Greening City Sidewalks
February 25th, 2008
Two separate seeds were planted at City Hall this morning.
An hour apart, two demonstrations were held on the steps of City Hall: One supporting green cart legislation proposed by the Bloomberg administration and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the other railing against it. The bill, which is slated to come to the council floor on Wednesday, would splatter the city with 1,000 new green cart vendors in hopes of promoting healthy eating habits in impoverished areas.
The bill’s backers originally hoped to sprout 1,500 new permits, but a strong backlash from the supermarket lobby seems to have successfully scaled it back.
While 16 council members have signed onto the legislation, several members - some not so surprising, others a little - have come out against the measure, including Tony Avella, John Liu, Miguel Martinez and Hiram Monserrate.
They oppose the measure because of the potential impact on small businesses. They also claim sufficient educational outreach has not been seeded to guarantee New Yorkers would even pick up more fruits and vegetables when given the choice. They also question the enforcement of the legislation — as in how the city will ensure carts are selling what they are supposed to.
Supporters of the bill argue it would plant healthy options in neighborhoods that have long been barren of tomatoes and apples or green beans and leafy lettuce.
Stay tuned for updates on the legislation’s status throughout the week here at Gotham Gazette.
By Courtney Gross on February 25, 2008, 1:48 pmIn category: Gotham City
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February 26th, 2008 at 11:16 am
A nonprofit organization that I worked with, Groundwork for Success, has offered a neighborhood green cart as a youth enterprise in East New York, Brooklyn for the last three summers. The produce they sold was affordable and high quality, and the high-schoolers who ran the business were able to make profit enough to pay themselves a competitive hourly wage. Neighborhood groceries didn’t complain because the green cart wasn’t in direct competition with their own offerings.
A healthier New York will take a mix of educational outreach and presence: telling us to choose fruits and vegetables won’t do a thing if we can’t find those choices in our neighborhoods. A generous sprinkling of green carts could do much to nourish the movement.