RE: Free Compostable Coffee Grounds from Starbucks

OK - On Issues of Gentrification and Large Corporations Knocking Out Mom and Pop Stores.
 
I got you on this, and walk the walk on mom & pop store preservation in my neighborhood with my work as a member of Clinton Land Use and Zoning Committee of Manhattan Community Board 4.  This is a very hard thing to do in local neighborhoods when landlords want to get as much rent as they can for commericial properties. And yes, it is a matter of demand for goods and services that drives this.
 
Now, as someone who has helped preserve a local green market through politics ( yeah I do that too - doesn't make me a good person, though) and a tented low income market called Stiles right next to the Radio City Station Post Office ( yeah the one you hear about on late night TV)I can tell you that it's a constant fight. 
 
And when a Cosco big box store was sited for our neighborhood, I did the legwork and lined up political oppositionon that one too.  Got a 80% market rent -20% affordable rent high rise with a supermarket going into that space, so that's a mixed blessing. The auxilliary space behind the building will be a "keyed, neighborhood volunteer green space" - bureaucratese for a 2,500 sq foot community garden. But you can't be pure when you're dealing with the real world and you want to get good things done. Not ends justifying the means, just best possible outcome considering the way the ground lays.
 
Do I want moms and pops to survive in urban areas? Yes I do, and I like to shop small. However, in the real world you have to deal with everybody. You make lemonade from lemons.
 
Now, I have no problems with dealing with a big guy, if he acts ethically - and I won't buy from a mom and pop that puts it's thumb on the scale or sells something untoward under the counter.
 
Let's get compost from whomever we can and if a large corporation wants to do the right thing, why not?  There are people, just like ourselves, and more than a few that work for them are community gardeners... We need a large tent.
 
Best wishes,
Adam Hongman
 
 
 
 
 
 
But...
-----Original Message-----
From: LTanenb50@aol.com [mailto:LTanenb50@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 5:58 PM
To: Adam.Honigman@bowne.com; community_garden@mallorn.com
Subject: Re: [cg] Free Compostable Coffee Grounds from Starbucks



The point is, Adam, some people do not want to buy products from the"big guys" who actively put the masses of small mom & pop, sis & brother businesses out of business.  That's all.  Take the grounds. Get your coffee elsewhere - if you care about that sort of thing.  Laurie, Chicago

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