Letter to editor at RFT
June 18, 2006

Dear editor: While we are excited to be opening the doors of our new bakery on Cherokee() this July 6th, Shirley Wallace has not welcomed us warmly. During our occupancy permit process, she threatened to disallow us from baking for our farmer’s markets, restaurants and other wholesale
clients when we moved our bakery to Cherokee unless we dropped the "education use" from our application. These clients represented the
majority of our business--until our 50-seat cafe opens later this summer. We wanted the "education use" in order to have baking and educational
classes in the cafe. We dropped it so that our business would not be cut off at its knees. She has a history of "stirring up trouble" as evidenced by her opposition to the Latino tour busses last year (see RFT "Not on Our
Street" 6/8/2005). She revealed her true colors in that RFT article, when she made the ignorant comment aimed toward Latino tour bus operators: "Why wouldn't you try it our way?" Soon-to-be-irrelevant Wallace is digging her
own grave. It seems to me that Wallace is paving the way for the gentrification() of the neighborhood spearheaded by speculators, property
flippers and condo developers. These voracious developers want property values and rents to skyrocket to rid Cherokee of its "indigenous" diverse populations. We know what has happened for over 500 years to the namesake of the street; this racist process of removal continues with the current initiators of displacement targeting the vibrant diverse fabric of Cherokee.

Mark
Black Bear Bakery
2639 Cherokee