Blog / Supermarket Shortage
-
End the Food Injustice
Saturday, February 7, 2009, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer released "Food in the Public Interest," a food policy report developed in collaboration with the Building Blocks Project and other New York food advocates and labor activists.
The report calls for the designation of a New York City foodshed made of agricultural producers and food processors within 200 miles of New York City. Stringer also called for "funding to supermarkets that provide living wage jobs, health insurance, and food quality standards."
The Building Blocks Project is grateful to President Stringer for the passion that he has brought to the issue of food injustice and for his insistence that the voices of workers and communities should be part of the process that determines New York's food system.
Check out video footage of the press conference and read more of the report.
-
Healthy Food Market Fund
The Building Blocks Project has been an outspoken advocate for a revolving loan fund that will finance supermarkets in food desert neighborhoods, in particular supermarkets that provide living-wage jobs to local residents. New York State has a responsibility to guarantee the basic rights of Good Food, Good Jobs, and Good Health to all New Yorkers, and today Governor David Paterson took a step in the right direction when, in his annual State of the State Address, he said:
Today, First Lady Michelle Paige Paterson and I are unveiling a comprehensive strategy to address this challenge. Our five-point plan includes the Healthy Food/Healthy Communities Initiative, which offers a new revolving loan fund that will increase the number of healthy food markets in underserved communities.
The Governor described his motives for the revolving loan program:
One out of every four New Yorkers under 18 years of age is obese.
Childhood obesity causes serious health problems including Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. ...These children have much greater risks of having heart attacks, suffering strokes, and losing limbs.
Obesity not only blights our children’s futures — it creates a significant economic burden on our health care spending. New York spends $6.1 billion each year to treat obesity-related health problems— the second-highest level of spending in the nation.
It's reassuring that, even while acknowleding that our first step has to be funding new supermarkets in underserved communities, Governor Paterson didn't just talk about the need for good food access. He also focused on economic issues. Good food is just one component of good health: good jobs are necessary, too.
Paterson made a very important point today when he said, "Preventing illness is a good investment. It saves taxpayer money, improves patient care, and unburdens our economy."
By making the right investments now in good food and good jobs, we can prevent illnesses and make sure that our families and friends are healthy. By investing in supermarkets that have high wage standards, we can ensure that all New Yorkers have the basic building blocks.
-
NYS Food Policy Report
FOOD POLICY COUNCIL ISSUES REPORT TO GOVERNOR PATERSON
Report Offers Food Policy Recommendations, Outlines Council’s Activities
The New York State Council on Food Policy today issued its annual report to Governor David A. Paterson. The report, required by Executive Order #13, includes a summary of the Council’s activities over the past year, as well as its recommendations on food policy for 2009 and proposed steps needed to implement the recommendations.
Over the past year, the Council held seven listening sessions around the State, gathering public testimony on the following four priority food policy areas.
· Maximizing participation in food and nutrition assistance programs;
· Strengthening the connection between local food products and consumers;
· Supporting efficient and profitable agricultural food production and food retail infrastructure and;
· Increasing consumer awareness and knowledge about healthy eating; and improving consumer access to safe and nutritious food.An overarching recommendation involves the creation of publicly available inventories of available food, nutrition and agricultural services in New York State. This data will serve as a foundation upon which to build targeted food policy recommendations.
For a copy of the Council on Food Policy’s annual report and all of its recommendations, please visit www.nyscfp.org and click on “Report to Governor”.
The New York State Council on Food Policy was created in 2007 with the recognition that in New York State, agriculture is a critically important industry; that hunger is a serious problem facing many families; that access to affordable, fresh and nutritious food is a serious problem, especially affecting children; and that there are significant environmental, health and economic benefits to the State and its residents from expanding agricultural production. At no time in recent history are these matters more prevalent in society than present.
To learn more about the Council on Food Policy, visit http://www.nyscfp.org or contact the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets at 518-485-7728.
-
Action Against Economic Discrimination
On Thursday, November 20, UFCW 1500 teamed up with the Long Island City community to provide access to a full-service, affordable grocery store in time to do Thanksgiving shopping.
The Food Cellar in Long Island City is a Gourmet Grocery that does not accept food stamps or WIC and specializes in overpriced ‘gourmet’ items, so UFCW and the Building Blocks Project sponsored a free bus trip from Food Cellar to the Parkmark store at 42-02 Northern Blvd. in L.I.C.
Read UFCW 1500's Food Cellar Press Release.
-
"Neighborhoods Must Be Building Blocks"
"Neighborhood groups must be building blocks for an urban food agenda," said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer yesterday. And the Building Blocks Project could not agree with him more: neighborhood groups and organized workers have to stand in solidarity and speak out for food democracy.
On November 19, 2008, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 parterned with other community groups to present The Politics of Food: A Conference on New York's Next Policy Challenge. The conference included keynote speeches from U.N. General Assembly President Father Miguel D'Escoto, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Director of the Center for Social Inclusion, Maya Wiley.
650 members of the New York City community to discuss a blueprint for a city-wide food policy agenda.
D'Escoto: U.N. G.A. President Miguel D'Escoto called for a new spirit of solidarity locally and internationally: now is the time "for a new spirit of food that starts from the bottom up." D'Escoto said of Wal*Mart, "Their days are numbered."
Bloomberg: Mayor Bloomberg expressed his commitment to end the food crisis. "You cannot get fruits and vegetables in a lot of bodegas in this city," he said. He also spoke of the need to "spur development of supermarkets" by using city-owned land for supermarkets and developing zoning and financing initiatives.
Wiley: Maya Wiley spoke out against the lack of food access and the lack of opportunities for New York City's minorities. She also pointed out that a supermarket-based strategy will not work in the longterm unless we also "drastically and radically restructure" so that workers and minorities are afforded credit, living-wages; and supermarkets must begin to source locally-grown food if they are to remain relevant.
Conference participants broke out into 7 'working groups' that discussed problems with the City's food system; and together we developed solutions that will form the basis of a city-wide food blueprint. Those recommendations will be released before the end of 2008.