Essay 4747

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

------------------------------

City no place for food deserts

City needs to get serious about sating all residents’ need for decent grocery stores

Hyde Park is one of the most racially and socially diverse neighborhoods in Chicago, with a broad mix of housing. The area is home to the elite University of Chicago and part of a vibrant college community. For all its fine attributes, the South Side community also is part of a vast “food desert,” meaning it has with no mainstream grocery stores or supermarkets.

Hyde Park is just one of scores of Chicago neighborhoods -- mostly low-income African-American and Hispanic areas on the South and West Sides -- with few stores that sell the fresh meat, produce and frozen foods that are essential to a healthy lifestyle. The food store supply may dry up even more next month if the Hyde Park Co-op Market goes out of business.

“Living in a food desert can mean more obesity and other health problems, including diabetes and premature death, especially for mothers and children,” said researcher Mari Gallagher, who studied the impact of food deserts on public health in Chicago. The study, “Good Food,” was done exclusively for the Sun-Times by Mari Gallagher Research and Consulting Group.

What food deserts lack in fresh fruits and veggies, they more than compensate for with fast-food restaurants, liquor stores and gas stations that sell food -- the fatty, salty kind that contributes to premature death from diabetes, obesity and other health problems. Of 325 food stamp retailers in Chicago’s food deserts, 44 are liquor stores. Only 16 are classified as mainstream groceries, but there are lots of fringe stores -- gas stations, bakeries, dollar stores and the like -- that sell food.

To preserve their constituents’ health, the aldermen in those food deserts need to mount a strong push to attract major grocers. And instead of pushing anti-business legislation such as the tax-heavy big-box ordinance that targeted Wal-Mart, they ought to be trying to attract more stores.

Gallagher’s study found that following a doctor’s dietary guidelines would be extremely difficult for the 500,000 or more people who live in the 287 areas that mostly lack grocery stores. In the typical desert, the nearest grocery store is eight blocks or one mile away, roughly twice the distance of the nearest fast-food restaurant.

Gallagher said a perception of higher rates of crime and shoplifting makes supermarkets and other stores shy away from desert areas. Target marketing, such as was done for the “Good Food” study, can help retailers pinpoint the best profitable locations.

Consider all the major chain supermarkets that have opened downtown, which used to be a food desert. Residents in the South Loop now have a veritable smorgasbord with a new Jewel Food Store, Dominick’s and Whole Foods -- all along the bustling Roosevelt Road business corridor. Could one of those food giants also be headed for Hyde Park? The University of Chicago says it’s negotiating for a “high-quality” store to replace the food co-op if it agrees to vacate its space at 1526 E. 55th St. in the Hyde Park Shopping Center.

Maybe it won’t be a major supermarket, though. “Stores don’t want to be first” to take a chance, Gallagher said. But after one store moves in and makes a profit, others jump in, as evidenced by the big-name and specialty stores in the Clybourn Corridor.

The city must attract supermarkets and other businesses to these food and commercial deserts. Tax Increment Financing districts were created to address just such shortcomings, so Mayor Daley and city planners -- with more prodding from aldermen -- must pour more funds into these needy areas like they did in the less-needy La Salle Street financial district.