Neighborhoods and Access to Groceries – Los Angeles, CA

Inner-city L.A. hungers for good grocery stores, By Daniel B. Wood, October 10, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “East L.A. resident Olga Perez has to take two buses to a store about eight miles away to get fresh fruits and vegetables, or decent cuts of meat, for her family. ‘The only thing I can get at my corner store are spoiled or expired,’ explains Ms. Perez, a dental assistant and single mother who lives in a two-bedroom apartment with two daughters and a granddaughter. The round trip costs her $5 and limits what she can carry home. ‘I can only get so much milk and when I get home the eggs are cracked and the bread is smashed,’ she says. And because she works until 6:30 p.m. most nights, Perez doesn’t often have the time to make the trip and get home in time to cook for her family. Her solution: ‘Open a can of ravioli or make hot dogs,’ but that sometimes keeps her daughter and granddaughter up at night, complaining of insomnia and stomach aches. It’s a situation the Alliance for Healthy and Responsible Grocery Stores, a city-wide coalition of 25 community, faith-based and environmental organizations, is trying to change. They formed a Blue Ribbon Commission in early 2007 to address the chronic absence of quality grocery stores in several L.A. neighborhoods including East L.A. and South Central – and are now trying to draw such stores to these underserved areas…”