The sad part, the organizers don’t live in the area, yet their concerns demands stop Trader Joes from opening a store that would have brought jobs and business revenue to a depressed area in Portland. And the ultimate irony, the site they were going to build on….a vacant two acre lot on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. You just can’t make this stuff up.
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Trader Joe’s wanted to build a new store in Portland, Oregon. Instead of heading to a tiny neighborhood downtown or towards the suburbs, the popular West Coast grocer chose a struggling area of Northeast Portland.

The company selected two acres along Martin Luther King Blvd. that had been vacant for decades. It seemed like the perfect place to create jobs, improve customer options and beautify the neighborhood. City officials, the business community, and residents all seemed thrilled with the plan. Then some community organizers caught wind of it.

The fact that most members of the Portland African-American Leadership Forum didn’t live in the neighborhood was beside the point. “This is a people’s movement for African-Americans and other communities, for self-determination,” member Avel Gordly said in a press conference. Even the NAACP piled on, railing against the project as a “case study in gentrification.” (The area is about 25 percent African-American.) (Gentrification? Give me a break, you just tossed away jobs for your community you asshats.)

After a few months of racially tinged accusations and angry demands,Trader Joe’s decided it wasn’t worth the hassle. “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.” (Well done PAALF, you saved the community)

Hours after Trader Joe’s pulled out, PAALF leaders arrived at a previously scheduled press conference trying to process what just happened. The group re-issued demands that the now-cancelled development include affordable housing, mandated jobs based on race, and a small-business slush fund. Instead, the only demand being met is two fallow acres and a lot of anger from the people who actually live nearby. (A little caught by surprise boy’s? It’s true some people don’t cave in to unwarranted and unnecessary demands.)

“There are no winners today,” said Adam Milne, owner of an area restaurant. “Only missed tax revenue, lost jobs, less foot traffic, an empty lot and a boulevard still struggling to support its local small businesses.” The store was to be built by a local African American-owned construction company. (They don’t seem to happy with the outcome boy’s)

Artist Kymberly Jeka insisted “this is not what the neighborhood people want. This is terrible.”

Nice job you idiots.  Just because you have the Community Organizer and Chief in the White House, doesn’t mean you can toss your weight around making outlandish demands. To bad for that community, maybe you can get Obama to toss you an executive order demanding Trader Joe’s to change their minds.

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