Re: WTF? Okay, I've done a 180 on this issue. All it took was one salient fact from this article (my bolding for emphasis): http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/02/trader_joes_developer_hosts_ev.html
Re: WTF? Other than the F'L*ker developer, what the hell is the deal? How does Trader Joe's have any kind of "color" attached to it other than green? It would be something that would bring jobs and money to the area. These kinds of stores serve as development anchors. I hate to tell people this simple fact, but when you establish an urban growth boundary, the whole point of it is continuing redevelopment. You don't have the luxury of abandoning well-located neighborhoods for something further out. And who the hell says a neighborhood has to stay a particular way, with a particular people living in it? That kind of thinking is the very definition of racism.
Re: WTF? By the racist non-logic at work here, the city should halt all city services including basic utilities and fire and police protection to NE Portland. That would drive the property values so low that even more black people could afford to live there.
Re: WTF? http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/...r_joes_decision_to_pull_o.html#incart_m-rpt-2 The loudest complaints came from PAALF, the Portland African American Leadership Forum. The group sent a blistering letter to city leaders in December, demanding a stop to the process and calling it "fraught with injustice.” In an unprecedented move, PDC officials in January acknowledged the urban renewal agency's past role in contributing to gentrification and displacement in historically black neighborhoods. But the PDC stood behind the project and brushed aside PAALF's request to include affordable housing, saying the two-acre lot wasn't the right place for it. A month later, the NAACP wrote an editorial on The Huffington Post calling the city’s deal a “case study in gentrification.” The controversy was too much for Trader Joe’s. “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,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement to The Oregonian.
Re: WTF? The housing prices in the area would increase, meaning the people currently inhabiting the homes would not be able to complain about their low home values and continue to hate "the man". They'd rather play victim than reap the benefits, I suppose? My comment is mostly tongue-in-cheek. Ultimately, I get both sides of it. It just seems a bit racist from the "community". It just seems backwards. Move backwards not forward! :MARIS61:
Re: WTF? Of course the PDC appears corrupt. They want development and they'll give a ton to get it. Those who understand their goals and what they're offering can get more of what they want than someone who has no experience. However, if you are a neophyte, they'll fall all over themselves to help you. I personally bought a building in N Portland and they gave me a subsidy to bring it up to current earthquake codes.
Oregonian Poll on TJ's http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/02/trader_joes_what_do_you_think.html
I'll be curious to see what goes into that spot in the future. This reminds me of the complex they were trying to build in Oregon City for recovering addicts. Everyone wants more programs, more stores, more this and more that. But they don't want it in their neighborhoods near where they live. Everyone wants to bitch about what's not available, until it becomes available and they don't want it anymore.
I can't begin to imagine how pissed I would be if they dangled a Trader Joe's in my face and my homies got it taken away from me.
