Something like this, for example? https://wamu.org/story/19/01/03/new-ward-8-grocery-store-breaks-ground-and-barriers-to-fresh-food/ |
| Fabulous. Isn't it nice when the Mayor responds to development residents actually want? |
| Fabulous. Isn't it nice when the Mayor responds to development residents actually want? |
If residents (current as well as future) didn't want the development that you don't want, then the developers wouldn't build it. |
The bar is set so low. We are celebrating the announcement of ONE supermarket for Ward 8 and yet knocking the density for Ward 3. If the Mayor cared about equity she would have another half dozen supermarkets lined up for Ward 8. Where are Ward 8 residents getting groceries during COVID. Hopefully PeaPod is driving EOTR. |
There's some goalpost-shifting. Do Ward 7 and Ward 8 have a lot of needs? Yes, they sure do. Does this mean that there shouldn't be any more housing built in Ward 3? No, of course not. |
| It's just sort of funny that Ward 3, which is full of 'vibrant' apartment buildings, has been eye-balled in the Mayor's density fast-track plan, while other wards (and actual needs of residents) are not. |
Bingo! Priorities. Developers for six supermarkets do not pay nearly as well as developers for a dozen high rises...with more supermarkets for those in Ward 3. |
Can some body explain the economics of this? If Ward 8 is so underserved by supermarkets, wouldn’t chains be tripping over themselves to get into that market? There is literally no competition. It makes no sense. |
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"Food deserts make up about 11 percent percent of D.C.’s total area (6.5 square miles), and are concentrated in the neighborhoods of Anacostia, Barry Farms, Mayfair, and Ivy City. By area, the majority (51 percent) of all food deserts are located in Ward 8, while Ward 7 contains the second largest portion of food deserts (31 percent). On the opposite side of the spectrum, Ward 3 has no areas considered a food desert. Ward 2 does contain a food desert, but it is quite small—only 0.13 square miles."
https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/food-access-dc-deeply-connected-poverty-transportation/ The reasons for food deserts are very controversial. The old supermarkets that shuttered and left would say that there was no demand for fresh produce and foods that needed to be prepared at home. Today we call this thinking racist and would say that food deserts exist because of 'redlining' where the lack of economic prosperity denies the residents the ability to support their own food desires against their wishes. Today's thinking is that if you were to drop a brand new Giant into Ward 8 with fresh produce, groceries and fresh food buffet items, it would be just as popular there as in Ward 3. Despite that 'thinking' Giant and Safeway are not racing to Ward 8. |
So the grocery stores are leaving money on the table because they are racist? Honestly, help me understand this. |
So the 'woke' thinking is that through 'redline' lending, banks did not allow housing loans to brown and black people for houses within a 'red line'. This meant that browns and black could only buy houses in areas that other browns and blacks had been approved to buy houses. Because of the lower buying power of that community it simply was not as economically attractive for CEO's to eye them for construction of Whole Foods etc. As for the Giant and Safeway's that were already there and subsequently closed, they were victims of the 'redline' policy as well because the local community did not have the income to spend on groceries. The same argument is used to the lack of medical and urgent care in the same areas. Unfortunately, the two issues create a self priming cycle as without fresh foods, there is a disproportionate rate of high blood pressure and heart disease but there are not readily available medical services for the population. The population eats more prepared foods, high in salt further exacerbating the health issues. i am vastly oversimplifying the 'redlining' argument, but it is the reason that gets bandied about for why a major supermarket would not swoop in and capitalize on the food desert. |
There’s a lot of affordable housing in Prince George’s County but a lot of people have an aversion to considering the county as an extension of the DC market. One can speculate as to why. |
Giant arguably would be more popular in Ward 8 than in Ward 3. |
I know, right? But that would involve effort from our Mayor and Council. Not just pocket lining with cash. |