Trader Joe's drummed out of Portland neighborhood

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Re: WTF?

That AP report doesn't tell the whole story. The real story is how corrupt the PDC is.
 
Re: WTF?

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — 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.
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I was one of those activists. Ask me anything.
 
Re: WTF?

No, I was just telling you that because nice people are harder to burn. We'll need to bring extra gasoline and maybe some charcoal briquettes.
 
Re: WTF?

SlyPokerDog said:
No, I was just telling you that because nice people are harder to burn. We'll need to bring extra gasoline and maybe some charcoal briquettes.
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Gas makes them cook more quickly. Shouldn't it be more slow and agonizing? More briquettes and firelogs, less gas?
 
Re: WTF?

BLAZINGGIANTS said:
Gas makes them cook more quickly. Shouldn't it be more slow and agonizing? More briquettes and firelogs, less gas?
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I like it. Think how ironic it will be that in order to kill him properly we'll have to increase his carbon footprint to the size of a fleet of Hummers.
 
Re: WTF?

SlyPokerDog said:
I like it. Think how ironic it will be that in order to kill him properly we'll have to increase his carbon footprint to the size of a fleet of Hummers.
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Or even larger, to the size of a fleet of Priuses. Priusses. Priusi?
 
Re: WTF?

SlyPokerDog said:
I like it. Think how ironic it will be that in order to kill him properly we'll have to increase his carbon footprint to the size of a fleet of Hummers.
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I think we'll be increasing our carbon footprint, while reducing his two footprints to nothing, no?
 
I love Trader Joe's. I'm pretty sure Flint, MI would KILL to get a Trader Joe's, particularly on a lot that's long been vacant (i.e., basically anywhere in Flint). But apparently that doesn't hold in Portland:

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — 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.
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I guess the notion of gentrification is so foreign to me, living as I do in the rust belt, that I have a hard time getting this, especially if the lot was vacant. Thoughts?
 
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

Picking up the tab: Majestic Realty Co., the California developer the city later engaged to purchase the property for Trader Joe's at a deep discount. The company’s billionaire owner, Edward P. Roski Jr., a minority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, was among the hosts.
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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?

maxiep said:
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.
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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:
 
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Re: WTF?

SlyPokerDog said:
That AP report doesn't tell the whole story. The real story is how corrupt the PDC is.
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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.
 
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.
 
BLAZINGGIANTS said:
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.
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I think they should put a marijuana dispensing store there.
 
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