moving out of JP and heading to the 'burbs once their kids are school age, or otherwise trying to avoid any non-Latin BPS school like hell.
/cynicism
No Kids
No, the people protesting the closing of hi-lo probably don't have school age kids either because the people protesting the closing of hi-lo aren't protesting the closing of a super market, they are protesting gentrification. They are largely the older, poorer, residents who moved in a long time ago before gentrification set in and whose kids are probably no longer school age. The sadest part about the whole hi-lo nonsense is the amount of community action energy that is being misdirected towards a super market closing, rather than towards getting more affordable housing. Even if they could prevent Whole Foods from coming to JP (which they can't) that isn't going to stop gentrification and the associated rise in housing costs. If being pushed out of their neighborhood is what they fear, they should redirect all of this energy towards seeking more affordable housing.
Alot of energy for affordable housing
Actually JP expends alot of energy toward building affordable housing, and has for many years. Look to the redevelopment of the former Barbara McInnis House, proposed development in Forest Hills and the Arborway Yard, development of the Blessed Sacrament property and in Jackson Square as recent examples. Several years ago, the JP Neighborhood Council adopted inclusionary zoning guidelines that exceeded what the city required, and resulted in the city raising its own requirements. I was at both the JPNC's forums (I'm on the JPNC) and many of the people who are speaking out against Whole Foods are the very same people who advocate for affordable housing. (For the record, the JPNC has not taken a position on WF.)
And a lot of the people speaking FOR Whole Foods
at the neighborhood forums, in Hyde Square where I live, and on the vairous blogs, ALSO support and have worked hard for affordable housing in JP.
No doubt
No doubt -- I wasn't suggesting that that's not true, just responding to the commenter asking why the WF protesters aren't using all that energy for affordable housing.
It's About Class Consciousness
A couple of things. First of all, everyone eats and everyone therefore has to think of where to shop for food, whereas school politics, while certainly important, concern people with school age children.
I don't know the percentage of people in JP with children, but I would guess it is a minority. A minority who already have the attention of politicians, mind you, and who have civil society groups at their disposal--and venues where to air their grievances.
BJ right is to point out that the presence of Wholefoods suggests that gentrification has already happened. But resisting Wholefoods is more than resisting that trend; it is about bring awareness to the way Wholefoods exploits Liberals' desire to be socially conscious while not personally doing anything to bring about a just world. As such, the struggle of Wholefoods is largely symbolic, and while there are many problems with that, it commands my respect for the way it clarifies the problem to people. In fact, it may even teach them how to effectively demand change, especially for matters in education.
What's wrong with redefining the discourse on people's everyday problems? If there is greater purchase to the Whose Foods? Strategy, it is precisely because they are fighting Wholefoods with the same memes, ideas and sensibilities that Wholefoods appropriated from concerned citizens to begin with.
Whatever, Haymarket
Hand me another petition for a referendum on Palestine, Mr. Community Organization climber. I miss the days when activists and protesters actually acted and protested on behalf of their community and not just for a resume bullet. Good luck getting that mid-level cabinet position.
P.S. Your opposition to Whole Foods is failing for exactly the reasons you put forth. You haven't "clarified" anything to Whole Foods supporters, who look around at Whole Foods in other neighborhoods with porr and diverse populations and don't see the problem.
Whatevs, Troll
I'm not affiliated with Haymarket, and I'm not organizing sh*t...and I hate signing petitions, so simmah, why don't you?
By the way, if you miss the good ol' days of actual protests, have you ever wondered why people's economic conditions are worse off than before? Reminisce elsewhere, you troll!
I'm guessing you're some old loser with learning disabilities, so I am going to shut up, because you're clearly beneath remark, and picking on you is not nice.
Trolls like you need to be called out, but not by me. I've clearly outlined my views, and I have mentioned that people are starting to come to a better understanding of their situation, which is good news.
Anyone who dares to think can keep on reading and ignore this troll.
Paper tiger
Ooooh, "dare to think." Yeah, maybe if I could wrap my mind around how protesters in Wisconsin, Tunisia, Bahrain, Egypt and Libya are doing a better job of hewing to the spirit of social justice than your little sandbox pals here in JP have during this whole "Whose Foods?" tantrum, I could "better understand" why you're wasting your time breathing the hot fire at a supermarket instead of at a meatier issue.
My guess is that you're a little paper tiger who's never taken off the training wheels or the helmet long enough to get rapped by a nightstick. Never jumped into a social fight where people on the other side actually hit back. Never been on the frontlines of anything that would pry you from the comforts of your little bedroom community.
If you want to sit in JP and pretend that Whole Foods is the biggest social issue this city has faced since busing, go right ahead. You want to try to just dismiss your enemies as old or learning disabled? Fine, see how many arguments that wins you.
I'm glad you're shutting up, though, as your views on this topic were about as myopic as a motion picture viewed through a facial pore. You argue about what this move will do to the "affordability" and "diversity" of JP, but your group hasn't put forth one shred of evidence that Whole Foods and its 365 brand will be significantly and consistently more expensive than what's offered at Stop & Shop, City Feed or Harvest. You've failed to show a lack of other options like Stop & Shop, bodegas and Tropical on the 48 line.
And you've absolutely failed to show that a Whole Foods by itself displaces anyone. As has been well argued on other sites, the Whole Foods in Brighton didn't send the Russians, Brazilians and Asians packing, the various Whole Foods in Cambridge didn't change the ethnic or socioeconomic makeup of their surrounding neighborhoods or displace businesses there (as someone else said, the Harvest, the bodegas and even the KFC near Central and Inman haven't been budged an inch) and haven't convinced anyone that -- especially with Harvest and JPNC teaming up on a proposed project at Blessed Sacrament -- that this represents any social justice emergency whatsoever.
You just have a lot of people bitching about how things are changing and how they want chains out (except when they're CVS, 7-11, Payless, Bank of America and Stop & Shop) and don't want the "diversity" threatened, even though the Latinos aren't going anywhere and the "new people" are bringing faces to JP that typically haven't been seen here.
Keep at it all you want, but you're going to fail largely because you have your own neighbors fighting you on this and -- for all your boasts of enlightenment and broad understanding -- you haven't given them one damned reason not to applaud Whole Foods' arrival and go shopping the day it opens -- which it will.
Just keep polishing that resume, kiddo. There's limitless potential for an exploitative future sellout like yourself.
Durn...
youngster just got served.mex
you forgot another "great" chain
rent-a-center, they don't prey on the poor do they....
ZOMG!!!
Wow. That was rockkin!
I think I'm in luvvvv!
Chains in JP
Don't forget Dunkin' Donuts! I think there are 3 of them on Centre Street.
dunkins
I did not single Dunkin's out as a chain since I have direct experience with them being very generous to a charity I support with money and product. While they are on almost every corner around here, I respect their commitment to local charities.
Not the JP WF shoppers I know
Emmanuel, I understand what you're syaing about how so-called "socially conscious shopping" is often a cover for not taking action -- the whole pink ribbon and buying pink stuff supposedly to fight breast cancer is one of the best examples of commerce replacing real action and change that I can think of, anf it just gets worse every year.
But I know many real people in JP who already shop at WF, and not one of us fits your description. We are the harried JP parents running in to pick up a few items from the gluten-free section for our wheat-allergic kid before we head out to yet another meeting of one of the many non-profit boards we serve on or community organizations we are active in. We're the car-less JP couple who have taken too many literally fruitless bus rides to Harvest to pick up bananas or milk only to find the shelves empty and now take the bus to WF at Symphony because at least we can depend on that store to have the staples in stock. We are the retired JP couple who volunteer at several homeless shelters and drive to Brighton's WF to shop simply because the staff are always friendly and kind to us. We are the overcommitted lesbian or gay or straight JP person or couple who never misses the Wake Up the Earth or Lantern Festivals, who maintains their neighborhood's crime watch list and has the Mayor's 24-hour phone number on speed dial, who collects signatures to get progressive candidates on the ballot and then attends all the candidate forums, who marches and petitions and organizes for affordable housing and community gardens and traffic calming and volunteers at church, and who can't afford to shop at City Feed.
Not a single JP person I know who currently shops at WF leaves the store thinking, "There! Our work is done!" Quite the opposite. We all understand that our work will never be done and that's one of the reasons we love living in JP -- we are surrounded by people of all ages, classes, colors, nationalities, abilities, political and religious beliefs, and work and educational experiences who feel the same way. Having a WF in JP isn't going to change that.
I see you had no room for
I see you had no room for Latinos on that list. But the first thing you say to people about JP is "We love the diversity!" When really, by 'diversity' you mean gay progressive yuppies as well as straight progressive yuppies.
This is why you fail
This person just laid out all of the ways they love this community and add to it, and all you have to say is "What about the Latinos?" This person just said why this is important to them and you automatically respond "what about me?"
"No room for Latinos." To the author of the post before: Don't apologize for not listing out every subset of the JP population. Your statement was incredibly inclusive and anyone who's even moderately nuanced understands that.
To anon: Stop crying. Jesus, at every meeting that's been held about this issue, people in the opposition have said "this isn't us crying about the loss of a supermarket." Could have fooled us. It's funny how you lambaste others for their love of the area's diversity, but you use the term "diversity" to divide our neighborhood into "Latino JP" and "everybody else." If everyone else includes African-Americans, Italians, Irish, Polish, Germans, Scottish, Japanese, Cantonese, Fujian Chinese, Japanese, Cambodians, Thai, Vietnamese, Brazilians, Portuguese, Koreans, Aussies and others, we have to wonder who's excluding who.
Throw around the words "yuppies," "new people" and other loaded terms all you'd like, but your response here shows who's coming into this with good will and who's acting like provincial, separatist, xenophobic, self-interested townie.
I believe I missed the part...
Where the poster referred to white people, black people OR Latinos. Seems to be your assumption that there are no parents, no gays and lesbians, no socially conscious, healthy-food-loving people who might also be non-white.
i don't see the comment
i don't see the comment calling out any race or ethnicity in it's content... which is sort of the point isn't it?
wow
I think you're incorrectly assuming that *none* of the people on his list could possibly be Latino/a. Nice work, troll.
If you are determined to feel
If you are determined to feel offended, there's not much I can say that will change your mind. But why do you assume that the JP residents I describe are NOT Latino? And feel free to keep on calling me a yuppie, although you know absolutely nothing about me.
At this point, I am beginning to think that the Latino community in JP has decided that the best way to stop While Foods is to insult and alienate all of its long-time allies and friends. What on earth do we gain by doing this?
Righteous indignation fail
Actually, any one of those examples given could have been of any race(s). Try again. Just put in "harried Latino/a couple", "retired Latino/a couple" and "gay Latino/a couple" and see if you don't feel better.
Dear Hyde Square Resident
Dear Hyde Square Resident,
I understand your frustration. All this noise about Wholefoods is confusing.
It’s true that Wholefoods does provide a greater array of gluten-free food; on the surface, Wholefoods even treats its employees better. There's health-care, greater 'freedom' to dress as they please, and support for all the values you describe (LGBT rights, the welfare of animals, etc.)
Shopping at Wholefoods does not make you a terrible person.
What matters here is the recognition of the facts. The facts are that Wholefoods' cultural cachet is premised around a desire to be ethical. This is a new development in how things are marketed to us. We buy into this idea, all the time, without even realizing. And this needs to stop.
Being a person of conscience and living by consistent ethics is hard! (and it’s unfashionable, not a matter of jumping to the next cause, as commentators here believe)
You are not exempt from engaging in ethical decisions when you are away from your various philanthropic works. You should, at a simple level of solidarity, at least understand the loss the Latino community feels, and how insulting the introduction appears to be. Are they right to be offended? I would say they are not. What disgusts me is how any opposition to this store, no matter how firm and universal the principles, is immediately dismissed as mere idealism.
If this situation is hitting a nerve, it should be very important to understand why. This is how pain informs the body something is wrong. I am baffled by people’s behavior here; they seem to believe that our everyday deeds are dramatically different from our political actions. Guess what? That’s not the case. Karl Marx once wrote, “The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living.” and boy was he right—not only that, but the terror of having to make ethical decisions, with the limited information, and outright lies we are fed, make an ethical life almost unbearable…but what matters is that you recognize the problem.
Everyone here is right to point out the 'struggle against' Wholefoods appears to be misplaced. Of course it is! But as the protestors in Wisconsin demonstrate, resisting Wholefoods reveals how powerless ordinary citizens are to affect meaningful change, even with the so-called benevolence of elected officials. I think everyone who feels passionately about Wholefoods would be elated if this store in Jamaica Plain allowed its workers to unionize--may be then it won't just treat its college-age workers like shit. But who here believes this can be achieved? And why don’t we demand this from other grocery store workers? Why don't we have mature discussion about these matters in a civilized way? Is it because we're all faceless online?
At any rate, know what the problem is. When Wholefoods terrorizes its employees with its ridiculous internal rules, when it gets away with lying about its produce, when it offers you organic, crisp apples that are flown in from China, you should recognize that these decisions were arrived at in a cold, calculated way—and that there’s simply no charm left in life.
The sickness, simply put, is capitalism, and the symptoms, as should be obvious to everyone here, is a farcical class war, fought between all of us, WE’RE ALL POOR... (I’m going to guess, that apart from the realtors and landlords who troll here, none of us are rich…so we should all be united…
Remember this when History demands you do the right thing!
If you hate Capitalist
If you hate Capitalist America so much, move to Venezuela and enjoy your $5 a day standard of living.
Hisrory of maintenance problems...
... and claims of elevated mold levels. This sounds like it has been a "troubled building" for a while:
http://jamaicaplaingazette.com/node/3540
From my perch two blocks away from Agassiz
I wonder the same thing. It's as if they expended all their energy making those blue-and-white "Save The Agassiz" signs and said "our work here is done." No slick Web site with video of parents, children and teachers, no constantly-updated Facebook page, no help from the myriad community organizations behind the Whose Foods? campaign. Nada.
I have no children and the cart is well before the horse in that department, but if I did I'd love to know that the Agassiz School where my neighbors send their kids now will be waiting once my own arrive. I'd hate to turn to my kid and say "Sorry honey, but I can't walk you to school because it was really important to a bunch of people to save eight cents on a can of beans and not put a chain store in that neighborhood where the 7-11, CVS, Payless, Stop & Shop and Bank of America are. Where are those people? Well, they went home to Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey or sold their mom's house and moved out to condos in Danvers, Jersey City and Queens. You'll understand one day when you're older."
Can o' beans
Heh, I save 8 cents on a can of beans by buying the 365 brand at Whole Foods. 88 cents a can at the Cambridge Street location.
I've been wondering why there
I've been wondering why there isn't this much activity around the violence.
Self rightous, "socially
Self rightous, "socially just" community superhero wanna-be's. Just another social cause bandwagon to jump on. They should focus there energy on drug addiction, domestic violence, street violence, gang intervention, poor education, etc etc etc etc etc. There are 100's of social issues out there that deserve this much attention and more. This was just an easy target for these people. Hi-Lo was such a filthy dump, an eyesore with rotting produce, out of date food, horrible customer service. Is that what they want?...does keeping parts of JP a ghetto make it socially diverse? I'm a JP resident and I'll be happy when Whole Foods opens it's doors and I can shop there. I'm confident the JP residents against WF are a very small minority of the community voice.
+1
Nailed it.
Amen
"...does keeping parts of JP a ghetto make it socially diverse?"
Well said. Thank you.
Easy
Whole Foods is a big private corporation and is very bad. The BPS is a government agency and is good. The closing of a school is bad, but not so bad that one would go so far as to actively protest a non-military/defense government agency.
Hope that helps.
Not a BPS parent, I take it
When the School Committee met to vote on shutting schools, not only was there a fairly heavy police presence, the committee chairman kept threatening to shut the whole thing down if people didn't settle down. It was way more vocal than even the Chuck Turner expulsion hearing.
Tying back to Whole Foods, though, it doesn't seem as if that anger has spread out into the wider community, as others are noting here. It'll be interesting to see what happens when the Agassiz is sold off to a charter school, which promptly makes repairs and begins enrolling kids from across the city, as opposed to the relatively small West Zone.
The issue is a couple of
The issue is a couple of things
first off, I'll go out on a limb and say that 90% of the folks complaining about Whole Foods don't have kids or have kids in the Boston Public School system.
Secondly, its big business, people always get up and arms about a big business moving and taking over a small one.
I've often questioned the motives of these folks too. Wal*Mart has been like gangbusters trying to open a store within Boston City Limits. Has there been little backlash because of it? Nope. Go look at NYC and the protests against Wal*mart opening a store there. We could use some of that here.
Who would you rather have as a neighbor? Whole Foods or WalMart. I'm not a fan of Whole Foods but at least they treat their employees well and do not have a business model of driving out local businesses like WalMart does. People really need to think about which battles they choose to fight. Whole Foods isnt one of them...
Wholefoods is just as bad as
Wholefoods is just as bad as Walmart.
Whole Foods is as bad as Wal-Mart per the Socialist Worker.org?
that's not what the Sharon Smith Blog/article said.
I snip;
"Indeed, Whole Foods now stands as the second largest anti-union retailer in the U.S., beaten only by Wal-Mart. Most of Whole Foods' loyal clientele certainly would--and should--shudder at the comparison."
I am not sure what the metrics are for anti-unionism should be, but trite pot-shots at the CEO probably don't count. I would guess that there is a large gulf between W-M and WF.
How About Hi-Lo?
Were they good corporate citizens according to www.socialistworker.org (ha!)?
I seriously doubt it. If you don't like the way Whole Foods handles their business, don't apply for a job or shop there. That's how the market works.
wow
Is that a parody site, or did a few Cambridge hippies learn how to use the DARPA funded internet?
Seriously though, someone should let them know they're not helping.
Cambridge hippies
have been using the net every since DARPA first connected MIT to it. That's over 40 years ago now.
But I don't see what they have to do with a grocery store on the other side of the Charles.
I hope you're joking...
Sheesh--a little perspective please...WF is consistently ranked among the best companies to work for in the US. WalMart...not so much.
"people always get up and
"people always get up and arms about a big business moving and taking over a small one"
There was no hostile takeover here. From what I understand...Hi-Lo simply went out of business. So then your left with another empty ugly building in Hyde Sq. Is there some other local smaller businessperson who wants to open an ethnically diverse grocery store there. No? So then what?...just let it sit there for years unoccupied. Whole foods will bring business and jobs to the area.
This is just silly!
Aren't there about 4 other nearby elementary schools?
Probably of better physical and academic quality?
I agree with several posters - first problem is that it's mainly the parents that will be concerned - no more than a few hundred people. However, I think there are about 4 other elementary schools in about a 1-1.5 mile radius of the Agassiz which may also explain the apathy - especially if your kids aren't in the Agassiz (and keep in mind - a lot of kids are probably there due to lottery - not choice - many parents probably WANTED to send the kids elsewhere in the first place).
If you don't go to the whole foods in JP - where do you go? Probably more than a mile away - tough in downtown communities where many either don't own a car or when supermarkets have little/no parking.
As for Whole foods - if you think they are evil, overpriced whatever - open a competing store - if you can deliver better message, service, prices etc - the neighbors will shop at your store.
So in other words, you don't
So in other words, you don't know Jamaica Plain. There's a Stop and Shop just up the street.
Pardon me
I don't do my food shopping in JP (eat at lots of restaurants though!) - so don't take notice of the supermarkets beyond the 7-8 I go to already.
If there's a supermarket up the street - even moreso - why all the fuss. JP seems to have plenty of schools and food to go around as best I can tell.
There's no long term vested interest in a school
Stop and Shop is less than a half mile from the Hi-Lo site, down Centre Street. The opposition to Whole Foods has little to do with lack of alternatives. It's about racial and economic politics.
On the other hand, neighborhood support for schools is often difficult to mobilize. Boston neighborhoods "lost" their schools a long time ago because of student assignment programs, starting in 1974. On any given street in Boston, the children on the street might be going to five elementary schools. This has been mitigated in recent years, and some neighborhoods have clawed their schools back, example the Quincy in Chinatown, but few schools are like the Quincy. Absent neighborhood interest, even if there is a consensus to support a school among parents of the children in the school, their involvement is limited and will drop off when their children leave the school. The Agassiz is also not tied to programs serving any particular ethnic group that I know of, so that constituency is absent.
The Whole Foods opposition is motivated by a number of things. Most of these things are not openly articulated and may even reside in the subconsciousness of members of the opposition. Sanchez and Arroyo seeking to preserve their ethnic voter base is one big factor. These politicians express "concerns" or are openly opposed to Whole Foods, in the case of Arroyo. But it's also been pretty easy for Sanchez and Arroyo to step back and use the non-profits like JPNDC as their auxiliaries. JPNDC is against it simply because it's development beyond their control and perhaps they fear it's the kind of private development ("gentrification") which will put them out of business. Along with those factors, there's the marshalling of nostalgia, economic resentment, ethnic solidarity, loathing of capitalism, shakedowns/extortion, and white guilt.
um...
Why are some people in Jamaica Plain concerned about a supermarket at all?
It's a flippin' grogery store. If you don't want to shop there, don't. If you want a dump like Hi-Lo, open one.
This is so tired. Anyone was entitled to rent the space. It's much better than a vacant building. In fact, it's much better than what was in there.
If you don't like it, MOVE. You don't own the street, you just live there.
I'm stoked for Whole Foods. Welcome to the neighborhood!!!
If you like it
Show up at the meetings and say so!
Biggest problem with local politics is a small, but vocal minority.
Change that!
Otherwise, politics is catered to their whims, and not the communities. Which is usually disastrous, no matter the political bend of elected officials.
Anyways this whole whole foods up in arms stint is a bunch of crap.
Can they pay the rent? Can they pay taxes? Are they going to pay minimum wage and abide by state healthcare coverage law?
If the answer to those questions is yes, then people need to move out of the way.
Something is much better then nothing, and I don't see the residents against it putting their money where their mouth is, and filling a huge vacancy.
Another free market right
Another free market right winger speaks up.
Wow. Clever Comment!
Another patchouli scented hippie points out they don't understand how the world works.
Stereotypes and assumptions are fun!
Whats wrong with free markets?
We should get back to them IMO.
Just to be clearer
The Hi-Lo ownership still owns the lot and has chosen to lease the space to Whole Foods. Thus, not "anyone" could rent there. The Hi-Lo ownership group got to determine who leases there and we can't know whether they only offered Whole Foods or offered anyone else the chance.
This fact keeps getting lost in the discussions. In fact, if you ask the people who hate Whole Foods if returning to Hi-Lo would be a better option, it appears the answer would be an unequivocal "yes"...but in reality it is the Hi-Lo owners who are the ones bringing in Whole Foods and "destroying" their neighborhood.
Quite the paradox these Whole Foods haters must find themselves in, no?
Yup, it is
I think there is a lot of anger toward Knapp Foods, and frustration on the part of the protesters that the Knapps had a lease about to be signed before the community knew anything about it, and haven't been responsive to calls from pols since to explain themselves. Certainly, the Knapps had no obligation to consult the community first, and has no obligation to justify themselves now, but I sense that a lot of people are angry and frustrated nonetheless. I'll even say that there could be a sense of betrayal, although I don't think I've heard anyone say it directly, that they considered the HiLo to be an important part of the community, and Knapp Foods ultimately didn't reciprocate their feelings. Anyway, Jeffrey Sanchez said at the first JP neighborhood Council that the Knapp family has been wanting to close HiLo for years, but didn't geet the right price until now. So it appears that others did get the chance.
Food and kids
Everybody's gotta eat.
Not everybody's got school-aged children, especially in JP.
And you can't eat kids
Terribly unhealthy, what with the obesity rates and all the preservatives they eat. Hopefully Whole Foods will bring in some range-feds, but oh, they're expensive.
cannibalism!
yea!
W. C. Fields
"Do you like children, Mr. Fields?"
"Yes, parboiled."
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Take a wild guess..
Compare the high obesity rates in this country and the fact that 8 out of 10 school age kids can't tell you who the Vice President is and then figure out what the priority is.
Stop the buses, not the schools
I live in Roslindale, not JP, but on my street I'd say about 10% of the households have kids. As some have pointed out, everybody eats. The opening of the Village Market improved Roslindale more than any school changes ever did for this neighborhood.
However, everyone in Boston would benefit by an improved school system. I think we'd get there faster if we got rid of about 70% of the school buses. If we took the money we spend driving kids all over the city (and a phenomenal amount of empty seats from what I see every day) and put it into the schools instead, we'd have better schools in every neighborhood and more of them could stay open.
People work too.
I would say there are many people who work at the Whole Foods in Dedham that live in or near JP (seeing from the crowded 34E buses). This new store would create a lot of decent jobs.
A hundred jobs
Whole Foods has said they will hire 100 people to staff the store, 70 of them full time jobs.
Full time jobs with health benefits and better than minimum wage pay are very rare in the service sector now. It's not the way most retailers have structured their work force - more often they cut it up into more part time jobs.
One good thing about chains is that they also offer better opportunities for advancement and mobility than a single store.
This is a significant opportunity for working people in JP.
The opponents aren't just deluded, they are actively evil to try to stymie this chance. Too bad they won't consider the perspective of a person living at Bromley-Heath that needs a good job.
The opposition calls it "hinderance"
The only thing they're hindering when they talk about shutting this down is their own cause.
Couldn't agree more...
It's all well and good to talk about unions, but a lot of people these days would rather have a well-paying job with benefits from a company known for treating workers well than a unionized job. I wish that I felt the same way about unions that I did twenty years ago, but I don't, and I certainly don't condemn every company that doesn't want to have anything to do with them. The sight of pro-union types protesting outside the Harvest was plain embarrassing. We're not talking about coal miners here. And please--do you think Hi Lo was unionized?
Everyone has different
Everyone has different priorities. Personally, education is more important to me than one grocery store replacing another, but to each is own. Some neighborhoods would be up in arms about a church closing or a school closing and others about a grocery store opening. I wonder if the same people protesting WF, would be as upset if a Dunkin' Donuts opened in its place.
Schools Are Everyone's Issue
The article is correct in its two implications:
1. That people will get way more exercised over symbols than over real issues. Clearly this is true on the left as well as the right.
2. That people just don't really care about poor and minority children.
I'm distressed by the number of commenters here who seek to explain things by saying that they don't have kids, or not that many people on their street have kids, or whatever. Good schools are basic to the quality of life for everyone who lives in a community; not just parents and kids.
Please, please, please, people, investigate what's happening in education whether you are a parent or not. Schools are the lifeblood of the city and need everyone's attention, support, and, when necessary, criticism. Don't let what you see in the Globe (or boston.com, for you young whippersnappers)be the last word on the Boston schools for you. I see a lot of parroting of the Globe's favorite tropes about Boston schools in the comments here. The truth is complicated, and whether you have kids or not, it matters to you if you live in this city.
+1
for Parkside's comment
Last time I checked, we lived
Last time I checked, we lived in a Capitalist society. Let Capitalism work and stop trying to chase away a legitimate business bringing jobs, tax revenue and healthy food to JP.
If there is truly excess demand for the crap they sold at Hi-Lo, it will be filled by new businesses.