Hartford moves to reduce the city’s food deserts, especially in this hard-hit neighborhood

Taking aim at Hartford’s notorious food deserts, particularly in the Northeast end, the city council on Monday evening unanimously passed a resolution to work on having a full-service grocery store open in the city by July 2023.

The resolution notes the well-documented data that the urban poor — often due to high prices combined with a lack of transportation — are the most vulnerable to not having access to healthy foods

“Access to food which is nutritious and affordable is a challenge for many Americans, especially in areas where there is a concentration of poverty,” the resolution said, adding that “significant sections of Hartford are more than half a mile away from the nearest supermarket and have a poverty rate over 20%.”

Hartford currently has two full-service grocery stores — Stop & Shop on New Park Avenue and Key Food in Parkville — but the majority of the Northeast section of Hartford is more than a mile away from a supermarket and has one of the highest concentrations of poverty in the city, the resolution said.

Toward that end, the resolution called for officials to work toward finding a suitable location, assisting with locating financial resources for a full-service grocery store and identifying a store operator.

The resolution had the overwhelming backing of residents and others — some of whom said the lack of a grocery store has been a decades-old problem — during public comment prior to the meeting.

Dr. Kristen Ek, who practices internal medicine at UConn Health in Farmington said she has treated the “downstream” effects of the lack of nutrition.

“When we see what food is available in Hartford and that there is a lack of a full-service grocery store … we can’t help but think that what we are treating in the hospitals and the clinics is often the sequelae of very unhealthy choices that are available.

“On a day-to-day basis, we treat hypertension, hypertension emergency, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes leading to amputations, blindness [and] wounds. We notice that good nutrition is directly linked to healthy outcomes. … It is absolutely critical to the health of Hartford.”

The healthiest communities, Ek said, have food options with fewer packaged foods and foods laden with salt, preservatives, MSG and high-fructose syrup.

Ek noted that data shows residents in West Hartford and Avon, who live just a few miles away from the North End, have life expectancies of 16 to 20 years longer than residents of the North End of Hartford.

“That’s just not right,” she said.

Brother Calvin X. Lovejoy noted that residents in some Hartford neighborhoods have greater access to prepared, processed foods than they do fruits and vegetables.

“Adults in urban areas tend to be more obese but they have a greater access to fast food, especially when it comes to feeding their children,” he said. “For many people, the reason for not being able to get nutritious food is a lack of supermarkets, full-service supermarkets, grocery stores and healthy options in our own community. When supermarkets are inaccessible, it has been shown that fruits and vegetable consumption are low.”

Angela Harris, a resident who was also speaking on behalf of the Greater Hartford African American Alliance, Hartford Promise and other organizations, noted that more than 60% of North End residents do not have access to their own transportation.

“They are put at a disadvantage for acquiring [and] accessing affordable quality fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, which is why we are seeking full-service grocery stores,” she said, adding that the current smaller stores often raise their prices at the beginning of the month so their “captive” customers have no choice but to pay for food at inflated prices.

Harris added that a full-service grocery store in the North End would give young people the economic opportunity to work in it, so they “can develop work ethic and also meet their needs.”

“It is unconscionable to me that we would have continuous development of all of these housing projects and not put in the basic services that our community needs,” she said, adding that some residents use the bus to acquire their groceries out of the city. “We really need to be doing better.”

One resident, business owner Max Kothari, said he was frustrated with the ongoing issue of the North End being a food desert. He told the council he acquired a 10-acre parcel on Main Street and secured an operator and financing to open a grocery store. He claims he has spoken to city officials but has not heard back from them.

“Since then all you hear is crickets at home,” he said.

Councilor Josh Michtom of the Working Families Party voted for the resolution, even though, he said, it doesn’t require the council to really do anything.

“We committed to nothing,” he said in a telephone interview.

Michtom said he wants to draft an ordinance to commission a study to look into having Hartford open and operate its own full-service grocery store, thus taking out the profit margin needed to attract outside developers and operators.

He said during the meeting that other municipalities — such as St. Paul, Kansas; and Baldwin, Florida — that are food deserts have opened their own stores.

“This is a problem that has affected us for decades,” Michtom said. “Maybe we need to try something else.”