Sep 29, 2009 10:59 pm US/Eastern
North End Business Not In The Cards For Psychic
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Sophia Anderson's business in the North End
WBZ
You could call her the psychic who didn't predict her own misfortune.
Sophia Anderson set up shop in Boston's famous Italian North End neighborhood September 19th. "I do psychic, tarot cards, palm readings. I do candles, crystals, incense," she explains.
Her vision never included the chilly reception she's now getting from some locals who feel she just doesn't fit in.
She says one man told her to, "pack up and leave because it looks like a carnival, and our business is a nuisance. That's what they had said. It looks more like a tattoo parlor and other stores that I shouldn't even talk about."
When she put up a neon sign and sidewalk sandwich board outside her 215 Hanover Street shop, neighbors complained she violated the terms of her business contract. She took the signs down. Now, the real estate agent who handled her lease has become her biggest advocate.
"It's a witch hunt," says Shirley Musto. "She could afford to pay her rent, and it's quite expensive. Why can't she do business here? Personally, I think it's discrimination."
Across the street, restaurant owner Khalid Moheydeen says he hears locals talking.
"They feel it's going to be the wrong element here, people who sort of believe in magic stuff, doesn't fit with the neighborhood," he says.
Others say it is a symptom of a neighborhood in flux.
"You have the old Italian population here and then the yuppy population," explains one resident, Pradeep Mouli. "They want to use every chance they can to keep the new culture from kind of overtaking them."
There are two neighborhood associations that make recommendations to Boston's licensing board when a new business applies. One voted not to allow Anderson's shop. but the other voted to let her in. The city has allowed her to operate as long as she closes by 9:00pm and doesn't display neon or sidewalk signs.
She feels she's being discriminated against because the neighborhood is full of those types of signs at other businesses. She says she's hired a lawyer and is even considering a lawsuit.
"I don't want anybody to bother me. I want to be here for a long time."
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