New Haven Independent

The Walgreens manager stood next to the store, coffee and cigarette in hand, watching. Nearby, Rabbi Dov Greer, of the Edgewood Neighborhood Association, was tacking up day-glo green posters announcing the demonstration that was set to begin in moments. It was 10:50 and people were beginning to shuffle in. Introductions were being made, observations shared.

The group of 20 neighbors or so eyed the parking lot. It had been re-sealed only yesterday. Brightly painted yellow lines stood out against the blacktop. The Dumpster, which had previously been stationed in the center of the lot, often surrounded by trash, abandoned furniture and car parts, was gone. Most of the cars that had been illegally parked or abandoned had been moved out. The lot was clean, except for a small pile of trash that blew back and forth in the breeze, not 30 feet from the manager’s vantage point. Three large pots of colorful flowers flanked the store’s entrance.

Soon the press arrived; there were cameras, microphones, a polished reporter in a red suit and heels. Three police cruisers joined the scene, and several officers chatted congenially with the manager, who’d been joined by another Walgreens employee wearing a suit. Placards emblazoned with “Clean up your act” and “Don’t dump on us” leaned against a tree, and one of the organizers held a small bullhorn. The small crowd of neighborhood officials, Orthodox Jews from the nearby yeshiva and assorted other neighbors chatted like old friends about the great weather… until it was showtime.

On cue, the demonstrators picked up their signs. Led by Greer holding the bullhorn, they walked up and down the sidewalk in front of the store chanting “Be Walgreens, not Wal-trash!”

This Walgreens store, and its parking lot in particular, has been the target of continuous appeals by the city of New Haven, the Edgewood Neighborhood Association, the neighborhood management team and the Livable City Initiative to clean up its act. Over the past five years, letters had been sent to Walgreens local, regional and corporate headquarters, all to no avail.

It took the threat of a neighborhood grassroots demonstration to get Goliath to finally budge. Fliers went out last Thursday to alert the neighborhood of the impending demonstration. By Tuesday, crews were busily cleaning up the property and placing notices of intent to tow on illegally parked cars. And planting flowers.

As Rabbi Daniel Greer, an organizer of the event (and father of Dov), surveyed the improvements, he gave credit to Walgreens for the sudden housekeeping job. But he made it clear he views this as a patch, something only done temporarily to appease the neighborhood.

“Forget the flowers. Keep the lot clean,” he implored. “They’re using us,” he continued, accusing the store of preying on an inner-city clientele without giving anything back to the community. “Fifteen years ago, this neighborhood was picked up by its bootstraps,” Greer said, listing improvements he had been instrumental in implementing, such as a vast decrease in crime and an overall beautification of the streets and properties.

Elaine Braffman, neighborhood specialist for the New Haven government’s Livable City Initiative, echoed his sentiment. She pointed out the ongoing and serious problems that the store has caused, adding that this would never have happened in Westport. She described some of the problems caused by Walgreens’ failure to monitor the parking lot: a tow company was once observed unhitching vehicles in the lot, and people have been found sleeping in their cars.

The district’s alderwoman, Liz McCormack, lauded the group for its work, saying that she saw this association “accomplish, temporarily, what everyone else has failed to do.”

Jorge Perez, president of the Board of Alderman, also congratulated those who had gathered. To Walgreen’s he said, “Sorry it took a public demonstration” to accomplish these goals, then added with a smile, “If we need to reconvene, we will.”

The manager stayed for the whole demonstration. He talked to no one but the cops. The Walgreen’s regional manager who usually represents the store to the public is out of town. According to a city health inspector, the regional manager promised to do a better job maintaining the site and blamed the building’s New York owner, Mitchell Maidman, for the problems. However, the city considers both the tenant and the owner responsible for public-health problems.