Seward Park Backs Down from 7-Eleven & Dunkin’ Donuts on Grand
Score one for the Lower East Side. Grassroots efforts to prevent two chain stores from invading Grand Street have succeeded.
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The instant word broke last week that the Seward Park Co-op was considering 7-Eleven and Dunkin’ Donuts for both the former Roots & Vines and Grand Spa respectively, all hell broke loose. A double-whammy that would no doubt skewer the soul of the neighborhood. The board met this week to discuss leases and ultimately backed away from its initial position. Here’s the statement from the online petition, which has already garnered close to 600 signatures. The community has three weeks to find different tenants:
Because of your signature on the Protesting 7Eleven and Dunkin Donuts stores in Seward Park Co-op petition, we were able to demonstrate to the Board of Directors that these 2 business are not what the community needs or wants.
Last night [Tuesday] the Seward Park Board of Directors held a special meeting to address this, and they voted to give us 3 weeks to find other strong businesses that would meet the communities needs and wants.
This proves that when like minded individuals come together, we can achieve great things!
If this ordeal shows us anything, it’s that Seward Park is willing to sell out to the big corporations.
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