Feds Say East New York Isn't A Food Desert, City Begs To Differ

Via Brunoceros' Flickr

The USDA defines a "food desert" as an area where residents must travel a mile to reach an adequate grocery store, and even has a "Food Desert Locator" on their website. According to the agency, East New York doesn't qualify, but city officials beg to differ. While the USDA claims that only 26K New Yorkers are living in food deserts in Staten Island and Queens, the city's own figures bring that number up to 3 million spread over all five boroughs. "We think their map needs work," the city's food policy coordinator tells the Daily News, echoing the city's dismissal of the Fed's census count.

By understating the amount of food deserts in the city, the USDA's numbers could be a deterrent to grocery stores who would otherwise want to open shop in underserved neighborhoods. "We need better grocery stores," one East New York resident who has an ankle deformity tells the paper, "I travel a lot to get decent food…you can't always eat potato chips and Hostess cakes."

Addressing the issue of food deserts is a major issue for First Lady Michelle Obama, because a lack of affordable, fresh produce is a major contributor to the health problems that plague the country. Carts have been set up in Brooklyn to try and stir up support for the issue but they didn't exactly do brisk business.

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By Christopher Robbins in Food on August 14, 2011 3:50 PM

Comments [rss]

esarby

What if I hate the D'Agostino around the corner and it's just bodegas everywhere for, like, AT LEAST four or five whole blocks? Can I consider my 'hood a food desert until by the grace of God they open a Zabar's in my hallway?

mrnvr

I'm always amazed by the resources low income families have in NYC that are taken for granted. Public transportation makes it possible to get just about anywhere in the city for a few dollars, something low income people in places like Florida or New Mexico can't do without a car.

Having grown up in rural/suburban public housing it wasn't abnormal to walk more than a mile to a store... unfortunately a large percentage of New Yorkers ( rich AND poor) think anything outside a 2 block radius is out of the way so I can see were the city is claiming food desert.

Roark

If you are an 80 year old woman - you are lucky if you have a two block radius of mobility.

It's all perspective.

It is true that some areas of Brownsville and East New york the only place to buy groceries in a 10 block radius is the bodega or the 99 Cent store (which just gets the excess frozen and dairy from grocery stores that is near or past expatriation..

That's messed up no matter how old or active you are.

You shouldn't have to take a freakin' subway or bus to buy lettuce and eggs that aren't a day away from expiring. Your rural/suburban experience is just that Rural/suburban - this is an urban environment - more people per square mile means the necessity for more access to basic food products.

mrnvr

Well if you're an 80 year old woman with limited mobility you can call Access-a-Ride. Two blocks or twenty, if doesn't matter if you're physically incapable. Let's just hope this little old lady doesn't live in a 4 floor walkup.

You're right... you shouldn't HAVE to take the subway 3 stops to buy eggs but at least the option is there.

Have you ever been to Kansas City, KS? It was one of the poorest and most depressing places I've been to... and people without cars WALK or take the BUS a few miles to get groceries.

All I'm saying low income people in NYC in this particular instance have it easier in comparison....