Two months ago, I expressed strong objections to representatives of TRC Retail, the west coast owners of the Osborne Shopping Center located near our Marlton community, about their decision to bring a Popeyes Restaurant to the Osborne Shopping Center.  Those objections, which went unheeded, were memorialized in a follow-up letter sent to TRC Retail today, linked here: https://tinyurl.com/franklin-popeyes-objection.

As I shared with TRC in early August, I believe bringing Popeyes Restaurant to this shopping center, already home to a Bojangles Restaurant on an adjacent pad site, is an excessive amount of lower end, fast-food dining at what should be a prime location for better quality restaurants in a community with a substantial amount of disposable income.  It smacks of “food redlining.”  Most of our neighbors have expressed tremendous discontent upon learning about Popeyes being constructed in the most visible location of this vital neighborhood shopping center.

Unfortunately, the Prince George’s County Government does not have legal authority to control the brands of the tenants that a shopping center brings to our communities, but you have the ability to use your dollars (by withholding them) to send the message that bringing Popeyes to Osborne Shopping Center is inconsistent with the desires and standards of nearby communities.

A number of residents have organized a petition drive around this issue.  I encourage you to join this effort here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/osborne-shopping-plaza-development?source=direct_link.

Yours in Service,

Mel Franklin, Councilman

Prince George’s County, District 9