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Lonely Planet Jamaica Plain
By adamg on Thu, 01/20/2011 - 9:01am
Both the Globe and the Herald parachuted reporters into exotic and beguiling Jamaica Plain yesterday to cover the news - broken last week by the Jamaica Plain Gazette - that the Hi-Lo is being replaced by a Whole Foods. Both stories read like dispatches from foreign correspondents earning a bit extra by writing something for the travel section, for audiences looking for the next hot locale to jet to.
The Herald starts its report by informing us that Jamaica Plain is "earthy-crunchy," but subtly warns the Hi-Lo is located in "a gritty neighborhood in transition," which the cognoscenti know translates to "lock the doors on the Land Rover" while on safari there.
Also, the Herald informs us, JP has a "funky mosaic" of "young families, hipsters and Hispanic residents who could benefit from the foodie paradise and the jobs it will bring."
Bonus points to the Herald for digging up a native who practically had an orgasm on the spot at the thought of Whole Foods' marinated olives (the fact that she's a former associate producer at "Car Talk" means she was totally serious, no doubt).
The Globe counters by defining JP as an "eclectic mix of hipsters, affluent professionals, and working-class Latinos." And they dig up the archetype who says the whole matter is "complicated" because while she likes Hi-Lo, she almost never shops there (wonder if she knows this guy).
The Globe might also want to look up the definition of "debate:"
But even as the debate swirled, residents seemed perplexed or divided over the Whole Foods move.
Unless there are debates that involve people who aren't divided over an issue.
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Comments
An account that doesn't assume readers haven't been to JP
WBUR: Mixed Reactions To Whole Foods Store Opening In Jamaica Plain.
Wonder if Whole Foods is becoming the new Walmart
At least from how the articles are trying to make it sound. Debate? Really?
Wondering if anyone who calls Whole Foods Wal Mart
can find Fernandez Spa on a map. Hi-Lo wasn't priced out, it was closed by its parent company. Still can't understand why people are taking it out on whole foods when it was hi-lo's newton-based parent company that created this situation.
Don't forget
Middle-class queer people who think that JP is entirely middle-class queer people and freak out when you show them demographic info that points out otherwise.
What are middle class queers?
I know of plenty of middle class home owners and renters in the neighborhood. The places of ancestral origin are varied; the interests are varied. The outward appearances varying; the interests vary. Many are heterosexual, many are homosexual. Many have kids, many have no kids. Many are married, many are single. Most are decent people who take care of the neighborhood, don't throw trash on the ground or pollute the area with noise from boom-boom cars.
Most don't try to dehumanize their neighbors with put downs.
So who are the middle class queers?
I think that you're missing
I think that you're missing that the word 'queer' has been claimed by a lot of the gay community and does not necessarily have a negative connotation.
so is is this "eeka" person
so is is this "eeka" person gay or lesbian?
Is 1047 dumb?
Instead of just attacking Swirlygrrl and telling us how much you hate straight people, how bouts you actually become a community member? Click through to some of the blogs here and you'd know what my family constellation is. Most of the regular posters here who are out to discuss and socialize instead of just being asses know which regular poster and linked-to blogger I'm married to, too, so there'd be your answer.
Fwiw, trans and bi folks also frequently consider themselves to be part of "queer." it's not just GL folks.
She's goes both ways..
she likes women and girls.
Make that ...
Women AND adult females.
You people are idiots
Living in JP for any stretch of time and hearing the gay community refer to itself as "the queer community" and attending an event called "queereoke" at the Midway, you get used to hearing "queer" used as just about anything but a slur. It seems to be a point of pride here, and the context it's used in here says a lot about the term is viewed here. When eeka talks about the "queer middle class," she's not using it as a gay slur. She's referring to the middle-class gay community that helped make JP a location worth gentrifying.
For those unfamiliar with gentrification, here are the steps:
1. Working-to-Middle-class community established
2. Working-to-middle-class moves to the suburbs.
3. Renters and lower-to-working class move in.
4. Businesses unable to sustain working-to-middle class income leave for suburbs.
5. Neglect and blight
6. Artists and students move in, including gay community
7. Older homes restored, bohemian services like bars and coffee shops open
8. Funky new community draws middle-to-upper-middle-class
9. Artists and lower-to-working class priced out
10. Gentrification.
what
This is the best comment
This is the best comment EVER.
Queers with pretty good jobs?
Queers with pretty good jobs?
There were two issues to the
There were two issues to the statement that I took issue with. The first is "...people who think that JP is entirely...." Who in JP believes that the entire neighborhood is composed of clones?
The other issue is that the word queer is still freighted with no less bigotry than racial epithets. The 6 letter racial slur is used by young Blacks regularly and not just among themselves but within earshot of anyone on a subway car. Would that term be used here?
On the other hand if use of language that historically is derogatory is now okay than why not resume using terms such as hymie, kike, dago, whop, or, given the latin patronage of Hi-Lo, spic or wetback?
I suggest that all of these terms, including queer, are still so fraught with hatred that a blithe use is fundamentally offensive. Language is powerful. Commonality of language and the ability of the average person to use words does not cheapen words. Nor does it negate the importance of thoughtfulness and care. Words levied with hostility, belligerence and, though cliched today, hate, still retain their power.
Upscale Walmart
From WBUR:
"Many residents see the change as another step in Jamaica Plain’s gentrification."
I'd say that's a bit of an understatement. When the yuppie Walmart thiks the neighborhood will be profitable, gentrification doesn't have too many more steps to go. I'm not weeping about the loss of "soul" in the neighborhood, but having clear memories of JP in the 80s, its truly shocking to me that Hi-Lo is getting replaced by a Whole Foods. This basically says it all.
Reality
The reality is that stores open and close. Hi-Lo had a good run in JP. Now it is another businesses chance to come in and either be successful and add a different character to the community or move on if things don't work out.
I thought Kennedy's closing
I thought Kennedy's closing was going to kill me. This makes me so sad. I never thought of Hyde Square as gritty - I think that is the difference of people growing up there in the 70's & 80's and the people that are there now.
JP was gentrified 20+ years
JP was gentrified 20+ years ago people....
What about some of the sheer
What about some of the sheer inaccurate reporting? In the video that accompanies the Globe article (if it's the one they had yesterday where the reporter gives a monologue on the story) she said that Bella Luna catered to the Latino population and closed due to the recession.
No, it didn't...on either account. It didn't have an ethnic focus for a clientele and it closed because Mordecai Levin jacked up the rent. They moved to the Brewery. It had nothing to do with the recession.
Then, just small things like saying that Hi-Lo had been a Latino grocery store for 47 years. That's not true either. It has been open for 47 years but only Latino focused since the 70s.
Finally, that BUR story posted has a nugget in which a woman states that her local church became condos. Well...is she talking about Blessed Sacrament? If so, yes it is on it's way...and the vast majority of that housing will be affordable and developed by JPNDC.
See: http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/default.aspx?id=4422
I mean, I could be wrong but I can't remember any other Catholic churches in JP being made into condos.
It's just kind of amazing how sloppy the writing is.
What do you expect?
The Globe & Herald have never been the bastions of accurate news reporting. It's all about making noise for them nowadays. Twitter and blogs like this one are becoming more reliable when it comes to reporting real local news and happenings these days.
Finally, that BUR story
So in other words, the woman was right. What's your problem?
Here's Your problem:
you and the woman are both quite wrong
Koo-koo... koo-koo...
Koo-koo... koo-koo... koo-koo...
If the Blessed Sacrament is
If the Blessed Sacrament is the church she is talking about, when the catholics sold it, they required that it be used for housing. So the the catholic church is to blame for any condoization, not gentrification.
And by the way, JPNDC is trying to sell the church, not renovate it, so the building is very far from "being on its way" to being vastly "affordable," or anything else.
JPNDC and Blessed Sacrament
JPNDC's web site says:
Is it wrong?
My understanding
My understanding of the plan for Blessed Sacrament church is that it will likely be sold for condos. I believe that a housing co-op is trying to buy the property to develop themselves -- I'm not sure it's actually a done deal. The reason the JPNDC isn't planning affordable housing in the church itself is that the cost to rehab the church into housing would make the potential sale price of each unit beyond what would be allowable to get financing for affordable housing. They would be using the proceeds from the sale toward the affordability of the other units.
I thought the same thing...
This is similar to other stories that Meghan Irons has written about the area, notable Egleston Square last year. You read it and kind of thought "huh?" it reads like she just fell of the turnip truck, talked to three people and typed up a quick impression filled with misinformation. I love the fact that after saying "people are concerned..." she immediately gets quotes from the owners/ managers of CityFeed and the Harvest. The Bella Luna stuff was a head scratcher, not to mention she didn't even point out that it's resurfaced a mile or so away.
Left out: 1. African
Left out:
1. African American. Doesn't fit the media stereotype of JP.
2. Gender-queer folk. To complicated to discuss in the article.
3. Irish Catholic. There are still Irish Catholics in JP? I thought they all moved to Marshfield!