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Chain coffeehouse verbally agrees to be good neighbor in JP, but won't commit to that in writing

Jamaica Plain News reports on the "Good Community Business Agreement" Caffe Nero won't sign. Among its provisions: That the cafe keep the sidewalk in front neat and tidy, not install security grates and print menus in both English and Spanish.

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Comments

Do you sign a pledge to be a good neighbor before you either buy or rent a place? No, no you don't.

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heard of an HOA?

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If you buy a property whose deed is encumbered with an HOA, then you're bound by the HOA. Otherwise, not so much.

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How many other businesses in JP have signed it? Are they saying that the only way we can trust them is if they sign. I have lived in JP for about 10 years and currently there are a number of businesses, in my opinion, that are not living up to this list.

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According to a few members of the council, "Some have, many have not, most only agreed verbally."

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I wonder if Dunkins/Staples/Advance Auto Parts/Tedeschi/Real Deal/etc had to sign it ? Cause, ya know, chain stores in the square are totally new and don't already exist.

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Where we don't cotton to MoAs, or whatever they call them.

Staples, however, was an interesting case, because the mayor himself interceded to keep the old Ashmont from becoming a CVS, to help protect Sullivan's.

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I thought it was a Brooks Pharmacy that was due for the site.

I could see the confusion, especially as I still pick up my scripts at the CVS on Centre Street, then drive by Sullivan's on the way home.

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Among its provisions: That the cafe financially help out local non-profit efforts

Even if the intentions are good, this still counts as extortion.

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This is... a really weird back-and-forth. I'm in a NextDoor group that has been arguing endlessly about this, and everyone on either side is shrill and nonsensical. This punchlist is *ridiculous*. Nero's proposed responsibilities include "provide a welcoming environment," "don't heap garbage outside your restaurant," and "pay a living wage." They're all common-sense or legally required, except for the only one that would make any difference in them being a "good neighbor." Guess which one they didn't agree to.

Meanwhile, JPNC members are elected, but the average board member got fewer than a hundred votes, so it's not like they're any sort of decisive voice of the community. This is an active competition to see which side can make themselves look worse.

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I was there the other day and their menu wasn't in English AND Spanish - racism!

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When we all have to read the menu in English we are all in the same boat. How did Spanish become the 2nd language of choice? There are many Haitian Creole and Cape Verdean Creole speakers in Boston? How is this fair to them? Same thing with Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, Albanian, the list goes on.

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If the menu isn't in Esperanto, Klingon, Ubbi Dubbi, and C++, then I ain't goin'.

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The JPNC is pure buffoonery. Did you check out their complete list of demands?! Absolute idiocy.

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so it's not like they're any sort of decisive voice of the community

oh - they've been divisive in the community for a while now - especially ever since the home for little wanderers debacle. They also had board members involved in disrupting and delaying the casey arborway process because, get this, they claimed it would make the neighborhood too nice (and it would cause gridlock and become a speedway - somehow both at the same time). It's really hard to take these guys seriously.

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What is it for JP, around $25 per hour? Full benefits for part-timers as well - all those Simmons transgender studies majors gotta make a living.

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The hate is strong in this one.

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If they're smart, they'll choose a different location. Who needs the agida? With all that baggage, JP is not the prize location it thinks it is.

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the JPNC is...well, yeah--like the crazy loudmouth aunt we have to schlep around at all times.

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They should ignore it. Whole Foods ignored the same group of extortionists, and they ended up with their highest profit per SF store in greater Boston. You're talking about maybe 30 fringe 'activists' with too much time on their hands. It's just silly stuff.

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The JP Whole Foods is really a pleasant place to be. Small, neighborly, and really nice staff, many of whose have been there since day one.

I assume the fringier folk overlap somehow with the ones who are slapping up the ridiculous JP Egalitarian signs everywhere promising to "Make Gentrification Illegal!"

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I thought those flyers were a parody of Maoist totalitarianism the first time I read one. Then I realized that the sentiments were being expressed with neither irony nor humor. Yikes!

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I just want to sit these kids down and tell them gently that if they could afford to go to Hampshire College or Oberlin and can currently afford to work for a non-profit and live in JP then they ARE the gentry and they really need to STFU.

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JP is not the prize location it thinks it is.

JP's a nice place to live, but it is strange that the cafe's first spot is in a fancy new building in DTX surrounded by 100s of people a day and their second is... out in quiet JP.

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I work in JP and can't say that I've eaten anywhere that has menus in both English and Spanish. Everyone I know who speaks Spanish (as a first language) also speaks and reads English. Am I missing something?

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Going further are the staff required to be bilingual in order to be "neighbourly?"

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You're blinded by white privilege.

Kidding...

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Why can't they install security grates?

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But for a neighborhood group to demand a restriction in the use of security grates is ludicrous.

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The city banned the old school roll down shutters awhile ago. New ones can't be installed. It's all either the see through mesh ones inside the windows or heavy duty glass.

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The travel agency on the same block where Polka Dog Bakery is located uses the heavy duty gates. Makes the place look pretty unwelcoming.

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You can see why they were needed in the 1970s-80s--more break-ins, etc but they do seem outmoded now that there are more cheap security cameras and alarms.

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Shutters on shopfronts make a neighborhood look terrible. (Walk down Dudley Street between the Uphams Corner T station and Columbia Road, if you want to see how and why.)

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they are pretty much a legacy of tougher times. There are plenty of them still over on Washington St. but I like that they're being phased out.

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Although I'm not a lawyer, my understanding is that a contract requires consideration -- in other words, "I agree to do X and not to do Y, in return for which you agree to do P and not to do Q"

Where's the other half of the deal here? What the JPNC is doing in return for what it's asking Cafe Nero to do?

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Sincerely,

The Neighborhood Council of Jamaica Plain (NCJP)

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superfluous: it's already the law although you wouldn't know it.
as for the other stuff, you can't and really don't want to force people to be community minded: market takes care of that unless the coffee is really THAT good.

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Seconded. If someone's going to be a good neighbor it won't be because they signed a contract mandating it.

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Contractual requirements for so-called good neighbor behavior pretty much define the opposite.

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to install security gates to keep any member of the JPNC out.

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