WEB EXCLUSIVE
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino today told the Gazette that he wholeheartedly supports Whole Foods’ planned move to Jamaica Plain and that local opposition to the store is the work of “a few [people] trying to make it an issue.”
“I think Whole Foods is great for the neighborhood. They have done a lot to work with the neighborhood,” he said.
Referring to the arrest of three protesters at a meeting Whole Foods hosted June 2, he said, “The folks who caused the problems were lashing out.”
In an apparent joke, the mayor suggested that the commotion at the meeting had been caused by agitators from outside the community. “We are trying to figure out if they are from Philadelphia, Chicago [or] Washington D.C.,” he quipped.
At least one of the people arrested, Peter Blailock, told the Gazette he lives in JP.
Menino said Whole Foods is going to be a vast improvement over Hi-Lo, the grocery store that formerly occupied the 415 Centre St. space that Whole Foods is moving into.
He praised Whole Foods for working closely with the city on reaching out to former Hi-Lo employees and hiring many of them after Hi-Lo closed in February.
Hi-Lo “did not do its duty, they were disrespectful to their workers,” he said.
Menino commented on Whole Foods during a roundtable discussion with newspaper reporters.
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