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?
