Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: City/State

Media Credit: Alexis Johnson MARKETS DOWN |There are 33 percent fewer grocery stores now than in 2002.

Media Credit: Christine Lockerby

For New Yorkers, stocking the pantry is becoming more difficult.

According to data compiled this year by F&D Reports, one-third of New York City supermarkets have been forced out of business since 2002. Rising rents in the city, compounded by rising food costs around the world, have created underserved communities where traditional full-service grocery stores have found it impossible to stay afloat while still offering prices their customers are able to pay.

And the NYU community is not immune to the grocery crisis. Currently, two university-owned groceries, Morton Williams, located just south of Bobst Library, and Met Food in the East Village, are in danger of closing. Met Foods has faced rent troubles, and Morton Williams is in the middle of NYU's 2031 construction plans. University officials have promised that there will always be a grocery store in the 2031 expansion area, but owners of Met Food are still in heated lease negotiations with NYU .

But members of the New York State Council on Food Policy, created last May under the umbrella of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, are busy searching for a solution to the city's lack of grocery stores.

"One of the NYS Council on Food Policy's chief objectives is to ensure that all New Yorkers have access to affordable, fresh and nutritious food," said Jessica Chittenden, a spokesperson for the state's agriculture department, adding that the council is responsible for "developing and recommending a food policy for the state" that addresses the food policy concerns of all New Yorkers.

New York State Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker has met with supermarket industry leaders from other states facing similar challenges. One program that seems particularly promising to the council is Pennsylvania's $120 million Fresh Food Financing Initiative, which uses public and private funds to encourage supermarket development in needy neighborhoods across the state.

No funding has yet been allocated for such a program in New York State, as the council is still in early discussion stages. But Hooker has expressed interest in this program, said Chittenden, and may consider recommending a similar action in New York State.

According to Marion Nestle, an NYU professor of nutrition and food studies, this program is typical of most current efforts to improve nutrition in low-income communities focus on increasing access to healthier food. Though Nestle acknowledges the practical benefits of such a program, she does not see it as a permanent solution.

"Income inequity is the biggest obstacle to good nutrition in the state's poorer communities," Nestle said. "After that, it becomes a matter of access to food at affordable costs ... Short of solving the income inequity problem, everything else is a Band-Aid, but Band-Aids are useful in the short term."

To that end, the council is currently engaged in a statewide "listening tour" where community members are able to communicate their concerns about problems related to food security, nutrition, food retail industry and agriculture production, Chittenden said. The next of these meetings will be held on May 29 in Harlem.


Elisa Essner is a staff writer. E-mail her at citystate@nyunews.com.

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