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In Rockford Illinois, on South Main street, there was one a small, junky, but thriving Latino mini-supermarket. The city wanted to gentrify the area because of its proximity to the Rock River.

The owner was pressured to accept something in the neighborhood of $106,000 to give up his store, whih he accepted.

The IGA-affiliated Gray's Foods accepted a big subsidy to put up a full-sized, brand new supermarket. It was clean, it was bright, it had good selection, lots of parking. It was empty of customers. That lasted only two to three years. Next the brand new store was taken over by Latinos who should know how to market to the locals. They probably got the property (or lease to it) inexpensively. It did better, and a Family Dollar moved in next to it, but after three or four years, it too failed.

Now, the heavily subsidized building, up the street from the brand new empty condos with the rover view, sits empty, with the family dollar having to do as a local grocery store. It would have been better for the taxpayers, and especially the people in the neighborhood, if their little store was just left alone.

This farce happened simply with government using the threat of eminent domain and subsidies as levers. Imagine how bad it will be if it is a federal store owning (or funding) the stores outright.