Food deserts put hardships on inner-city residents
One grandmother says she spends up to 3 hours on 3 bus lines to get fresh food
10:38 a.m. Friday, March 2, 2007
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On Chicago's south side, Helen Bradley trudges through the ice with two bags of food and two jugs of Hawaiian Punch.
For everyday groceries, the 51-year-old grandmother walks a mile to a Dollar Store.
Bradley has five mouths to feed. She does all the shopping without a car and without a full size grocery store in her neighborhood.
"I have to catch about the buses to get to the bigger store," Bradley said.
She lives in what's called a food desert, where fast food and liquor stores are plentiful, and grocery stores -- with fresh produce and meats -- are scarce.
Bradley says she can't get what she needs from the local convenience stores. Only full-size markets have the fresh fruits, vegetables and quality meats that her family needs, but most are more than two miles from her house; a round trip can take an hour and a half.
A 2006 study showed Chicago's driest food deserts are in predominantly African-American, low-income neighborhoods.
The study said compared to whites Chicago's blacks travel 50 percent farther to get groceries.
"It drives you kind of crazy because you're like 'what's wrong with my community that we don't have access to a supermarket!'" said LeDonna Redmond, an activist pushing for government to re-think food access as a public health issue.
She argues grocery stores should be subsidized so they can survive in the inner city.
In Chicago the city does provide tax incentives to entice grocery chains to build in the so-called deserts, especially in neighborhoods that are starting to revive.
"We are encouraging them to take a leap and look at a neighborhood that might be marginal on their model," said Lori Healey, commissioner of planning and redevelopment.
But in an industry where profit margins are tight, it can be a tough sell.
"Supermarkets and other businesses want to go where they can get the best return on their investment. They're not in the social welfare business," said Food Industry Consultant Bob Goldin.
Shoppers like Bradley are left feeling her dollars count less and that she will have to do more just to get to the grocery store.
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