Posted on 02/04/2014 4:08:23 PM PST by Altura Ct.
The Trader Joe's grocery-store chain has dropped a plan to open a new store in the heart of the city's historically African-American neighborhood after activists said the development would price black residents out of the area.
The grocer, whose stores are found in urban neighborhoods across the nation, said Monday it wouldn't press its plan, given community resistance, The Oregonian ( http://bit.ly/1n7Jyqb) reported.
"We open a limited number of stores each year, in communities across the country," it said in a statement. "We run neighborhood stores, and our approach is simple: If a neighborhood does not want a Trader Joe's, we understand, and we won't open the store in question."
The Portland Development Commission had offered a steep discount to the grocer on a parcel of nearly two acres that was appraised at up to $2.9 million: a purchase price of slightly more than $500,000. The lot is at Northeast Alberta Street and Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and has been vacant for years.
Critics said the development would displace residents and perpetuate income inequality in one of the most rapidly gentrifying ZIP codes in the nation.
The Portland African American Leadership Forum said the development commission had in the past made promises about preventing projects from displacing community members but hadn't fulfilled them.
It sent the city a letter saying it would "remain opposed to any development in N/NE Portland that does not primarily benefit the Black community." It said the grocery-store development would "increase the desirability of the neighborhood," for "non-oppressed populations."
Mayor Charlie Hales and the urban renewal agency's executive director, Patrick Quinton, signed a letter in January that described what they said was the commission's contributions "to the destructive impact of gentrification and displacement on the African American community."
Trader Joe's is based in Monrovia, Calif. Its store would have been the anchor of a two-building development that included space for four to 10 shops and 100 parking spaces. A company owned by African-Americans in Portland had been slated to build it.
Hales said Monday it was too soon to determine what might happen to the vacant lot.
Well, isn't that a surprise!
Good for them...refusing to take part in the shake down.
I thought the absence of grocery stores in black neighborhoods was an act of oppression?
Now putting one in is also an act of oppression?
Better to have that good ol’ vacant lot, I suppose.
Nothing good ever happens on MLK Blvd.
Wow. Can you believe this? And it does the community so much good to have that spot vacant…probably for drug dealers.
Tells you how much the race baiting psychopaths give a damn about black people. And just think of the jobs the local black population could have had once the store opened. Pathetic.
Fine. Let the parasites eat Big Macs and Cheetos until they die of heart disease.
Are these “activists” aware of how they come across to those of us with common sense?
“Now putting one in is also an act of oppression?”
You can’t win whitey. Just shut up and hand over our reparations!
Yea, why would they want a store in their neighborhood that would provide serves and jobs when it’s better to have an empty lot.
Got a nice long one in Cleveland. It runs through a historic park. Don't try going for a walk in the park if you're white though.
The big grocery chains have tried many times to operate stores in da community many times. The teens in those neighborhoods make it impossible.
translation: We're racists and we don't want any white people coming into our neighborhood to go to this store.
Walmart has developed a small market for dense urban areas that would probably be perfect for this site. But liberals start foaming at the mouth at the mention of Walmart.
first they complain that companies don’t open stores in their neighborhood and now we see why
Is liberalism a mental disorder?
so, a store such as Trader Joe’s increases the desireability of the area, and that’s a bad thing????? Really?????
And what about the whole food desert thing??? So it is better to maintain that vacavt lot, rather than see a Trader Joe’s there??? Really????
Blacks who live in the inner-city can pay up to three times as much for food from convenience stores and gas stations. That’s their “grocery” stores. Plus, these stores have take out deli and fast food, lottery tickets, and cheap beer.
Inglewood had a very large vacant lot chained linked for quite a few years. It was on a major intersection. I don’t remember which.
Disney had proposed a major development with 3-4 anchor stores including WalMart. A total of a few thousand jobs for the community plus the construction.
One day Eisner asked his staff how the development proposal was proceeding. They told him the city was stonewalling. He and the staff showed up at the next city council meeting to see what was what.
After 2-3 council members lectured and ranted about what Disney had to bring to the community (in addition to the project) Eisner turned to his staff and said let’s go and walked out. The next thing you know, Disney was helping the city of LA with Staples Center and LA Live.
Last I heard, the lot in Inglewood was still vacant.
A friend of mine, an architect in LA, told me the story. He was at that meeting.
Keep them on the reservation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.