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Whole Foods: We haven't even opened in JP yet, and we've already donated $36,000 to local groups
By adamg on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 8:45am
Julio Varela posts a statement by Whole Foods in response to Whose Foods' demand it fork over 1% of its annual revenues to stop gentrification in the neighborhood, and the Jamaica Plan Neighborhood Council's sorta demand it create a fund specifically for use by JP community groups:
The JPNC recently requested that Whole Foods Market create a fund for use by JP community groups, which is a request that has never been made to any other retailer joining JP. Creating a fund for a specific community is not how we do business, nor have we ever found it necessary given our history of community involvement. Our outlook at this time has not changed, and we are now focusing 100% of our energy on opening our new store in Jamaica Plain.
Earlier:
JP group may or may not rewrite proposal that Whole Foods may or may not sign.
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Comments
accountability
Please, this has gone on for way too long. Who the hell is going to hold the JP groups accountable for those funds if WF forks them over?
GFY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssC77hapv0g
Julio Varela
The only person to cover this issue with any semblance of objectivity.
Considering he's a blogger and should by rights be extremely subjective, he's been extremely evenhanded in calling out the more paternalist white Whose Fooders for claiming to be the voice of Latino JP and calling out the fringe elements of the pro Whole Foods camp for their subtle and more overt racism and classism.
Good work, Julio.
Whole Foods is getting overwhelming support
on boston.com, the JP Patch, and various blogs and Facebook pages. Whose Foods/Whose Community has lost so much ground there is now a guy blogging on the Patch freely and repeatedly describing everyone who supports Whole Foods or JP For All "ignorant white racists," as if that's going to win anyone over to their cause. Whose Foods/Whose Community is doing more damage to the fabric of Jamaica Plain than any grocery store ever could.
Now I know why..
Market Basket wants nothing to do with JP. It's probably because they don't want to be extorted by these morons. Too bad, it would have been a nice compromise, seeing how they do more for a community in a day by having the lowest prices around than these self serving assholes probably do in a year.
JPNC's "request"
This is truly remarkable. I have to wonder what people would be saying if someone with an italian last name had made this request of Whole Foods if they were seeking to move into the North End.
One of the other commenters is exactly correct. Without a properly set up and administered charitable trust or similar organization (which could be overseen by the AG's Office), Whole Foods should not even respond to this nonsense, except maybe to say STFU.
Adam, please tell us that the JPNC did not actually use the phrase "stop gentrification in the neighborhood" in its request. The irony should not be missed either - this might be one of six places in America where there are people saying publicly that they do not want housing prices to start going up, even a little. I bet the millions of people around the country (especially those in JP) who are underwater on their mortgages would like to have a word with the JPNC.
Whose Foods has been way more vocal about it
But take a look at the JPNC ad-hoc report on Whole Foods, which has a fairly sizable section on gentrification and concludes with recommendations that Whole Foods be asked to set up a fund for use by "credible" local groups for "anti-displacement work" and that it be asked to provide bonuses for first-time home buyers in JP (page 25).
Here's how to stop gentrification
Let people build more homes in JP you fucking NIMBY assholes!
Build more homes where in JP?
The Arboretum? Jamaica Pond? Southwest Corridor Park?
There are a few empty buildable lots here and there, but are any NIMBYs actually preventing construction on them?
The Forest Hills Station lots
The Forest Hills Station lots have been in limbo for years. Maybe if they had dumped the 'community meeting' crap, they'd have apartments and condos there now.
Construction's actually started on one of them
On the Arboretum side, where the Harvest (which, as far as I know, nobody has demanded fork over money for affordable housing) will go.
NIMBYs are everywhere in JP
A guy in Egleston Square is suing a developer who is trying to build affordable apartments. And 3 or 4 Forest Hills residents don't want all that vacant wasteland by the T to be built.
JP actually has a ton of buildable land
Not down by Hyde Square, though - up on the other side of Jamaica Pond.
Whose Foods needs to just go away already...
They really are an embarrasement to JP. The letter that they just sent to Whole Foods portays a whiny, immature, entitled group of extremely misguided people.
Insisting that they're fighting against the displacement of the "low income people, many of whom are Latino and African American residents", is preachy, annoying and arguably - unsupported by fact. It's unlikely that they've stopped for a minute to consider that simply by moving to JP, they've had an impact on displacement and gentrification. How many of the Whose Foods members names on that letter were hispanic? How many hours have they spent polling the residents at Bromley Heath?
It reads like a bad temper tantrum.
"We demand a small slice of the pie that our neighborhood makes possible."
They're looking for a handout in return for doing absolutely nothing or they're bordering on extortion. Why stop at Whole Foods? Why not walk into every business in JP and demand your "slice of the pie"? Don't forget to knock on your neighbors door and demand a "slice" from them too, since they bought their condo at $10,000 over asking or to demand that the city give you your "slice" since they set your landlords tax rate based on their appraised value of the property...
Wal-Foods, where the Tea Party shops
Which is of course a fraction of the money they have given to Tea Party causes. Go back to Tejas with Bush and Perry Wal Foods.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/01/st-louis-...