A Milwaukee Common Council committee, this week, supported legislative action aimed at addressing the city’s food desert crisis on the city’s north side.At the April 8 Steering and Rules Committee meeting, leaders discussed at length the growing frustration with sudden closures of grocery stores and the minimal notice they said residents received before the businesses shut down.District 1 Alderwoman Andrea Pratt referenced the sudden January closure by owners of the Aldi near North Sherman Boulevard and West Custer Avenue.”They left me a voicemail on January 9 to tell me they were closing on January 11, which means that all those people in that neighborhood were left without a grocery store in two days. They found out on the news,” she said.The committee approved adopting a city ordinance to require licensed food establishments to provide the city written notice of their intent to close a business at least 60 days before the planned closure.The measure will go up for a vote by the full council.”They are there, not only to conduct business, but are very much a part of our neighborhoods and very much a part of our community; they have a responsibility, and they have to be accountable,” Pratt said of food businesses.The planned opening of a grocery store to replace the now-departed Sentry Foods at 64th and Silver Spring Drive in Ald. Mark Chambers Jr.’s district hit a snag.”The Sentry is going to be re-imaged and repurposed into a grocery called One City Supermarket that will be opening up soon, this month,” he said, “There are still some kinks that are coming out as far as accepting SNAP and things for the federal government, so that’s what’s holding up the grand opening on that one.A sign posted on the door said the grand opening was scheduled for April 26. It is unclear if the issue Chambers revealed would push the date.Chambers supported the 60-day notice ordinance along with the resolution to declare food apartheid a public health emergency in the city. A 2023 article published by Jo Walker for the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability cited Karen Washington, a food justice advocate, for coining the term as drawing attention. Karen Washington, food justice advocate, organizer, and author, first coined the term food apartheid to draw attention to the “root causes of inequity in our food system based on race, class, and geography.” The article went on to say Washington emphasized “healthy, fresh food is accessible in wealthy neighborhoods while unhealthy food abounds in poor neighborhoods.””This is necessary because we, as alders on the Northside are severely impacted compared to our counterparts on the south side,” Chambers, who represents District 1 said.”You shouldn’t wake up in a food desert,” Ald. Pratt added.
MILWAUKEE —
A Milwaukee Common Council committee, this week, supported legislative action aimed at addressing the city’s food desert crisis on the city’s north side.
At the April 8 Steering and Rules Committee meeting, leaders discussed at length the growing frustration with sudden closures of grocery stores and the minimal notice they said residents received before the businesses shut down.
District 1 Alderwoman Andrea Pratt referenced the sudden January closure by owners of the Aldi near North Sherman Boulevard and West Custer Avenue.
“They left me a voicemail on January 9 to tell me they were closing on January 11, which means that all those people in that neighborhood were left without a grocery store in two days. They found out on the news,” she said.
The committee approved adopting a city ordinance to require licensed food establishments to provide the city written notice of their intent to close a business at least 60 days before the planned closure.
The measure will go up for a vote by the full council.
“They are there, not only to conduct business, but are very much a part of our neighborhoods and very much a part of our community; they have a responsibility, and they have to be accountable,” Pratt said of food businesses.
The planned opening of a grocery store to replace the now-departed Sentry Foods at 64th and Silver Spring Drive in Ald. Mark Chambers Jr.’s district hit a snag.
“The Sentry is going to be re-imaged and repurposed into a grocery called One City Supermarket that will be opening up soon, this month,” he said, “There are still some kinks that are coming out as far as accepting SNAP and things for the federal government, so that’s what’s holding up the grand opening on that one.”
A sign posted on the door said the grand opening was scheduled for April 26. It is unclear if the issue Chambers revealed would push the date.
Chambers supported the 60-day notice ordinance along with the resolution to declare food apartheid a public health emergency in the city.
A 2023 article published by Jo Walker for the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, cited Karen Washington, a food justice advocate for coining the term as drawing attention, “
Karen Washington, food justice advocate, organizer, and author, first coined the term food apartheid to draw attention to the “root causes of inequity in our food system based on race, class, and geography.” The article went on to say Washington emphasized “healthy, fresh food is accessible in wealthy neighborhoods while unhealthy food abounds in poor neighborhoods.”
“This [resolution] is necessary because we, as alders on the Northside [of Milwaukee] are severely impacted compared to our counterparts on the south side,” Chambers, who represents district 1 said.
“You shouldn’t wake up in a food desert,” Ald. Pratt added.
Dining and Cooking