I wanted to post another update as we come close to finishing our second week up and running.  

Since launching on March 7th we have collected 396 signatures on the JPforAll online petition.  252 are from the City of Boston of which 227 are from JP!!!  We have another 93 people who are anonymous to me, but the percentages indicate that a clear majority of those are City of Boston residents too. We now have 112 Facebook fans and have a Twitter account with 44 followers.  Great numbers for not quite yet hitting the two week mark!

We have updated the website to include an online form to 'stay connected'.  Anyone not on Facebook and Twitter can share their information directly with us if they wish to stay informed and hear about upcoming events.  

Supporters of the petition received an email response from City Council President Stephen Murphy indicating his support for Whole Foods.  We posted this here on a previous blog and on the Facebook page.  We decided that as we remain transparent that other groups and our elected officials should as well.  We sent emails to all other elected officials to share with us their statements/positions on Whole Foods arrival so that people can be informed. We have yet to hear back from other officials at this time, but plan to follow-up with them by phone this week.  

We are also urging all JP residents to shop at the Whole Foods Symphony or Whole Foods Brighton this Tuesday, March 22nd.  It is their 5% Day and 5% of their proceeds from those stores will be donated to Hyde Square Task Force.  It is a great way to both help a great organization and show the naysayers that 5% can really make a difference in our neighborhood.

Thanks again for spreading the word.  We are looking forward to sharing some exciting news within the next week!

http://www.jpforall.org

http://www.facebook.com/jpforall

http://www.twitter.com/jp_for_all 

http://www.change.org/petitions/city-of-boston-residents-support-a-...

Best,

Rick Stockwood