RE: Food Desert Locator
February 13, 2012 at 2:47 am
(This post was last modified: February 13, 2012 at 3:09 am by Jackalope.)
Pffft... you want me to READ something? I suppose I'll have to.
Presumably, my region is a "food desert" due to the prevalence of low-income residence without access to transportation coupled with the fact that while we have several supermarkets within a couple of miles, there are none within one mile (the closest is 1.2 miles away), and public transit in the immediate area sucks. OK, I get that.
Here's what I don't get. The location of fast food / convenience stores is no less convenient - in the majority of cases, they're clustered close together. As an anecdote, the closest supermarket to my house is right across the street from the closest convenience store, and it's marginally closer than any fast food place - and this is true for almost anyone living in most of the region. We actually have relatively few convenience stores and fast food places nearby compared to the number of supermarkets - and as I said, they are located very close to one another.
As another anecdote, at the convenience store closest to my house, I have often seen people shopping for groceries at the c-store and paying with food stamps. This can't be a result of lack of access to a supermarket - there's one across the damn street. Now, other people's shopping decisions aren't any of my business, but it does make no economic sense to me.
I'm not claiming that this report is flawed or anything of the sort. I just find it curious based on what I know about the area I live in - yep, it's very inconvenient for those without cars, but the better options are no more so than less economic ones.
Presumably, my region is a "food desert" due to the prevalence of low-income residence without access to transportation coupled with the fact that while we have several supermarkets within a couple of miles, there are none within one mile (the closest is 1.2 miles away), and public transit in the immediate area sucks. OK, I get that.
Here's what I don't get. The location of fast food / convenience stores is no less convenient - in the majority of cases, they're clustered close together. As an anecdote, the closest supermarket to my house is right across the street from the closest convenience store, and it's marginally closer than any fast food place - and this is true for almost anyone living in most of the region. We actually have relatively few convenience stores and fast food places nearby compared to the number of supermarkets - and as I said, they are located very close to one another.
As another anecdote, at the convenience store closest to my house, I have often seen people shopping for groceries at the c-store and paying with food stamps. This can't be a result of lack of access to a supermarket - there's one across the damn street. Now, other people's shopping decisions aren't any of my business, but it does make no economic sense to me.
I'm not claiming that this report is flawed or anything of the sort. I just find it curious based on what I know about the area I live in - yep, it's very inconvenient for those without cars, but the better options are no more so than less economic ones.
