Seen Any Protestors in Uptown? This is Why.

View Larger MapThe owners of 2525 McKinnon Street, home of The Retail Connection, and Gateway Tower on LBJ Freeway claim in court documents that they're being harassed by picketers -- and by picketers, they mean "homeless persons being paid to protest" by Alex Ornelas of Arlington, who's listed in court...

By Robert Wilonsky

November 13, 2009

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The owners of 2525 McKinnon Street, home of The Retail Connection, and Gateway Tower on LBJ Freeway claim in court documents that they're being harassed by picketers -- and by picketers, they mean "homeless persons being paid to protest" by Alex Ornelas of Arlington, who's listed in court docs as the exec director of the Texas Carpenters and Millwrights union's regional council.

The suit, filed in Tarrant County District Court and found on Courthouse News, depicts an unruly and ugly situation: The plaintiffs say the union claims it's protesting due to the use of a subcontractor who doesn't pay "area standard wages," but allege that the picketing, which began Uptown last month, amounts to little more than extortion and often endangers people trying to get in and out of the building's driveway.

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