The City Spurs Grocery Stores to Underserved
The Bloomberg administration, which has already cut down on trans fats and distributed fruit vendors to produce-anemic neighborhoods, is now seeking to provide incentives for grocery stores to open in areas where most families spend their food budget at bodegas and drug stores. The City Planning Commission unanimously approved the proposal on Wednesday, reports The…
The Bloomberg administration, which has already cut down on trans fats and distributed fruit vendors to produce-anemic neighborhoods, is now seeking to provide incentives for grocery stores to open in areas where most families spend their food budget at bodegas and drug stores. The City Planning Commission unanimously approved the proposal on Wednesday, reports The New York Times, which would grant zoning and tax incentives to grocery stores, with set requirements about how much produce and other foods they sell. The city is eying northern Manhattan, central Brooklyn, the South Bronx, and downtown Jamaica in Queens. Many city officials, food experts, and grocery store executives approve of the plan, meant to spur economic growth in addition to encouraging health (and fighting the rising rates of obesity and diabetes), but the Times mentions a recent report to Congress by the Department of Agriculture that shows an uncertain correlation between obesity and access to healthy, fresh foods. Avi Kaner, a supermarket operator, said education is the main solution. If you force distribution of product to a population that’s not interested in it, or not educated in it, and the grocery stores can’t make a profit, he told the Times, they’ll eventually leave. Check out the Times article for more details about the program, similar programs across the country, and a finer breakdown of the pros and cons.
A Plan to Add Supermarkets to Poor Areas [NY Times]
FRESH Food Store Program Overview [DOCP]
NYC’s Neighborhood Grocery Store and Supermarket Shortage [DOCP]
Photo by Royce Bair
THL – The Rangers have been on Cable since 1969!
fsrq-
Yeah, they were available but not many of our folks were buying them for us.
My dad only paid for cable when the Rangers went to a cable channel. Until then it was 2-13 baby. I wanted my MTV!
Everyone over 30 always thinks that it was different when their generation was young – mostly it wasnt – Im over 30, Atari came out before I was 10, Cable TV was widely available by the time I was 13, I remember kids eating Peanut butter/fluff on wonder bread at school,every supermarket carried twinkies, and the general (adult) population lamented that our kids were lazy sloths (which might be true – its just not any different)
Bxgrl,
I just went to the big Shoprite grocery store this morning. I bought 2 batatas (latin white sweet potatoes). They were each about the size of a small/medium baked potato.
$3.87!!!
Almost 2 dollars a potato! It’s insane! Imagine if I had a bunch of kids to feed instead of just me and the hub?
Meanwhile just prior to going there I got a 5lb. bag of frozen Yucca at BJ’s for $3.89. This is why I stick with mostly frozen veggies when possible.
Does Fresh Direct deliver to all (most?) of Brooklyn?
Just wondering, because their produce is good and the selection is hard to beat.
Agree that cost and lifestyle are the biggest obstacles to eating well, but it sure doesn’t help when finding decent fruits and vegetables is a problem.
I guess the north slope is one of the better stocked neighborhoods in Brooklyn, but it seemed a bit of a step down to me after Manhattan. I’m still shocked by how often Union Market will have overripe bell peppers that are getting soft for $3.99/lb.
My wife and I try, and luckily for us money isn’t a big problem when it comes to food, but time sure as heck is.
We try to cook stuff on Sunday that we will have leftovers from for a few days and we have some dishes that we can put together very quickly, but when one of us gets sick or one of us is stuck working late and the other one has to chase the kid around, we end up just calling for delivery.
I keep meaning to put together a recipe book of good meals that can be prepared in less than an hour, but, of course, I don’t have the time. And when I do have the time, I won’t need it anymore…
While I’d love to blame soda for the obesity problem, in reality its our whole approach to food and sometimes it seems the simpler, healthier foods are more expensive. As per my comments with rob re tomatoes. At Foodtown they are sometimes 2.99 and even 3.99 a pound or more. Spend that much for mac and cheese mix and it goes a lot further. Go to a fast food place and you get a meal.
bxgrl, US asians also have the highest average educational attainment of any racial group according to the last census. I think there are a number of sociological things to be learned from the achievements of US asians as a group.
Posted by: dittoburg at September 24, 2009 10:57 AM
Not, by and large, the US asians who live in Manhattan’s and Brooklyn’s Chinatowns.
Posted by: rf at September 24, 2009 12:31 PM
if you focus on the kids who are going to school – true statement.
“I think those of us over the age of 30 can agree that was certainly not the case when we were growing up. All you did was run around playing games, sports etc.”
Word up. We spent 90% of our time in the streets, playing sports and street games. We didn’t come home until it got dark outside or until we were summoned, even in the winter. My family had a “lumberjack” style of cuisine, but none of us have any obesity issues and we’re all still in good shape.
prices in chinatown are low because
(1) it’s super high competition and Chinese people often & frequently engage in price wars
(2) cheap labor; legal minimum wage would be a huge increase vs what workers are paid there