What does it mean to live in a “food desert”? I had to step back and think about what a real desert means.
The Free Dictionary defines deserts as a “barren or desolate area, especially … a dry, often sandy region of little rainfall, extreme temperatures, and sparse vegetation.”
I’ve driven through deserts, and their immensity is impressive and the sense of lack oppressive. Until one hits an oasis. I visited an oasis that supported a date plantation when I traveled in the United Arab Emirates. There were more than 42 different varieties of palm dates. Before their wealth came from oil, the country’s natives cultivated these dates naturally found in the oasis and traded them.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, we apply the term “food desert” to urban or rural areas with limited access to a supermarket or large grocery store, whether due to availability of the stores or limited means of transportation.
Walmart claims the four D.C. wards it is targeting fall under the label “food desert” even though none of them appears in a recent Food Desert Locator published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
I was surprised to see that East New York also did not appear in this locator. I am personally interested in East New York. I spent long days and nights organizing around the neighborhood with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, encountering its cracked sidewalks, crack houses and equally fractured families. This neighborhood on the edge of Brooklyn has suffered from high crime rates for many years, and more than half of its residents live below the poverty line. East New York is a “desert” in many significant ways.
I contacted Shelly Ver Ploeng, the economist who developed the Agriculture Department’s Food Desert Locator, to ask her to explain the methodology. She replied that the agency’s definition had two criteria: first, a high poverty rate or relatively low median income; and second, a significant number of residents living more than one mile away from a supermarket. When pressed further, Ver Ploeng explained, “The term ‘food desert’ is not one that has been standardized or measured consistently over time, so there is a lot of room for different definitions and takes on the issue.”
Which is why in other studies, East New York and D.C.’s wards 4 and 7 qualify as a food deserts. In East New York, the closest food option tends to have poorly stocked produce sections. Ward 7 has one of the District’s highest poverty rates and only four full-service grocery stores. For Ward 4, there are only two full-service supermarkets for a population of more than 74,000. Access to these stores may be difficult if one does not have a car or does not live along the main arteries in order to use public transportation.
If D.C. is to accept Walmart’s premise that these four wards are food deserts, then has D.C. considered looking at what the “oasis” in each ward could provide?
For D.C.’s Ward 4, why not consider an Essex Street/Eastern Market model for the car barn where local shops can sell affordable produce and offer retail space for other items? Essex Street Market in New York City was introduced for that reason, to counter the reality of a food desert in the Lower East Side. It houses small grocers that carry fresh and affordable produce.
Better yet, why not ask each of the wards what residents there want to enhance their community and address the shortage of good food and jobs in their communities?
D.C. tends to follow, not lead, when it comes to trends. It leaves innovation and creativity to occur in other cities, and jumps on board when it proves popular. Could the District, for once, be an innovator and not a follower of trends (the invasion of urban markets by big-box stores) by nurturing these locally produced “dates” and creating something D.C. can call its own?
Mo-Yain Tham is a resident of Ward 4.
We're asking residents to call Mayor Gray, (202) 727-6300, and tell him we don't want Walmart in Ward 4 -- Instead we want residential friendly development!
THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES TO WAL-MART. These are examples of what might work with the existing infrastructure.
1) Using the historic car barn -- an Eastern Market style complex that can house produce vendors, incubator space for small and local businesses, pedestrian plaza, and arts use.
The car barn (former Curtis Chevrolet) is the largest surviving commercial building in the area – and one of the oldest buildings on Georgia Avenue. It could be the centerpiece of our community!
2) Hyattsville-style pedestrian shopping plaza with local businesses such as market shops and clothing retailers.
Reconfigure the Georgia-Missouri intersection to allow development of the site without overburdening traffic and without displacing existing buildings. This will also increase the street frontage of the property, creating a “town center” facing Missouri Avenue and Emery Park instead of a loading dock for a big box store.
Option 2 can be done with or without saving the historic Car Barn (former Curtis Chevrolet).
We're gearing up to put some pressure on Mayor Gray. We'd like to know where he stands on Walmart entering DC and will he rep our interests. So please come out to Mayor Gray's Ward 4 Budget hearing this Monday ready to question him on this issue.
Ward 4 2012 Budget Briefing
And a reminder for Ward 4 Thrives monthly community meeting on May 6, at 6:30pm, at the Police Station 4D (6001 Georgia Ave NW, corner of Georgia and Peabody). It's the first of a lecture series on the impact Walmart will have on our neighborhood by Ward 4 Thrives member Baruti Jahi. We'll also do report backs on our April 26 outreach effort and strategy discussions before the lecture.
April 5th, 2011
Ward 4 Thrives corresponded with you in December in order to appeal to you for assistance regarding Walmart’s immoral attempt to invade our community. We also sent correspondence to our councilmember, Muriel Bowser, and met with her to no avail since she is an admitted Walmart supporter. Our perception was that her interest was to lobby on Walmart’s behalf, rather than on behalf of her constituents. Councilmember Bowser clearly did not want the residents to make a decision about how Walmart would affect our community and whether we felt it was in our best interest.
Subsequently, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Planning, Victor L. Hoskins, met with us on your behalf. He heard our concerns for the safety of our school children and our seniors. We appreciated his sensitivity to our issues; concern for our children’s safety, congested streets and environmental damage to our community.
Walmart is immoral and devours communities across the nation. It is presently attempting to invade South Africa. Interestingly enough, they are fighting to keep Walmart out while our elected officials in DC have welcomed Walmart with open arms, ignoring the harm Walmart’s record indicates it would do to Ward 4. This devastating invasion will forever alter this community’s people and their livelihood. Studies have shown that Walmart will cause the closure of mom and pop businesses in the immediate area of the retailer. In addition, Walmart has a case before the Supreme Court, Walmart v. Dukes, one of the largest employment lawsuits based on gender discrimination.
In addition, following the developer Foulger-Pratt’s submission of its Large Tract Review for the proposed Ward 4 Walmart, the Office of Planning should seriously consider the traffic impact this large retailer will have on our predominately residential area. There are also six schools within a three-block radius of the site of the proposed Walmart, and residents are concerned about the increased traffic endangering the safety of school children trying to cross Georgia Ave.
Our elected officials, for whom we pay taxes so they may always perform their duties in the best interest of the residents, have neglected to do so. They were obligated to send out notices to alert us that Walmart was interested in coming into this city. They did not schedule meetings in order to inform the community, but forced us to hear, through various sources, that Walmart intended to build a store in Ward 4 and thereby forced us to organize our own meetings.
We unfortunately, had to come to the realization that we were on our own and that we could not count on our councilmember, Muriel Bower, to do the job she was elected to do -- represent the interests of those who elected you as well as her.
Ward Four residents organized against this invasion into our community. We stood in the harsh cold of winter to hear our neighbors’ concerns, collect signatures and to gather assistance in this effort. We have thus far collected 1,200 Ward Four residents' signatures. Though Walmart promises 1,200 jobs to DC residents by 2012, the 1,200 Ward 4 residents who signed the petition understand that Walmart will cause more job loss in the community, in the form of forcing small businesses to shut their doors.
We are presenting these signatures to the Deputy Mayor for him to accept on the mayor’s behalf.
Respectfully,
Gerri Adams-Simmons Baruti Jahi Ward 4 Thrives Member Ward 4 Thrives Member
Willie Baker Gary Cha Ward 4 Thrives Member Owner of Yes Organic, Food Market
Verna Collins Milfred W. Ellis Ward 4 Thrives Member Ward 4 Thrives Member
