Sean Sullivan: The Hope of West Oakland

In June 2008, I had the opportunity to blog about food security. The election happened. Despite its outcome, food insecurity in West Oakland persists. Until now and no, its not what you think.

What you’re probably thinking is that V Smoothe’s long ballyhooed Mandela Food Cooperative has finally opened. Longtime readers of this blog will remember this, this, and this.

Well, Mandela Foods, a food cooperative funded by large payout from the Councilmember as well as the citizen driven West Oakland Project Area Committee (WOPAC) had its “ground-breaking ceremony.” I was not in town that particular day. No, I wasn’t off in Jamaica looking for cocoa beans while Oakland businesses were robbed and the city needed leadership. I was in Los Angeles, working on the largest and most successful fundraiser for an LGBT organization in the history of California.

From what I understand from neighbors who attended, the ground-breaking ceremony included breaking down walls in the continuing construction of a store that is still, one month later and years after it was promised, still not actually operating. Don’t get me wrong, I have wanted this store to open but I, personally, don’t need this store to open. Many neighbors absolutely do need a grocery store to open. The average income of homes in West Oakland and the Prescott neighborhood is below the poverty line. With such a limiting income, maintaining a working vehicle can be a challenge as well and the two work against each other.

For me, living above subsistence and, not transit dependent, I do not face food insecurity, I face inconvenience when I need an ingredient or its late at night and I just want an apple. It’s a drive to Emeryville Pack and Save. What many West Oaklanders face is real food insecurity.

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DeLauer’s on The DTO

dto510 wrote a really good post last week about how important DeLauer’s is to the DTO:

13th and Broadway is a major transit hub. DeLauer’s light and street presence provide a needed active space between the BART station, bus stops, and taxi stand: the “eyes on the street.” While the folks who create and inhabit this space are not exactly Jerry Brown’s dream downtowners, there are fewer medical and criminal emergencies at DeLauer’s than at Burger King across 13th, which hosts an ambulance weekly. On balance, DeLauer’s makes a tremendous contribution to downtown safety, and whatever criminal activity it may attract is generally of the victimless sort. With a dark, closed store at night (assuming DeLauer’s space isn’t abandoned, torn down, or subject to years of construction, all of which would be even worse), the center of the DTO would be much more grim.

We were all very happy that the store, with assistance from the City (among other sources), was able to remain open. Now the Trib reports that the store’s new owners do not intend to continue 24 hour operation. In a new post, dto510 rightfully questions what the point is of subsidizing the store’s operation if they just want to be another coffee shop. Go read it on the DTO.

Still waiting for Mandela Foods

Apparently, some people are tired of grocery store posts. I suggest those people scroll down and read my recaps of last week’s HarriOak All Candidates Forum and of last month’s District 5 League of Women Voters forum. I want to talk about Mandela Foods some more.

East Bay Conservative posted a photo showing the unimpressive state of the of the Mandela Foods store at the end of March. Since it’s been a while, I figured I’d stop by and check out their progress since I happened to be in the neighborhood yesterday. This is what I found:

Yes, that’s the same Mandela Foods that District 3 City Councilwomen Nancy Nadel claims on her re-election campaign website will be open in April, the same Mandela Foods that Nancy Nadel said would be open in April at the League of Women Voters Forum a month ago, and the same Mandela Foods that Nancy Nadel said at the All Candidates Forum a week ago would be opening in May. This is the same Mandela Foods that Nancy Nadel uses repeatedly in candidate forums as an example of how she has brought neighborhood serving retail to West Oakland. And they still haven’t even begun build-out. Folks, this store is not opening this month. At this point, I’m wondering if it’s going to open ever.

Remember, Nancy Nadel handed these people $100,000 of your money in October 2006, and the City Council voted to give them another $200,000 of tax money in September 2007. Meanwhile, we’ve limited the amount of produce a neighboring store is permitted to sell as a means of ensuring the success of Mandela Foods, and rejected another grocer who wanted to open up in the area next to a McDonalds and KFC because they didn’t pay enough. Our priorities are seriously out of whack.

Related posts:

• 05.01.08 Mandela Foods Cooperative: Subsidizing Failure
• 04.30.08 Fresh & Easy update in the Trib. Also, shame on you, Nancy Nadel!
• 04.28.08 Finally, a clear answer on Fresh & Easy
• 04.01.08 West Oakland is not getting a grocery store anything soon
• 02.01.08 Green jobs, Fresh & Easy
• 11.14.07 Look out Whole Foods, here comes Fresh & Easy

Mandela Foods Cooperative: Subsidizing failure

West Oakland houses 28,000 people and does not have even one full-service grocery store. Residents with access to a car or near the Emeryville border can shop at Pak ‘n’ Save, but most of the area’s food needs are met at one of West Oakland’s 53 liquor stores, where produce is scarce and prices for staples tend to be significantly higher than at real grocers. (A 2005 UCSF School of Medicine study found that in Hunter’s Point liquor stores, a loaf of bread averaged $1.94 versus $1.09 in grocery stores elsewhere in San Francisco.) This places a serious burden on an area where the average income is only $12,000/year. Despite wonderful efforts by local groups to make produce more readily available, the food access and food security situation in the area is dire. Read more

Bakesale Betty coming to downtown? OMG!

Whenever people ask me what downtown Oakland is missing, I answer without hesitation. A bakery! We need a bakery! It drives me insane that I can easily walk from my home to buy pretty much everything I need, except, you know, an edible cookie (and stockings).

So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I saw this posted in a downtown window the other night: Read more

Weekend highlights - Don’t miss the Oakland Holiday Parade on Saturday

I apologize for the somewhat erratic posting lately. This is a busy time of year for me. But I seem to be on a bit of a blogging binge today, so scroll down to make sure you catch all the new ones. I figure that another lengthy post would probably be kind of overwhelming, so I’m going to hold off continuing the Oak to Ninth stuff until Monday. Anyway, I want to highlight two things going on this weekend, plus a little bit of good news for West Oakland. Read more

Look out Whole Foods, here comes Fresh & Easy!

Hot on the heels of Oakland’s brand new Whole Foods and two new Trader Joes, it looks like downtown might be getting our very own Fresh & Easy. What’s so appealing about Oakland to the chain? Well: Read more

Harvest Hall “breaks ground” in Jack London Square

I guess I was a little bit ahead of schedule when I wrote about Jack London Square’s Harvest Hall last week. The project had its ceremonial groundbreaking yesterday, and is scheduled to open in early 2009.

Harvest Hall will apparently be the largest public market on the West Coast, which is neat and everything, but not necessarily all that impressive, since it only has what, two competitors for the title? Read more

Oakland’s own Ferry Building in Jack London Square? Maybe not.

Commenter Owen asked for my opinion on Harvest Hall. I haven’t written about it before because, well, I’m not quite sure what to say about it.

I thought about writing something a while back when Robert Gammon had that paranoid article about it in the Express. (The San Francisco Business Times ran a much more sane story about Harvest Hall the same week.) Read more

OMG, I can finally buy decent milk within walking distance of my apartment!

To be honest, I don’t do much shopping at the grocery store, and I’m not a huge fan of Whole Foods. But this is still really exciting for downtown.

Check out more Oakland Whole Foods photos on Novometro.

Retail could come to auto row, if NIMBYs and the whims of politicians don’t stop it

Today, I wrote about the Conley Group’s upper Broadway report for Novometro. I won’t rehash everything here - click through and read the story for the details.

Also, read the report (PDF!). It’s fascinating. And inspiring. Walking up and down Broadway yesterday to take photos for the story, I was overwhelmed by the incredible potential in the area. It was so easy to see stylish boutiques filling up the beautiful art deco storefronts and residential towers bringing vibrancy to the gaps where lots full of cars now sit. Read more

Weekly City Business Round-Up - June 18th-22nd, 2007*

Planning Commission - Wednesday, June 20th 6:00 PM

Sparks flew at the Planning Commission’s last meeting when Commissioners Doug Boxer and Michael Lighty attempted withhold a permit to sell alcohol from two new Trader Joe’s stores until the company agreed to have the stores’ employees to submit to a union query . Both men are union advocates by trade - Boxer is a labor lawyer and Lighty is director of public policy for the California Nurse’s Association. Although the Commission has no explicit authority over labor issues, Lighty claimed that the demand was consistent with the Commission’s mandate to consider the impact of major projects on the surrounding community. At the last meeting, the Lakeshore location prevailed, but the Rockridge store, at the former site of Albertsons near BART, will have to try again on Wednesday. The new downtown Whole Foods (another famously anti-union grocer), at 27th and Harrison, will share the spotlight with Joe’s, as they seek an alcohol sales permit of their own. Will Boxer and Lighty repeat their stunt? Read more