Freedom for the JP 3: Peter Blailock (with megaphone), Andrew Murray, Chloe Frankel after being sprung from E-13.
With a slashing motion across his neck tonight, a Boston Police sergeant ordered Whole Foods to shut down its first Jamaica Plain community meeting early, after officers arrested two people for unfurling an anti-Whole Foods banner in the back.
As people filed out of the Curley School, police officers from across the city began arriving - the sergeant had activated the department's Emergency Deployment Team system, used to swarm a trouble spot with police. At one point, at least a dozen Boston Police officers (one in plain clothes) stood at the top of the school's steps guarding it against potential mayhem.
No violence actually broke out, although two women on either side of the issue had to be separated by friends when they cursed and then lunged at each other as they were leaving the auditorium.
As the meeting began around 7 p.m., the roughly 200 residents seemed evenly split between people holding up yellow signs in favor of the impending Whole Foods in Hyde Square and people holding blue signs - and many wearing blue T-shirts - in opposition.
A line of Whole Foods executives and managers sat on tall chairs at the front of the auditorium, explaining how they do business and how they hope to open in late fall.
The mostly white, mostly young anti-Fooders quickly began trying to shout down both Whole Foods managers and other residents as they screamed their opposition to what they said was the ultimate gentrifying force that would push the neighborhood's minority residents out.
The mostly white, mostly middle-aged pro-Whole Foods contingent pleaded for civility - but occasionally shouted out demands that the protesters shut up. For the most part, however, they limited their noise making to applauding when somebody made a point with which they agreed.
The yelling reached a fever pitch after Whole Foods finished explaining its wonderfulness and opened the floor to questions. Things quieted down when a Whole Foods executive said if the yelling didn't stop, she'd cut the meeting off there and take any questions by e-mail. Occasional yelling continued, however, as people at the mikes made one point or another. And then Frankel and Murray went up to the auditorium balcony and unfurled a banner:
Both were arrested and led out of the school in handcuffs, to be booked at District E-13 on charges of disturbing a public assembly and trespassing (the third person arrested was taken away as the police were clearing the auditorium).
Meanwhile, a Whole Foods executive explained why the company had waited several months to actually meet with the community:
Whole Foods had reserved the auditorium until 9 p.m. and had planned to start winding things down at 8:30 p.m. to get people out by then, but the sergeant cut things short at 8:15.
As people poured out, some pro-market residents went down the line of Whole Foods employees shaking their hands.
Outside, City Councilor Matt O'Malley, who supports the Whole Foods, said he was disappointed the meeting was cut short and hoped Whole Foods would hold another - and that residents could come to some meeting of the minds. "We all love Jamaica Plain and we all want to be proud of Jamaica Plain," he said.
Several other residents in favor of the market expressed disgust with both the shouting blue shirts and police - they said as much as they disagreed with the protesters' tactics, they were disturbed by the strong-arm nature of the police reaction to a meeting they said had calmed down since its rocky beginning and showed no signs of collapsing into chaos.
At District E-13, a couple dozen protesters gathered to support the three arrested people. At one point, a different police sergeant came out and laid down some rules, including: If they just stood there, as they were doing, they could be arrested, so they had to stay in motion. The protesters quickly began marching in a circle. One protester dashed off to get pizza. They pooled their money to pay the $40 bail processing fee for each of the three.
Around 9:45, the three emerged, one by one, to applause.
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Comments
True story
By chicken
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 12:25am
Gentrification was invented by Whole Foods to piss off gritty hipsters.
Best comment
By JeffJP
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:23am
win!
The main picture above..
By JPforAlmonds
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:35am
made me remember how much I loved Michael Cera before he put those spacers in his ears.
LOL
By chicken
Sat, 06/04/2011 - 12:47am
I was just watching some AD again. I'm guessing Maeby is there too, somewhere.
BPD attempts to justify show of force
By adamg
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 3:00pm
I was only sitting in the second row, so I obviously had no idea I was in an auditorium on the verge of complete and nihilistic chaos:
Disturbance? Only if you consider everybody turning around to see what that unfurling sound - loud enough to be heard over anti-Whole Food chanting - was.
Just out of curiosity, Adam,
By silly hippie
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 4:38pm
Just out of curiosity, Adam, what would you have done differently? And read the accounts of everyone that was there, some of whom had a different perspective than you, that detail the buildup of events to the point where the police thought it was necessary to remove three people to attempt to maintain order.
First of all, they didn't remove them all at once
By adamg
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 4:50pm
There were two incidents - one about halfway through the Q&A period involving the two people up on the balcony, then later with the third person. It's not like they were faced with a sudden onslaught off outraged charging people.
There were already four cops on duty (who knows, maybe more, some might have been out of uniform). They were able to handle the first incident just fine. Granted, the third person was not isolated all the way up in the balcony but was surrounded by his fellow protesters, but they somehow managed to get him out as well without activating their citywide rapid deployment system.
So what would I have done if I were in charge? I would have asked the Whole Foods executive leading the whole thing for the mic and issued a warning. But he didn't.
Instead he ordered the whole thing shut down and activated a system that, as I mentioned somewhere in here, is normally reserved for drunken, rowdy crowds getting out of bars at 2 a.m.
While I recognize this was not a true public hearing, in the sense that it was not called by a government agency, but you don't find it concerning that police brought the hammer down on a public assembly?
Brought the hammer down? Are
By silly hippie
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 5:26pm
Brought the hammer down? Are you serious? The lowest level of force is mere presence, which is what was used. Why wait for it to get out of control when you can prevent it by having a few more officers on scene? And the whole foods exec did issue a warning, saying at one point the meeting would end early if people didn't stop yelling. You love to second guess other people, as is your right, but if the cops stood by and let the meeting deteriorate into violence you would be, justifiably so, bringing the hammer down on them.
The theory behind a move like this.
By Pete Nice
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 8:19pm
What happens sometimes in situations like this is that the police tell someone to leave that is being disruptive. That person refuses to leave, so the police have to use some sort of force to remove/arrest that person. Lets say there are 100 people with 5 cops at the event. Now 85 of those 100 people aren't going to do anything, they are just peacefull bystanders and aren't going to do anything under any circumstance. 2 out of the other 15 are going to intefere with the arrest of the 1 person who refuses to leave. Those 2 people think that the police are doing something illegal and that the person getting arrested shouldn't be. So those two people grab the 1 or 2 cops that are arresting the first person (also illegal and is resisting arrest). Now 12 of the 15 people left start to yell at the cops for an illegal arrest. This other 12 won't physically touch any cop, but they will get in their faces and want to argue the 1st and 4th amemdments with them. and maybe another one of the 12 grabs the cop making the arrest on the other two. Now one of the other cops has to use more force to get that other person. In the meantime, 5-15 more cops show up and walk into cops in fights with people who are only trying to stop their friend from getting arrested and didn't want to hurt any cop. They don't understand that every cop in Boston has been in another 5-10 scenerios where a gangbanger had attempted to seriously harm a cop while making an arrest, so the cops have to legally use a certain amount of force to safely get out of the situation.
All in all, they can end up in big messes and people get hurt. The cops think they are outnumbered (100-5), while the 85 people who wouldn't do anything anyway think the cops might be overeacting.
Calling in the crowd control guys means a larger force comes in and moves people out without touching anyone or using any force. The initial cops don't have to arrest anyone, touch anyone, or do anything. They just let the people argue, only step in if someone gets hurt, and can wait for a larger presense to show up so no one gets hurt.
Do you still think it was an
By silly hippie
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 10:27pm
Do you still think it was an overreaction, Adam?
Yes, I do
By adamg
Sat, 06/04/2011 - 10:51am
First, I do appreciate the professionalism and calm of the BPD officers on scene in shutting the thing down - as opposed to what happened at the Jefferson Memorial. Nobody was slammed to the ground, the SWAT unit was not summoned, etc. If you have to shut down a meeting, I guess they did it right.
But having said that - and having read Pete's explanation as to why they might have acted like they did - no, I still don't agree. It's troubling how an assembly on an issue important to a fair number of people was simply cut off (vs. a horde of drunken college students after a finals win or at 2:20 a.m., say).
Yes, the First Amendment gets rowdy sometimes. That's not the same as violent, though (personally, I thought there was a lot more anger in the air at the School Committee meeting on closing schools than at the Whole Foods meeting).
Police really, really need to be careful about shutting things down. It's a slippery slope and the more meetings get shut, the easier it becomes and soon we're having people arrested for standing up and criticizing the mayor. A bit farfetched here in Boston, where we may not realize how lucky we are compared to some other parts of the country? Perhaps, but every little bit of freedom that's chipped away provides an opportunity for the next bigger chink to be taken out.
Just a few days earlier, Ed Davis said State Police didn't know how to deal with one particular community (city teenagers, basically). Could the same be said about Boston Police with another community (neighborhood residents discussing a heated local issue)? Pete said people in the auditorium may not realize that some of those cops are coming from a background that includes being surrounded by thugs with weapons. The converse is true: Police have to realize that people angry about an issue are not thugs with weapons.
I agree Adam.
By Pete Nice
Sat, 06/04/2011 - 11:21am
But you seem to have more of an issue with the meeting being shut down by "the government". One cop, 100 cops, one moderator, two people in charge of the meeting, one building supervisor, etc could all have had the power to stop this meeting. The power to stop this meeting is what is in question here and I can't say that I disagree with Adam on this one. A police supervisor in the field made this decision and there is no black or white answer to say if it was the right decision.
My point was that once that government decision is made, there is a certain response in order to enforce that decision so that the least amount of people get hurt.
So there are two issues here, the decision itself, and the enforcement of that decision.
WWAGD?
By John-W
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 4:54pm
Well, I wasn't there, don't live in JP and don't care much about WF...so OF COURSE I need to give my opinion!! Because after all, it is all about...well anyways, from the accounts and videos it sounds like the worst that could be said about the incessantly vocal blue shirts is that they were obnoxious and did not deserve respect if they refused to give any to anyone else. Out of sheer annoyance with them I think you could make an argument for shutting down the meeting just because it was clear that these people did not want to hear anyone present their ideas (even for those with whom they agreed they'd start cheering and making noise, stopping the speaker). Civil disobedience has its place, but this ain't it.
But wasting your time to arrest these people? Why give them a "war story" to tell over beers? Just end the meeting because it runs the risk of someone getting too frustrated and an altercation breaking out.
I find this debacle
By mixylplik3
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 12:39am
I find this debacle entertaining. I wonder if these anti-Whole Foods folks put as much effort into larger issues facing their community, city, state, or country? It will also be interesting to see if more destructive things happen as the project progresses. I recall the controversy back in the late 90s with the Hooters down by the Garden which culminated in the place being firebombed while under construction.
Video of the arrests and banner tug-o-war
By Chris Helms
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 1:23am
You won't be surprised that we at JP Patch were all hands on deck for this one. So far we've posted four items, including video of the arrests in the balcony (I happened to be up there, and nearly got myself arrested too.)
As silly as the arrests seem
By BlackKat
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 1:40am
As silly as the arrests seem I also just don't understand the controversy.
I am sorry but Hi-Lo was a disgusting dump with half the items over priced and over due. I lived on Day Street for some 8 years in the nineties and avoided the place like a plague. The same was also true of the Hanrahan's grocery store essentially across the street and long gone now.
Would these people be just as upset if a Johhny's Foodmaster was going in the Hi-Lo spot? A Trader Joe's?
It doesn't matter who owns the location folks. A grocery store in Jamaica Plain, and everywhere else, will always consist of a large building full of over-priced food and under-paid employees. No matter what the sign out front is.
If you don't like it you can continue going to the Stop and Shop down the street, because we all know you never shopped at Hi-Lo anyhow, where you will be just as gouged as you would be at Whole Foods.
Many of the products at WFM
By WupNeo
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 12:44pm
Many of the products at WFM are the same price or lower than the same type of products at Trader Joes, Shaws, Stop & Shop, etc. Plus, they put commonly used items on sale in each department every week, like one or more of the cuts of chicken or fish or meat, one or two fruits or vegetables. Organic apples and pears were often as low as $1.79/lb. this winter.
I read that providing more products at lower prices, as well as the more high-end products, has been their intention for quite awhile now after some administrative and direction changes were made. They have a lower-priced ("365") label for most product types--and these have quality restrictions and can be organic, just as their higher-priced items. That's one of the main reasons I shop there; they care about how the animal products they sell are raised, treated, and what chemicals they (and we) are exposed to--from produce as well.
They started a grading system for the industry to identify how livestock and poultry was fed and raised--whether inside barns or pasture-raised (which has higher omega-3s). They offer chickens that aren't maintained in water-logging cold water after being killed, but are air chilled until they get to you (and what a difference in taste and tenderness...) Did you know that many chickens sold in grocery stores are cleaned with an ammonia solution? (In fact, have you seen the movie, "Food Inc.?)
WFM started the Non-GMO Food Project, which tests and identifies foods with GMO ingredients, so stores and customers can choose. They are working with companies to stop coating their canned food with Bisphenol-A, which is an endocrine disruptor that is thought to contribute to breast and prostate cancer. Very few, if any, large or small grocery stores were interested or knew enough to do anything like this until grocers like WFM did this. One of their core intentions was to set a better standard to improve the nutrition and health of the public, lower our chemical exposure, etc., which will, in turn, lower medical costs, as well as improve how we feel. They also have provided a market for small vendors who make healthier condiments, cleaning, and health-care products. And they have been seeking out these, plus produce, eggs, and other products from local farmers.
They are also a company that values diversity, and they support and accommodate the needs of the communities in which they are located and hire, educate, and support employees from there as well. Their customer service is the best and they are rated one of the best companies to work for. Any new grocery store is going to bring traffic. In these times, when so many corporations think very little about the health and well-being of the public, it's hard to understand the level of resentment for one of the most progressive and constructive companies on the planet.
Thank you
By Denise
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 7:11pm
For your common sense. What an embarrassment. Whole Foods should take their jobs, benefits and tax payments somewhere else.
sweet
By Brett
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 1:52am
police officers from across the city began arriving - dispatchers had activated the department's Emergency Deployment Team system, used to swarm a trouble spot with police.
Why, if only BPD did that when people were getting mugged in our neighborhoods repeatedly, or when murder after murder was happening over in Egleston (or any of half a dozen other hot spots.)
Glad to see BPD's priorities are in the right place.
Oh, and reading a post on the Whose Foods facebook page, seems a whole lot of people are very pissed off at how the anti-WF'ers acted. This sums it up particularly well:
A comic tragedy? Or a tragic comedy? I'm not sure which. One of the few respectful opponents in attendance tries to ask to questions she's been waiting 5 months to ask and her compatriots distract the entire meeting by playing tug-the-banner with the cops, resulting in the end of the meeting. Opponents have been so angry about the lack of dialogue; then when they get a chance to engage with whole foods they blow it.
Actually, Brett
By whyaduck
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:10am
both times I was mugged in the city (once in JP and once near Fenway Park) the BPD were there at my side before I could blink my eye.
Muggers and other bad dudes don't tend to congregate at Whole Food versus JP meetings before they commit crimes. You can't compare response time of the BPD to a organized meeting and acts of violence that occur mostly in a random fashion in certain sections of the city. Suffice to say, I am sure the BPD knows of the cities "hot spots" and patrols certain areas more than others.
whyaduck
By Pete Nice
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:15am
I'm not sure if you know this yet, but Brett knows everything about everything.
Yeah,
By whyaduck
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 1:15pm
I think I am finally realizing that now.
What you can compare it to
By adamg
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:21am
Hi, my name is Adam and I'm a licensing-board hearing addict.
The reason I knew what an "EDT" was when I first heard they were called out is because they're more typically deployed for situations like massive drunken crowds milling about at 2:15 a.m. outside some downtown bar when two women take off their heels and start fighting and then everybody jumps in and the detail cop and the one patrol car outside urgently call for backup. A required part of hearings on such situations is for a member of the licensing board to excoriate the bar owner for depriving whole sections of the city of police protection.
Now I was just sitting in the auditorium, and I'm obviously not privy to any intelligence being gathered by the detail cops at this Whole Foods meeting, but as one guy told me afterwards, he's seen far worse at public meetings without BPD calling in the cavalry like they did last night. And you have to wonder which parts of the city were left without police protection when the equivalent of an entire shift at one district is driving to and from an auditorium filled with people kvetching about a supermarket.
If the cops had either not
By silly hippie
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:26am
If the cops had either not responded or didn't act when they were there Brett would have called them lazy. If they do act then they are over reacting. Brett is a hypocritical troll. Don't bother responding to his foolishness.
So what?
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 10:39am
Even if you leave Brett out of it, the question remains: Why were the police responding, and WHAT were they responding to?
The police were being
By AP02132
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 11:35am
The police were being pro-active to prevent an incident from happening. They are not called to every meeting because not all are expected to be contentious, like everyone knew this was going to be.
So would you be happy if something DID happen, police weren't called and then everyone would be posting things like "Why weren't the police there? they KNEW it would be heated"
Obviously they were there at
By anon
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 11:42am
Obviously they were there at the request of someone involved in the meeting, either one of the opposing groups or Whole Foods. What they responded to was instances of individuals distrurbing a public assembly, which has been talked about at lenght on this site and Facebook. From different accounts posted, they gave warnings to multiple people in the crowd and did not immediately get directly involved. The police have an obligation to attempt to maintain order. Thats what they did. I know this goes against your way of thinking, but the cops probably did not start their shift thinking, " I really want to get in the middle of a bunch of young hipster/hippies and old hipster/hippies fighting over a grocery store."
Oh
By anon²
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 2:46am
This is just lovely.
Can I got out on a limb and guess these people compare Obama to bush and keep repeating Gore would have been no better then Bush?
Meet the democratic parties version of christianists. And watch us all laugh at them.
jesus christ. get over it,
By Clack
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 5:03am
jesus christ. get over it, people. it's just a grocery store!
Whole Foods
By anon
Tue, 06/07/2011 - 9:19am
Clack, I agree with you. My God. This is all over a supermarket? Incredible. Simply put, if you are unhappy with WF,don't shop there. Is there a shortage of markets? Get on with your lives.
not surprised
By anon
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 6:43am
pictured: 3 kids whose parents probably paid their way through BU/BC/NEU, bought their trendy loft they now live in, probably still pay them allowance, and then the kids act like they aren't part of the "gentrification" of JP.
And people wonder why hipsters are hated so much...
The girl is on facebook.
By anon
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 8:28am
The girl is on facebook. Upenn grad.
hipster trust fund babies
A Facebook account is a hipster marker?
By adamg
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 8:38am
Wow, and here I thought I was too old and shlubby and boring to be a hipster. Thanks, Internet, for giving me new hope!
easy there Adam. I was just
By anon
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:29am
easy there Adam. I was just citing my source (FB).
As the son of a working class family. I have a certain disdain for the rich kids from the ivy leagues coming down to hang in the hood for a few years trying to save the poor folk by telling us how to live our lives.
Claudio's video says it better. Be careful of who you allow to act as spokesmen for your neighborhood. Whole Foods is giving these stupid hipsters too much attentions and is ignoring the real community.
Sorry, I'm running on fumes
By adamg
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:32am
It's tough covering night meetings when you have to get up early to get a kid off to school in time for 7:30 home room halfway across town :-).
I hate to break it to you,
By diff. anon
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 10:46am
I hate to break it to you, but the three that were arrested aren't kids. They are adults. They are not hipsters, nor do they dress like hipsters. We get you hate hipsters, ivy leaguers, rich kids, etc. However, I think you're projecting too many of your biases onto these three misguided time waster extraordinaires. Glad I don't live in JP... this anti-WF BS is embarrassing. Never heard of a neighborhood that prefers empty store fronts. What a joke.
sorry, meant to reply to the
By diff. anon
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 12:16pm
sorry, meant to reply to the 'Easy there, Adam - anon.'
Never heard of a neighborhood that prefers empty store fronts.
By The Beer Guy
Mon, 06/06/2011 - 7:21am
Let me introduce you to the Allston Neighborhood Ass.
or whatever they're called. Silly assedness isn't exclusive to JP, unfortunately.
the majority of JP residents
By pierce
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 3:29pm
the majority of JP residents are not protesting Whole Foods.
The majority of JP residents are not hipsters.
The majority of ivy league grads are not trust funders.
But then again, stereotyping is so much easier than actually observing and thinking.
No no, it's the UPenn part,
By mila
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 10:55am
No no, it's the UPenn part, not the Facebook part. Definitely entitled.
You do all realize that poor
By anon
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 1:48pm
You do all realize that poor and middle-class kids go to Ivy League schools too, right? Just ask my wife and her $90,000 in school debt.
It's a holiday in Cambodia
By pugdaddy
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:08am
They're white, Jewish (like me), and fresh out of school. Finally able to address guilt over their white privilege by standing up to "the man." Sadly, they don't (yet) realize that one day, to someone, they WILL be "the man." They never will know what it's like to really be poor or on WIC, Section 8, or wondering what's going to happen next - but this is their best chance to experience it. In their back of their minds... They know that at the end of the day, when all is said and done, Daddy will bail them out of a jam. They're outsiders to the population they want to "fix". Cobbled together Spanish, Web savvy, taking a break from their jobs as designers at the local ad agency... Will they ever be smart enough to figure it out?
Luckily, there's always room for Jello:
So you been to school
For a year or two
And you know you've seen it all
In daddy's car
Thinkin' you'll go far
Back east your type don't crawl
Play ethnicky jazz
To parade your snazz
On your five grand stereo
Braggin' that you know
How the n*ggers feel cold
And the slums got so much soul
It's time to taste what you most fear
Right Guard will not help you here
Brace yourself, my dear...
Like it, but...
By JPArbor
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:24am
Pulp's "Common People" seems more apropos, if a little on the nose:
Rent a flat above a shop
cut your hair and get a job.
Smoke some f**s and play some pool
pretend you never went to school
But still you'll never get it right
'cos when you're laid in bed at night
watching roaches climb the wall
If you call your Dad he could stop it all
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do what common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
and dance and drink and screw
Because there's nothing else to do.
Agreed.
By pugdaddy
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:48am
I didn't want to do more than one song. Glad you followed up! :)
Also, I give you permission to say "fags" in this context.
Love both those songs
By Miss M
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 10:53am
And since you've already got them covered, let me add an apropos quote from that classic of '90s moviemaking, 10 Things I Hate About You:
"I know how difficult it must be for you to overcome all those years of upper middle-class suburban oppression."
7 year bitch
By issacg
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 2:42pm
and ah, that Julia Stiles - sometimes I wish I could just go back to the late 90s and stop time.
ditto
By cybah
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 3:03pm
just "ditto", feel that way often.
JP whole foods
By J P pragmatist
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 11:25am
The guys who said we are tired of the "hipsters" who think they know everything in their short 4 -7 years of working if that, hit the nail on the head! Shut up - thye think they speak for the 'voice-less', well there are no voiceless these days!
The hipsters hide behind B S 'causes" because they are just lazy spoiled brats from cushy little leafy suburbs. Go collect your checks from daddy OR START WORKING OVER 20 HOURS A WEEK, MAYBE TRY 80 HOURS A WEEK, WORK 2 JOBS - HAVE A FEW KIDS, PUT SOMEONE ELSE BEFORE YOUR SELFISH SELF, PAY SOME TAXES THAT MATTER, THEN WE'LL TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY.
I was there
By anon
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 7:39am
I went to the meeting last night, and quite frankly, was impressed that Whole Foods was even willing to meet with us (JP residents) in this type of setting. They weren't required to do so - and no other retailer entering our neighborhood has faced the kind of absurd demands this "choice selection" of residents presented last night. I live about a 5 minute walk from the new WFM site, and I went to this meeting A) to show my intended support of the grocery chain and B) to see what kind of issues were really driving the opposition (If there were legitimate, underlying issues that were about to be exposed, I wanted to hear them and take a more educated stance on the matter). Unfortunately, the blue-shirted protesters were an utter disappointment in the immature show they put on for everyone. I was waiting for one of them to make a good point during the Q&A, but instead it was mostly sloppy banter. The first blue-shirt to take the mic went on a 5 minute rant about how he believed the meeting was held in the wrong location. Another speaker kept repeating herself over and over again, "this town is in mourning," which also made little sense. The group was severely disorganized, couldn't make a single point eloquently, and looked incredibly foolish while some members shouted profanities over whoever was speaking (even when their own pals took the mic!) I really wanted to give the opposition a chance to make a case last night - but instead I think it's safe to say they wrote their own fate and will fade away with time.
Yes, my husband and I were
By Tess
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 8:58am
Yes, my husband and I were there as well. We had the same experience that you describe.
Tess and Anon
By Lecil
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:32am
Thank you for a calm report on your perspective. I'm a Brigtonite with no pony in this show, but I do live two blocks away from a Whole Foods and I find this whole situation perplexing.
If only everything in the world was so right and good that the WF protesters really didn't have anything else to agitate about...
I think this guy was putting a pox on both sides
By adamg
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 7:40am
Claudio Martinez, executive director of the Hyde Square Task Force, was the first community member to speak. He definitely criticized Whole Foods for holding the meeting all the way at the Curley School rather than somewhere in Hyde/Jackson. But as a resident of bucolic, quiet Roslindale, the politics of Jamaica Plain frighten and confuse me, so I'm not sure if he was talking to the anti-Fooder kids or the pro-Fooder elders when he started ranting about "paternalistic and condescending attitudes, sometimes dressed in progressive and radical attire" by white people claiming to speak for the Latinos of Hyde Square. Anybody know?
Is he giving the money back?
By anon
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 8:32am
I didn't notice that Claudio (the head of Hyde Square Task Force) said he was going to return the $8,500 that Whole Foods recently donated to his organization. Surely he will give them back their tainted money, right?
re giving money back?
By hsmith
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 11:47am
Maybe some people are confused because Claudio's shirt was the same color as the Whose Foods activists but if you listen to his statement he did not state a position about Whole Foods but rather made the point that people on both sides should be careful about claiming to speak for "the community." His point about location of the meeting was that residents of Hyde-Jackson Square should be the voices Whole Foods pays attention to, as this is the part of JP most impacted by the store's arrival. None of these statements should mean that his organization (which as far as I know has not taken an official position on Whole Foods) should have to return the donation. Also, Hyde-Jackson Square is in fact a distinct neighborhood with recognized borders from S. Huntington to Columbus Ave. That is why there are long-established organizations called Hyde-Jackson Square Business Association and Hyde-Jackson Square Main Streets. The name Mahoney Square exists only on a map in someone's office at the Parks Department so let's not start talking about it as a real place. That's what some people are trying to do with the intersection of S. Huntington and Boylston which some people have taken to calling "Canary Square" because of a small sign they found in the middle of the intersection.
"the part of JP most impacted by the store's arrival"
By Ron Newman
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 2:22pm
Wouldn't that be a radius around the store site, which the Curley School certainly falls within? Not sure why the area east of the store is "more impacted" by it than the area south of it.
Think housing
By adamg
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 2:34pm
The issue for the anti-Fooders is not really food (although, yes, one of their first issues was the supposed demise of good, quality Hispanic food of the sort Hi-Lo sold, uh huh), but the sort of arrivistes they say follow Whole Foods like swallows to Capistrano.
The area right near the Curley is already gentrified beyond all redemption by the wrong sort of white people (i.e., not the ones attending Whose Foods rallies, like them). It's the stretch between the Hi-Lo and Jackson Square they're concerned about.
You raised a good point somewhere else in this thread - Where's the outrage about the end of the laundromat (of course, it's possible there is outrage and I've missed it out here in the mountain fastnesses of Roslindale - if so, somebody please hit me up with info).
"all the way at the Curley School" instead of in Hyde Square?
By Ron Newman
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 8:49am
Looks to me like the Curley School is a 5-minute walk from Hi-Lo and Hyde Square.
It is
By JPArbor
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:27am
You're not imagining it. If you can pick up a pizza from Ideal, you can schlep it to that meeting. They're just mad because they didn't get to have the bullying, home-turf rally at the Kennedy that's been the standard for "community meetings" on the subject thus far.
Yeah, I know
By adamg
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:30am
Is there an HTML symbol for tongue-in-cheek?
A pro-Fooder who spoke after him said that as she walked to the Curley from her home in Hyde Square, she noted all the vacant storefronts and said she was glad Whole Foods was quickly moving in rather than letting the old Hi-Lo become a giant eyesore.
Vacant storefronts
By anon
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 12:32pm
result mostly from Mordy Levin's great plans for profit maximization, which have led to the old Bella Luna site and others being vacant, it's his right, private property etc, but it sure wasnt smart.
Of course there is!
By Jeff F
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 5:58pm
In point of fact...
-)
is the *original* smiley - the ur-moticon - and was specifically intended to denote "tongue-in-cheek" (it's read right-side-up, the dash is the tongue, the close-paren is the bulging cheek).
Supposedly borrowed from an even older print tradition, it started to appear online in the late 70s. It doesn't appear in any of the pre-'83 Fidonet email I still have archived, but was in wide use at MIT by the time I arrived in the early 80s.
I remember the controversy amongst the nerdirati when the colon was added in the mid/late 80s and the whole look-at-it-as-a-sideways-face meme started to catch on. Damn n00bs!
Huh?
By fairlee76
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:04am
So now the WF opposition of making up neighborhoods? He refers to Hyde/Jackson Square as one enclave. They are distinct neighborhoods. And his ridiculing of the meeting site is, well, ridiculous. I am sure any interested parties could walk the .3 miles from Hyde Square to the Curley School.
I do love the "in mourning" hysterics in the video below. How about getting hysterical about something worthwhile, like the shit that happens on Boylston and Mozart Streets.
Finally, this whole charade is really turning me off to certain local merchants. City Feed in particular is coming across as incredibly hypocritical with their "we support diversity" stance. Of course you do. It is just not reflected in your a) prices, b) selection of groceries available, or c) clientele that frequents your stores. But, yeah, besides that you guys completely support diversity.
'Hyde/Jackson Square'
By Ron Newman
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 11:47am
does exist, at least as the name of a [url=http://www.hydejacksonsquare.org/]Main Streets organization[/url]. I have no idea whether they've taken a position on Whole Foods, though. (Adam, Steve, anyone else know for sure?)
The head of Hyde/Jackson Main Streets' director Carlos Schillaci
By Chris Helms
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 12:36pm
had very positive things to say about Whole Foods in a story we did at JP Patch about the business community's reaction. I don't know if this counts as pro or con, read for yourself.
I don't think the donation's in question
By JPforAlmonds
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 9:47am
He just made a point to Whole Foods that really wasn't aggressive at all. I can see how it would sound that way in the context of all the hollering around him, but it was basically a suggestion to hold the next meeting in his neighborhood.
I also think WF is probably glad that he just called the Whose Foods people paternalistic and called them out on not stopping K-Mart. "You are not the voice of all Latinos and neither are we." It sounds pretty clear.
I wish he was able to continue. "What is the question?" is basically a veiled way of saying "I'm tired of listening, I want to speak." Sadly, people from both sides were shouting him down. That makes me incredibly sad, because this was a dose of perspective everyone could have used.
Listen, as Claudio has told
By anon
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 10:31am
Listen, as Claudio has told us in the past, when he wants to hear from a young white privileged person, he'll let you know.
Oh, God, you're right!
By adamg
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 11:17am
I knew he looked familiar. For folks who don't get the reference: Martinez is also the School Committee member (he's a busy man) who, during an equally heated hearing about shutting schools (also held in JP), told a pregnant white woman to shut up and sit down, because when he wanted to hear from a privileged white woman, he'd let her know.
The man clearly doesn't deal with crowds well.
what a rude racist p.o.s.
By anon
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 12:19pm
That's kind of incredible that this a-hole Martinez has a following.
He doesn't like white people
By anon
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 7:06pm
and he is building his career on that negativity. Most people are afraid to criticize him for it, because he will tell them they are racist. He likes to say he speaks for the poor, oppressed Latin community. He's the same way in School Committee meetings.
"He just made a point to
By anon
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 10:58am
"He just made a point to Whole Foods that really wasn't aggressive at all."
Were you tripping on acid as you were listening to him?
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