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If the outer boroughs aren't willing to come into the city for their Whole Foods, then the city is making sure it finds a way to get Whole Foods into the outer boroughs. Yesterday the City Planning Commission approved a plan to encourage grocery stores with fresh produce, meats and dairy to expand into poorer areas by allowing them to sidestep existing zoning and development regulations. Supporters of the plan say it would encourage gentrification to continue its sweep across the boroughs.
City officials designed the plan as part of Mayor Bloomberg's ongoing push to get New Yorkers eating their fruits and vegetables. City Planning Commisoner Amanda Burden tells the Times that the incentives are aimed at areas that are "really, really underserved" and “their grocery dollars at Duane Reade and CVS on chips and soda.” The plan distinguishes itself from many urban initiatives because it is focused on promoting businesses with healthier foods to flourish rather than shoeing away fast food joints.
But the question remains: does the ghetto actually want your organic bullshit? A Whole Foods regional executive said that the new plan certainly sounds enticing but added that Whole Foods stores need a certain concentration of “people that live our lifestyle,” which includes a concern for “what they’re putting into their bodies.” And one of the owners of the grocery chain Morton Williams told the Times, “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, they’ll eventually leave.”
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We need to begin to teach ourselves how to grow our own food.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrkeIexh7W0
Good organic foods do cost more money than the cheap fatty and high fructose corn syrup people buy. Why do you think low income people go to fast food places - Because it's a cheap meal. Burger,fries and soda is like $5-6 a McDonald's or Burger King.
The argument that fast food is cheaper is bullshit. You can buy a package of 2 chicken breasts, 2 servings of rice/pasta/potato, and 2 servings of a vegetable for under $10 and cook it all at home. As for the soda: Fuck soda. Water is free. If you're really that poor, drink water. I stopped buying beer and soda when I was forced to make some cutbacks. That shit is expensive.
No, you can't buy a meal for 2 from Whole Foods for under $10, but you can from an Associated, or Key Foods, or one of the other "regular" grocery stores.
The real reason is people are too fucking lazy to spend time going to the store, getting groceries, prepping the food, and cooking it all, rather than spend 1/4 of that time in line at McDonalds. And it's not just poor people, it's everybody. I know a bunch of assholes who "just don't cook".
Couldn't agree more, i've been fighting this exact point for many years, it just doesn't make sense, especially if you're living it and seeing the damage all these poor diets do to the communities, in addition to how much money could be saved just cooking a well balanced meal at home. The fight goes on...
"does the ghetto actually want your organic bullshit?"
i applaud your rhythmic prose and honest, inspirational reporting. to the point, only pretentious weenies shop at whole foods and they are not usually found rockin' the hood.
it's not really "do we want organic bullshit?" it's "do we want to pay for the organic bullshit?" it doesn't matter if we eat organic foods. most won't do you any better nutritionally than "regular" foods. offer fresh fruit and veggies at a good price (organic and or not) and they will sell.
have you seen what they're charging for arugula?
this sounds suspiciously like the HUGS "no baggy white T's" sign but in reverse.
Whole Foods stores need a certain concentration of “people that live our lifestyle,” Oh go fuck yourself, you self-absorbed asshole. If they had money they sure as hell wouldn't be living in the fucking "ghetto", let alone shopping at this overpriced, snot-nosed established. Fuck them...
I take it you won't be donating your bag credit to Planet Friends.
Just what the Bronx doesn't need is to introduce bulk bins & buffetts to people already so ghetto as to open boxed foods on the shelves & just start eating it without paying, as if they're in their own kitchen....
classic gothamist -- writing a flame bait post to get more comments to get more ad impressions to get more money.
no one is suggesting bringing a whole foods to jamaica or east new york. the quote from the whole foods rep is completely irrelevant, and the nytimes article mentions nothing about organic food.
the city is just trying to make it easier for stores that sell actual groceries -- not necessarily organic -- survive in neighborhoods where these stores are needed.
Whoa - hold it! The plan is to "encourage grocery stores with fresh produce, meats and dairy to expand into poorer areas." This does not mean that they have to be overpriced organic markets - this is only about getting fresher, more nutritious food out there. You know, like Manhattanites take for granted when they go to their corner Korean grocer, Associated supermarket, Fairway, or whatever. Let's not get our shorts in a bunch yelling about Whole Foods - this isn't about organic or non-organic, it's about healthy food.
I applaud the city's efforts but agree with the skeptics. Good food is expensive, but just as great a culprit is a lack of care and/or education about what is best for the mind and body.
I know there are different degrees of poor, but there are enough low income people out there with some disposable cash that seem to prefer chrome rims and $200 Nikes rather than nutrition. To each his own but I certainly hope for this city policy to have a positive outcome. With some form of universal healthcare likely to get passed, people are going to start getting more pissed at the unhealthy and lazy crowd driving up our premiums/taxes when they could be spending a larger percentage of their (sometimes meager) income on staying healthy.
We all know gentrification starts with a Thai restaurant.
Durr.
“If you force distribution of product to a population that’s not interested in it...”
No one is talking about *forcing* grocers to open anywhere in particular -- they're being encouraged, not forced, to do so by the city.