Far from promoting diversity, Whose Foods’ tooth-and-nail opposition to Whole Foods coming to Hyde Square actually impedes diversity.
Think about it. The short strip of Centre Street between Hyde and Jackson Squares contains:
- A Boston Housing Authority resident-managed community
- Single-family houses
- Triple-deckers
- Affordable and market-rate condos
- Inexpensive luncheonettes and ethnic restaurants
- A mid-tier restaurant
- An Irish pub
- A mid-tier supermarket
- Bodegas
- And perhaps a Whole Foods
If this isn’t diversity, I don’t know what is.
Change is always scary, so it’s vital to discuss issues calmly. But Whose Foods’ fear-mongering without facts stops healthy dialogue dead in its tracks (“Three arrested at tense Whole Foods meeting,” June 10). And when they equate opposing Whole Foods in Hyde Square to opposing the Southwest Expressway in the 1970s on their website at whosefoods.org/about, they’re dead wrong: The latter united JP to a person, whereas the former is tearing JP in two.
When I attend the next meeting on this topic, to promote JP diversity and open discussion of the issues, I won’t be wearing a blue T-shirt or a yellow T-shirt, but rather a JP T-shirt. Please join me.
Howard Katz
Jamaica Plain