A proposal by two Hartford City Council members for a study on the feasibility of a city-owned, city-operated grocery store in the North End food desert was heartily discouraged by a top city official in a recent presentation.
“There’s no secret we have done a deep dive into the notion of a city-owned, city-managed grocery store,” Department of Development Services Director I. Charles Mathews said in the presentation to the council’s Health and Human Services Committee last week. “In our view, there are legal issues, liability issues, sustainability issues.”
Mathews said while he agrees 100% that the neighborhood needs access to healthy foods for better health outcomes, the question remains as to how to get there.
It is a question officials have grappled with for decades.
Councilwoman Tiana Hercules, who proposed the resolution along with Councilman Joshua Michtom, said she felt Mathews’ presentation was intended as a “counterpoint” to the proposal.
“Which is totally, totally fine. I’m used to sparring, as I do it for a living,” said Hercules, a defense attorney.
Mathews suggested revisiting the idea of a vendor opening a store in central Hartford, which, with bus lines, would provide easy access to North End residents.
One of the issues with a city-owned-and-managed grocery store, apart from those of legalities and sustainability, is whether the store can break even. Mathews said it’s more than likely, given the data, the city would have to make a yearly contribution to sustain it.
“And let’s face it, we simply don’t have the capacity,” he said.
Mathews said the city knows how to fix potholes, run a police department and put out fires, but, “We have no particular skills to run a grocery store.”
The committee voted to postpone the resolution pending further discussion. Hercules agreed to consult with Michtom about amending the resolution. Mathews said if they hire a consultant to determine if it’s feasible to have a city-owned, city-managed grocery store somewhere in the North End, they still may come back with the same conclusions.
Hercules said it’s not about the city having experience but to determine what the best options are. She said if a study determines it would be better to hire a third-party operator, that would be fine. She said the city needs to be “innovative” and look past having a profit-making entity because the talk of healthy food accessibility in North Hartford has gone on for decades. It’s time, Hercules said, to put the needs of residents first.
Other council committee members, weighed in on the proposal.
“I don’t agree the city can operate a grocery store without some private/public partnership,” Council Majority Leader T.J. Clarke said.
Mathews said he believes the city does have an opportunity in the next six to 12 months to bring in a vendor in and around the central area of the city.
“We really think that’s the best option,” Mathews said, adding that is not to say a grocery store cannot go into the North End.
He said the central area, identified in 2019 as the best location for opening a grocery store, looks “far different” than it once did with numerous bus lines and the building of hundreds of apartment units with hundreds more on the horizon.
Mathews said the city believes the “dynamic and the feel,” would be different if developers or grocery store vendors were to visit today.
All the data suggests the market will have to be in a location people can transport to, Mathews said.
Rex Fowler, CEO of Hartford Community Loan Fund said the Arrowhead Master Plan includes a supermarket site and, based on a study, determined it should be around Albany Avenue and Main Street.
He said the best access for North End residents might not actually be in a grocery store in the North End. Although 42% of North End residents don’t have access to a vehicle, Fowler said nine bus routes go through the intersection of Main and Albany. Every resident in the North End can get to Main and Albany within 15 minutes, he added, saying there is no site that’s more accessible to residents in the North End than Main and Albany even though it’s not technically in the North End.
“We don’t think there’s any one silver bullet to solve this problem,” Fowler said.
