Thanks, Kimm.
Basically, what he's insinuating is: 1) that the "east of 49th Street" people
created the Firehouse Farmers Market through their own imagination, foresight,
and inventiveness, and did so despite having to drag along those "west of 49th
Street" people, kicking and screaming the whole way; and 2) that were it left
up to the "west of 49th" folks, the firehouse would have been put to some
"ghetto" use such as a garage or a storefront church.
Fact is that the "west of 49th Street" people were the ones who came up with
the idea of a community farmers' market, were the ones who circulated
petitions, and the ones who supported the idea wholeheartedly, only to have the
whole thing hijacked by the private owner and his "Friends".
> Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2009 01:02:21 -0500> Subject: Re: [UC] History of
> neighborhood groups> From: kimm.ty...@verizon.net> To:
> anthony_w...@earthlink.net; univcity@list.purple.com> > Tony,> > It's not "a
> very interesting and informative summary." It's a painful,> gut-wrenching
> story. Please don't give Karen's story such short shrift. I> am considering
> honoring what Karen just did by telling the story of the> Friends of Calvary,
> which is remarkably similar. But it is hard and> painful. What Karen just did
> is amazing. But you haven't heard a word that> she said, and she obviously
> spent an enormous amount of time and emotional> energy saying it. You just
> moved on to "the practicality of the WPFHPI."> > Which is why this
> neighborhood can't get past this stuff - because the folks> who need to
> listen refuse to. And frankly, if that is your reaction, then,> aside from
> solidarity with Karen and Wilma, I see little reason to invest> the time and
> energy to educate you further.> > Kimm> > > On 2/12/09 6:55 PM, "Anthony
> West" <anthony_w...@earthlink.net> wrote:> > > A very interesting and
> informative summary, Karen. It certainly raises a> > new question for every
> one it answers.> > > > One is the practicality of the WPFHPI idea in the
> first place. I wasn't> > close to the Cedar Park business world in 1988, but
> what one saw of> > Baltimore Ave. then was, left to its own devices, the
> market would have> > turned the old firehouse into something like a garage or
> a storefront> > church, that probably would have catered more to the "west of
> 49th> > Street" community. So that move to set up a farmers' market instead
> --> > was that popular both east and west?> > > > Does anybody else recall?>
> > > > -- Tony West> > > > > > > > KAREN ALLEN wrote:> >> Wilma is correct. I
> was not on the Firehouse Board, but I was on the> >> CPN board in 1988-1990
> when this all took place. I don't have as> >> intricate knowledge as Wilma
> does of the Firehouse Board (known> >> officially as the West Philadelphia
> Firehouse Project, Inc or WPFHPI),> >> but I know a lot of the CPN part of
> it. I distinctly remember that> >> the late Annie Canty, who was then
> President of CPN, got the City,> >> through Councilman Lucien Blackwell's
> office, to deed the abandoned> >> firehouse to CPN for one dollar after the
> engine company moved to a> >> new firehouse at 52nd and Willows.> >> > >> The
> plan was to make fresh fruits and vegs available to the> >> neighborhood
> becasue of the lack of grocery stores or markets in the> >> surrounding
> community. It was supposed to be a farmers market, hence> >> the name
> "Firehouse Farmers Market". The market got a grant from the> >> state because
> of the farmers market aspect of the project. There was a> >> requirement that
> the market structure be a public/private partnership,> >> with CPN being the
> steward of the public interest. But what ended up> >> happining was that the
> private partner was friends with a number of> >> people in the neighborhood,
> and those people became members of the CPN> >> and Firehouse boards and they
> tried to manipulate those boards into> >> giving the private partner free
> reign.> >> > >> Two factions emerged which broke down as those who wanted to
> preserve> >> the vision of the market as being for the community, and those
> who> >> wanted to give the private owner free reign. The "community"> >>
> faction for the most part lived "west of 49th Street" [racial> >> code] and
> was black, while the "private owner" faction lived "east of> >> 49th Street"
> [more racial code] and was pretty much white, so the> >> stage was set for a
> lot of hostility and tension. There were constant> >> accusations of
> undisclosed conflicts of interest and that the> >> Firehouse Board was not
> providing oversight, but was simply> >> rubberstamping whatever the owner
> wanted to do. The accusation was> >> also that the private partner's
> supporters used the black community to> >> get the building and create the
> market, but once created, did> >> something completely different and wanted
> to push that community out.> >> > >> The situation on the CPN Board came to a
> head with the election for> >> President for the 1989-90 Board term. One
> candidate was a black> >> female supported by the community faction and the
> other was a white> >> male supported by the private owner faction. There was
> an active> >> election campaign, unusual by community association election>
> >> standards: There were editorial letters, fliers, community newspapers> >>
> etc, covering the issue as one of who would control the destiny of the> >>
> Firehouse Market: would it benefit the community or private interests?> >> >
> >> The election came and something like 300 people showed up, a record> >>
> never seen before or since. The "private owner" candidate won, but> >> then
> came allegations of election fraud because someone among the> >> other Board
> candidates on the ballot helped count the votes with the> >> current Board
> President, who was a private owner supporter.> >> > >> While that contorversy
> raged, then came a bombshell. Just before the> >> election, I aked my
> then-next door neighbor, who was white, if she was> >> going to come vote in
> the CPN election, and she made an offhand> >> reference that she already knew
> because she had gotten "the flier" at> >> her door from someone in the
> neighborhood. I thought it was odd,> >> because I didn't know anything about
> a flier and because my neighbor> >> got a visit and a flier and I didn't. I
> asked if she still had it, but> >> by then she had thrown it out. Once the
> vote controversy emerged, I> >> started asking around, and finally someone I
> was allied with spoke to> >> a white neighbor of hers, who did not want to be
> involved, but did> >> direct her to look in the bags of trash set out on the
> curb.> >> > >> The flier supported the private owner candidate, and contained
> coded> >> racial language. All of the people who would admit to receiving
> one> >> were white. No one who was black knew anything about it. This led to
> a> >> big contentious meeting where everyone was in an uproar. The people> >>
> behind the fliers were identified, and our complaint was that the> >> flier
> was racist because of the language and because it was circulated> >> in
> secret to only white community members.> >> > >> One of the defenders of the
> flier pointed out that a black person who> >> published his own community
> newspaper was openly advocating for the> >> community candidate, and that the
> defender had the same First> >> Amendment right to distribute the flier. I
> responded to her that while> >> she had a right to distribute a flier, why
> would she have it> >> distrtibuted selectively? Why would my neighbor get one
> and not me?> >> Why did it seem like only white people got it? I pointed out
> that the> >> publisher made his views known to all who wished to read them,
> and> >> that he didn't excercise his First Amendment rights in secret to a>
> >> select audience.> >> > >> Tensions were so high that it was decided to
> throw out the election> >> results and after research done by two lawyers on
> the CPN Board, it> >> was decided that the two presidential candidates would
> serve as> >> "co-presidents".> >> > >> The Firehouse Market continued to be a
> bone of contention right up to> >> when CPN ended up selling its interest to
> the private owner in 1998.> > > > > > ----> > You are receiving this because
> you are subscribed to the> > list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for
> archive information, see> > <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.> > > ----> You
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