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doubt the “residents” rejected it, it was wacko lefties acting as “community organizers”

You're right; the article is misleading, but it's complicated. I checked all the comments; none at that time linked to this other post, "Community Organizers Push Out Trader Joe’s and Jobs", whose source is a bit more objective, but still lacking. I've held off commenting on this for good reason...here-goes:

A local/black community-organizing group sought to flex its muscles and 'be recognized, coming out swinging with the Portland Development Commission (PDC) on Trader Joe's; no wonder they pulled out. I know Portland and know the politics and left because (no pun intended) there weren't enough Conservatives to combat 'Left-turn'. But it's more than just about a Black Community-organizing group chasing out development; that was just 'the effect' reported by the media.

Others might want to check out Who is PAALF?...

...and here's a pre-PAALF article on Portland's 'gentrification' (barf alert...NYT & lots of 'Progressive-relative discussion, but important if you care to understand what the Trader Joe's controversy is all about).

In many ways PAALF has a point, as PAALF was formed POST-Interstate Corridor's 'Urban Renewal Area', which brought much development to predominantly-black North Portland with the Light Rail Project:

Tri-Met, the regional transit agency, completed its first LRT line in 1998, and sought to expand based on its initial success. Named the Yellow line, the extension’s alignment was planned to run along the existing Interstate Corridor. The initial plan was voted down by the city of Portland; however Tri-Met discovered that the residents of Corridor itself wanted the line to be constructed. The agency responded to this community input by creating an urban renewal area (URA) to finance the LRT line, which allowed for the line to bypass local funding and be matched by Federal grants. Created in 2000, the URA funded $28 million of the $350 million project cost. The Yellow line opened in 2004, and connects downtown Portland to Portland State University, also acting as a catalyst for redevelopment in the area.
The URA created several subsidized loan programs for businesses and new or first-time homebuyers. An unintended consequence of these financing mechanisms was the impact on the African-American community. The increased feasibility of redevelopment coupled with the existing gentrification resulted in significant impacts. For example, the median home price increased over 100% in each of the Northeast neighborhoods between 2000 and 2010. This increase resulted in more than one-third of all households paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs, and 17 percent paying more than 50 percent. The subsidized loans were intended for all residents; however 56% of the money available from the Portland Development Commission’s homeowner and homebuyer assistance program went to white residents. Thus, homeownership became unaffordable to the existing African-American community, who then relocated to southeast Portlandor outside of the city. The existing business community along Williams Avenue changed to reflect the demands of the new residents, which meant that the African-American serving businesses followed the residential exit. Today, the neighborhood is described by realtors as a “newly revived area that is one of the hippest places to shop, dine and drink.”

The (no pun intended) dark irony here is that many residents of the area now complain that TriMet's LRT 'Yellow Line' has brought whites to the neighborhood, that any development within areas in the Urban Growth Boundary at all is pricing lower-income residents out of their homes and the loudest voices of it happen to be black, crying 'racism'; it affects ALL Portland residents not subject to public-sector incomes & job security, or privy to all the public monies lobbed around for all the Light Rail & High-density Housing (HDH) projects currently ongoing.

The City of Portland (OR) is currently engaged in enhancing its assets within the UGB via squeezing more people per square mile of land via the HDH projects, which include splitting single lots for 'mini-townhouses', via huge dependence on the regional Light Rail Plan for Federal Dollars (which is also enmeshed in the current controversy over the under-estimated $2.5 Billion Columbia River Crossing Project, the new Interstate 5 Bridge proposed over the Columbia River, whose cost has been estimated to tip the scales at over an estimated $10 Billion, but has left the State of Washington to reject the plan, mostly due to Portland's, & Salem's, insistence on the inclusion of Light Rail, the latter supported by the President, of course). And, by the way, the whole core of the concept is to get Portlanders out of their cars. I know: I was subjected to one of their 'Mass-transit/High-density Housing' seminars during a Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

For those interested in digging deeper, here is full-frontal on Portland's 'grand scheme', "Portland is a PR machine for light rail & streetcar. Here are Some Facts About Portland Oregon", and that's only a drop in the bucket.

Summary: It's not all about race...it's mostly about the "good-ol-boys" network of Progressives & the ongoing land games within the UGB...making this about race would be a mistake, but that's the angle PAALF uses, unfortunately, and misses the target completely.