Jamaica Plain Buy Nothing Online Group Shut Down by Non-Local Administrators

Update: On Tuesday morning, Buy Nothing co-founder Liesl Clark indicated via a post on Facebook that her organization would be willing to remove itself from the Buy Nothing Jamaica Plain page if a local admin agrees to take control. ~~~~~

A popular Facebook page that enabled Jamaica Plain residents to gift and receive free items and had grown to more than 4,500 members was effectively shut down Sunday afternoon following several days of online protests that spilled over into other JP online groups and IRL conversations around the neighborhood. Last Wednesday, a longtime local administrator of the Buy Nothing Jamaica Plain Facebook page -- affectionately known as BNJP -- posted that the group would imminently "sprout" to comply with Buy Nothing rules. The Buy Nothing project, which was founded in Washington state in 2013, informs groups they must sprout along geographic boundaries when they reach 1,000 members in order to keep the sharing groups hyper-local. Sprouting would mean Moss Hill, Egleston Square, Forest Hills and other JP neighborhoods would have their own local pages. This was not the first time sprouting had been discussed in the JP group, and many members were once again swift to decry the move, stating that dividing the neighborhood by geographic boundaries would most likely segment JP by racial and socioeconomic lines, among other concerns, and noting that JP's small geographic area meant neighbors were in fact sharing items with each other.

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The community garden at Merriam and Minton streets, Tuesday, July 28, 2015.

New Online Jamaica Plain Gardening Groups

[Updated: 11:30 am, Oct. 11th to include there are two new online groups]

There are two new online Jamaica Plain gardening groups on Facebook for participants to engage in garden discussions, seed swaps and more. The Jamaica Plain Gardeners group is open to gardeners located in and/or near Jamaica Plain. Like many Facebook groups, participants are encouraged to stay on topic, not post spam or aggressive sales pitches. Gardening-related recommendations are welcome.

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