I've read about this elsewhere. It seems that the local black political organization (PAALF) was basically looking for a payout. Trader Joe's had the guts to play it straight and told them to get lost.

The local black community is now - rightly - incensed with the PAALF. As it should be. Unfortunately for them, Trader Joe's is not coming back. Perhaps they will sieze the next opportunity that comes their way.

Nothing so racist?
Check the trial of Mona Yevette Nelson.

Reminds me how Koreans get attacked in black communities for opening up grocery stores and selling hair.

If you guys don't know black women buy something like 90% of all hair products and Koreans control the market.

Not sure how they did it-but frankly I'm quite impressed. I recently found out (through a manager I had who is a Mexican guy married to a Korean woman) that they control plenty of those Mexican grocery chains too.

It's foreign Koreans with thick accents. I have zero problem with it and find it fascinating that they do it.

And I love love Trader Joes.

In my experience, Koreans tend to be incredibly determined and hard-working people. I find it fascinating, too, how quickly many succeed in this country.

...Koreans tend to be incredibly determined and hard-working people

And how! The owner of the best nail salon in my hometown is Korean, and she started the business in 1995. I started going there when I was pregnant with #2. She has gone from a little tiny hole-in-the-wall place to having more than doubled in size, she bought a condo not far from the store, hires the best in the business (all while going through a divorce), put her daughter through college and just bought herself a new car. She is also constantly putting money back into the business, buying new pedicure chairs and updating all of her stock. She's amazing and has the best attitude. Every time I go there, she always stops what she's doing to greet me and give me a hug, and I know she does this with other long-time customers too. She is just a gem!

Thanks for link to Dalrymple, he is always worth reading. He is half the reason why I subscribe to City Journal. Heather McDonald is the other half.

Just one more example of a black political organization harming it's people, Either for idiotic principle or for a handout. See it all the time in DC.

One of the problems African Americans have with Koreans, is many Koreans often view them as lazy, potential thieves, and don't try to hide it.
The few Koreans I've known make almost everyone else look lazy in comparison.

The fab grocery chain Trader Joe's has cancelled plans to open a store in a poor neighborhood in Portland after protests from the community.

Not quite.

"The community", to the extent it exists and cares, wanted TJ's there, and is annoyed at the extortion tactics that scared them off.

PAALF is not "the community", though it would like you to think it represents it. They'd rather have a vacant lot than a business in "the community" if they can't get their hooks in..

(Me, I'm mostly annoyed that the nearest Trader Joe's to me remains the Hollywood store or the impossible-to-use Northwest Portland store.

Maybe they'll put one in North Portland and leave MLK Blvd. behind.)

This makes absolutely no sense - there are several articles in local papers that quote the PLAAF, and it's baffling. They claim that TJ's is 'too expensive.' I live in a fairly wealthy neighborhood with eight grocery stores within a five mile radius and TJ's is one of the cheapest. They're also good employers and offer healthcare, decent pay, etc.

Actually, this posting is a little misleading - the Trader Joe's wasn't a stand-alone store, it was going to be part of a larger retail complex with up to 10 other businesses.

The Majestic Realty Company would have received a significant subsidy and been sold the real estate where the development would have been very cheaply. The PLAAF's stance was that since the subsidy was comprised of tax dollars, instead of a retail development, they wanted the money to be used for a subsidized housing development and for assistance to small business already in the neighborhood.

That being said, I'm not saying the PLAAF's decision was a wise one, since now they're getting nothing, and a retail complex of that size could have provided hundreds of jobs (TJ's employs an insane amount of people for how big their stores are, since they don't have self-checkout and their product per square foot number is way higher than most grocery stores). It's also a shame that the residents didn't have more of a say in what happened.

It's too bad the PLAAF wouldn't work with the developer to find a compromise.

I would link to the article but I think this would get caught as spam.

Oh, and thank you for linking that Starving Criminal article. It's fascinating. I live in a metropolitan city and the "food desert" rhetoric is a big thing here, but the grocery stores that were here were all burned out and have only recently begun to come back - but there are a lot of Ethiopian or South American grocery stores where you can buy meat, produce, etc.

I do think it's interesting that instead of using the subsidy to bring in a business, the PLAAF wanted it to be used to pay for housing and to provide assistance to businesses. It's just a very different perspective, I guess - a temporary fix instead of a self-sustaining one? I'd rather have a job than a temporary handout.

I'm reminded of the linguistic joke common in the Hispanic neighborhoods here. Safeway has a history of closing stores in these hoods because there isn't enough profit to be screwed out of poor people.

So they say "Safeway - Se fué."

Yawn. Just more political corruption. PAALF is a dressed-up version of the old-fashioned ward boss: "Youse guys wants to do business in my district, youse needs to contribute to my campaign." PAALF's real, although not explicitly spoken, complaint is that it wasn't getting a kickback out of the deal.

Up until recently I worked a few miles away from that site (on Interstate Ave.) and a lot of my coworkers were excited that one would be going there as another option for places to go to pick something up for lunch/dinner. The neighborhood is part ghetto, part college kids, and part yuppie.

CmdrBna:
This makes absolutely no sense - there are several articles in local papers that quote the PLAAF, and it's baffling. They claim that TJ's is 'too expensive.'

Most of the print articles are too genteel to be easily understood, but if you read around a little, a different picture suggests itself. My somewhat crude take:

PAALF seems to view this lot as being black territory, and if any non-black wants to use it then PAALF is going to get some serious Dhimmi out of them.

PAALF is demanding that Majestic build discount housing, give jobs to friends of PAALF, give cheap "loans" to local businesses and sign some kind of legally binding document that Majestic will wrench around their business to better suit PAALFs many, many demands.

That Majestic is not in the housing or loan business doesn't seem to register. PAALF may have confused Majestic Realty with Santa Claus.

Putting misleading stories in the press is just a little shot across the bow, a warning that they will obey or be put through many years of hell.