Posted on 06/10/2015 4:37:40 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
One in four Baltimore residents lives in a "food desert," according to a new study released Wednesday by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who pledged to improve access to affordable and healthy food.
In the 2015 Food Environment Map Report, researchers defined food deserts as areas where distance to a supermarket exceeds a quarter-mile; the median household income is at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level; more than 30 percent of households lack a vehicle; and there's a low score on the so-called healthy food availability index.
"We've never analyzed the food environment at this level before," Rawlings-Blake said, calling the report a "monumental step forward" in making Baltimore a healthier city. "I know that we can increase access to healthy and affordable foods as we move forward to dismantle this inequality in our city."
The study, by the Baltimore Food Policy Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, found that children are disproportionately affected, with one in every three living in a food desert. The study also found that African-Americans have less access to quality food.
"When we look at many of our neighborhoods, there are life-expectancy disparities as much as 20 years," Rawlings-Blake said.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Yep, grew up twentyone miles from the closest grocery store.
Maybe LaTeesha and Antwon will re-consider looting and burning down their local supermarket the next time there’s an “uprising.”
In other words, the needle on my “give-a-crap” meter hasn’t budged at all.
The bus fare for HART (Hillsborough Area Regional Transit) is $4 for an all day pass. If we want to, we could go to either Target, WalMart, Publix, Winn-Dixie, The Fresh Market, Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s on the bus. We usually bike to either Publix, Winn Dixie, WalMart or Target. The nearest store from us is 3/4 of a mile. It is good exercise.
I miss Shop-Rite...great stores...
A quarter of a mile??? Is this a joke? I thought the study results were going to show that a lot of people were a mile or more away from a store. A quarter of a mile is nothing. That’s two and a half city blocks.
My grandmother lived in Chicago all of her adult life - in a lower middle class area - she was an immigrant (legal) and worked as a maid. She never drove. The nearest supermarket (an A&P) was four blocks away. There was a small neighborhood grocery about three blocks away. She always walked.
When I lived in Ann Arbor, I was 6 blocks from the nearest supermarket. (I never bought more than 2 bags of food at a time - just what I could carry.)
My driveway is 2/10 of a mile long, down a steep hill. I’m in my 60s and walk down to get my mail - and back up again, of course.
It has very weird zoning laws regarding housing and grocery stores.
For instance there are the classic rowhouses for miles around, yet you can have a small grocery store operating out of one. They've been a part of B-More culture for over a hundred years.
And YES, the liberals have tried to get rid of them.
Maybe an animal cruelty law? I don't know.
Black men who walk the streets of Baltimore with their horses, selling fresh produce.
THEY have been part of Baltimore culture for a long time.
You could hear the call of an Arabber for blocks around.
No reason that Baltimorons should not have access to fresh veggies.
It just takes something we call "effort".
News flash to the Idiot Mayor. Most Americans live in a food desert by those definitions.
The difference is that we shop for food every two weeks at a maximum. We also use Money
WE earned. We purchase goods to fix/prepare meals to stretch our money.
We don’t have Itbefree cards that we use to buy prepared over priced junk food 6 times a day.
Maybe forcing them to walk isn’t all bad given the junk they buy. Save on health care dontcha know.
if they can’t buy bread, perhaps they should buy cake
Hey Rawlings-Blake: you and your President are telling people “you didn’t build that” and then expecting things to magically appear in the neighborhoods where the “you didn’t build that” zombies congregate???
STUPID!
I live 25 minutes from Aspen in a swanky little town.
The nearest supermarket is almost a 12 minute
drive. That’s my sad story of a food desert.
Completely stupid and lazy people. When I was a freshman even in college, I tool public transpo in the evenings after class just to get to the next supermarket and haul those bags back. I’ve said it before, the closest petri dish of society is when you get on a public bus or train. You observe how people from different backgrounds act in public.
I'm "in my 60s" too, until the 29th of this month, at which time I'll not be able to say that anymore.
“distance to a supermarket exceeds a quarter-mile”
gimme a break
my driveway is a quarter mile long
Maybe what mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake needs is a guns for food program, solves two problems.
Always the little children. Does anybody care about the elderly anymore? Unless they have a Meals on Wheels program, then granny is probably dead from starvation after waiting for her givesmedat children to bring her some food. If they do come around, it only monthly when the SS check comes in and they need a helping hand.
What is bought is provided... Melons, fresh veggies and kale don't sell in the inner city ... so they're not provided by businesses.
What's available in the black community is what blacks are willing to spend their money on. Same as the white community. What we buy is available to us. Same market system... different ‘stuff’.
Why don't blacks understand how markets work?
If in the next six months NOT ONE BLACK bought illegal drugs - and all black residents ate kale everyday for lunch - drugs would be difficult to score after the 6 months - and kale would be in every shop.
Blacks want to have what whites and other races have - but they want to act like blacks. When they buy like blacks buy they'll have what blacks have... not what they say they want, but what they're willing to spend their money on... It's a choice. Same with how they choose to live. It's a choice.
What is bought is provided... Melons, fresh veggies and kale don't sell in the inner city ... so they're not provided by businesses.
What's available in the black community is what blacks are willing to spend their money on. Same as the white community. What we buy is available to us. Same market system... different ‘stuff’.
Why don't blacks understand how markets work?
If in the next six months NOT ONE BLACK bought illegal drugs - and all black residents ate kale everyday for lunch - drugs would be difficult to score after the 6 months - and kale would be in every shop.
Blacks want to have what whites and other races have - but they want to act like blacks. When they buy like blacks buy they'll have what blacks have... not what they say they want, but what they're willing to spend their money on... It's a choice. Same with how they choose to live. It's a choice. The 'food desert' think is a liberal elite constuct... and it's silly.
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