Posted on 02/07/2014 6:42:04 PM PST by rightwingerpatriot
There are just some situations that a person can't just make up and sweet irony rules the roost. Such an event has occurred in Portland, Oregon, recently where the Trader Joe's supermarket chain found itself being opposed by one of the biggest scourges in the last thirty years: community organizers. It seems that Trader Joe's wanted to open a new store in Portland and decided to open one in a struggling neighborhood in Northeast Portland. Two acres of land that had been vacant for years was going to be developed, but then the Portland African-American Leadership Forum (PAALF) decided to fight the supermarket.
Irony abounds on several levels as the PAALF squared off against Trader Joe's. The first is that the vast majority of members of PAALF didn't even live in the neighborhood, but still they put it upon themselves to champion the neighborhood. The fact that the neighborhood in question was happy about the store opening is totally beside the point. The second bit of irony is that Trader Joe's is a very progressive outfit. They specialize in gourmet, organic, and vegetarian foods. You would think that they would be a perfect fit in Portland. The city loved it, the neighborhood loved it, and Trader Joe's loved it. However, the race-baiting community organizers saw a chance to squeeze some cash out of the situation and began to harass the chain. They issued demands that the proposed development include affordable housing, a slush fund for small businesses, and jobs mandated by race. (Ever notice that liberals are the ones wholly preoccupied with race?) Racial accusations were leveled against Trader Joe's, and they eventually decided enough was enough. They pulled out of the deal, leaving the two acres as an empty promise of what could have been.
Local citizens who actually live in the neighborhood are incensed. A major supermarket chain opening a store in the area means jobs. It also serves as a hub for traffic to frequent other local businesses. Revenues would have been raised that could have helped the area. The appearance of the neighborhood would have been improved with a thriving store instead of two acres of wasteland. A local construction business was going to build the store. Local people have been cheated out of a local store that sold fresh groceries at a cheap price. Leftists are always bleating how national chains don't open in troubled areas or that poor people don't have access to healthy, decent food, but instead rely upon fast food. Yet none of this mattered to the Portland African-American Leadership Forum.
It's both funny and sad to see how this event unfolded. On one hand, you have a liberal supermarket chain being harassed by liberal community organizers, which is hysterically funny. I'm always amused when the left feasts on their own. But it's also sad as the local neighborhood was totally screwed by Trader Joe's being harassed and forced to stop development. Community organizers are just thugs that give thuggery a bad name. In the past, gangsters were at least honest in their criminality as they were extorting a business. However, community organizers, such as PAALF, are thuggish vampires that suck the life out an area. Good job, PAALF! You got rid of mean ol' Trader Joe's, but of course you also got rid of those mean ol' jobs and economic development.
Just cannot fix racial hatred mixed with stupid.
How popular would “Three-Buck Chuck” be in that particular neighborhood?
Creating jobs in the inner city is racist. Folks might be expected to work instead of living on welfare. And when you get down to it, expecting folks to work was what the slave owners did. So anyone creating jobs is really just a slave owner at heart.
But Michele says there’s a shortage of groceries in black neighborhoods.
They won’t the free time to tuck the young ‘uns in.
Yes, she does. Bless her heart.
Trader Joe’s is owned by ALDI.
I cant blame Trader Joe’s. They probably said, ‘you know what? We don’t need this damaging, and expensive stupidity. Let them continue to wallow in their own wastes!”.
My question is how long did Trader J. give the city before giving up on the project? and Where is the Mayor of that town? Why didnt the Mayor or even Governor speak up and try to wrest control of the discussion away from the grifters and professional race baiters? I hope they try to bring the store back, and that the townfolk organize to let Trader J. know that “Yes!!” we do want you here, and on your terms. Yes!” My home city of Detroit gets tangled into the same wasteful predicaments.
Who cares what supermarkets are in the 'hood?
Most places have more than three to choose from.
Maybe the local 'hood wants to remain a food desert?
We recently had the same type of brouhaha in MA with Whole Foods.
“After months of protests, arrests, and controversy that dominated the Jamaica Plain neighborhood, Whole Foods opened its store in place of the iconic Hi-Lo food market.
A research project will investigate gentrification and representation issues within Jamaica Plain’s Latino population through a mixed-methods case study, examining the transition from a local Latino-serving market to a multinational store.”
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/boston/jamaicaplain/gallery/012010_hilo_closing/
If these people just went back home they wouldn’t have to deal with this nasty stuff.
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Oh, and the major is in Johannesburg for no reason I could follow. And of course, the community action group is now stating that they had no intention of cancelling the project, or that the project was even their focus... That might be tipped by The Oregon's voting survey which has 80% of the readers supporting the project, and everything to do with ensuring that they get loads of cash.
Thanks for the timetable. Yes, Trader J.s is a business, that does things in an organized, expedient, fashion. They can’t wait around forever, when their actual gains would not be realized until after the first five to eight years. They approached the project knowing it would involve initial losses. The “Mayor” running around in Johannesberg, shopping for fresh evidence of racism tales he can bring back home to exaggerate. The voters should not forget what just happened. You can’t blame Fox News or Ted Cruz for this. The Black Exploitation Group just killed the goose before she laid any golden eggs!
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Ordinary Capone-style thugs don’t try to destroy businesses; they just sponge off them. OTOH Communist street agitators (AKA “community organizers”) deliberately try to destroy private businesses in their effort to destroy capitalism and freedom. Trader Joe’s and the neighborhood would have been far better off with a visit from a couple of Al’s “business representatives.”
Wait, didn’t the SOB’s (Sons of Obama) get the memo from the rug- and granola-munchers? Trader Joe’s is down with the struggle!
In Pittsburgh,Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods opened stores within 1/2 mile of each other in an “urban” neighborhood. The only black people I see working in the stores are recent immigrants from African or Caribbean countries. The locals from the “hood” still shop at the Giant Eagle supermarket. Oh yes, the Trader Joe’s there is in the same plaza as the McDonald’s, where a certain employee was selling drugs in the Happy Meals through the Drive-thru.
I remember when the race hustlers, anti-capitalists, and enviro-wackos did the same thing to stop a proposed Walmart from opening in Inglewood, California.
Major chain stores aren’t exactly lining up to do business in that community, and the new Walmart would have provided lots of jobs and affordable goods for the people of that area. Instead, the usual suspects on the left (most of whom didn’t even live there) mounted an all-out war against the proposed development and shut it down.
What did the folks in that blighted community get out of the deal? More garbage and abandoned cars in a huge lot that had already sat empty for decades.
Good going, libs.
nope, they want things the way they are....for better or for worse...mostly for worse...
Leftists never have to be logical or consistent.
Conservatives protest the government.
Leftists protest reality.
Is it possible that someone rich liberal dude wanted to buy the land cheap for some other purpose?
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