Supermarkets are repositioning themselves in a big sweep across most parts
of the city, but in the commercial corridors of East Austin, it’s the s ame old
story: There’s no new grocery store on the horizon. That means that more than
24,000 residents living in the area bordered by the Colorado River to the south
and Manor Road to the north are stuck with just two shopping choices: HEB on
East Seventh, and Foodland on Airport Boulevard.
“The fact that there’s only two stores is not an issue with me because I
have a car,” says Eleanor Mercado-Valdez. “But many, many residents on this
side of town don’t have access to transportation, so that’s when shopping
becomes a problem.” Mercado-Valdez, who owns a contracting firm with her
husband, doesn’t much care for the narrow selection of fresh fruits and
vegetables at the two stores, so she grows her own at a community garden on
East Seventh. “HEB’s prices are not outrageous, but you’ll very rarely find
asparagus, and of course tofu is out of the question.”
The shortage of grocery stores and food selection hits residents in the
pocketbook, says Kate Fitzgerald, the founder and executive director of the
Sustainable Food Center, a private, non-profit organization. It means
low-income residents will keep on paying more for less. In a 24-page study
funded out of the center’s operating funds, Fitzgerald and a research volunteer
turned up some disturbing findings: Low-income residents in East Austin pay
10-40% more for food than higher-income residents, and they pay as much as $400
a year for transportation to and from supermarkets. Moreover, all 38
convenience stores in East Austin carry beer and wine, but only 18 of them
carry milk and 15 keep bread stocked on the shelves. No wonder then that poor
nutrition accounted for 40% of the illnesses diagnosed at the Seton East Health
Center during 1994.
“Access to food is an issue that very few people think about in West
Austin, but in East Austin the problem is very real,” says Fitzgerald, who
directed the Food Assistance Program under former state agricultural
commissioner Jim Hightower. The program and Fitzgerald were terminated when
Rick Perry took office.
The findings in the “Access Denied” study, released earlier this year,
prompted the Austin City Council to appoint an Austin-Travis County Food Policy
Council to address the problems cited in the study. Adding one more committee
to study one more community problem is a typical city government response. But
Fitzgerald, who recommended the formation of the policy council in her report,
is, for the time being, hopeful that some good will come of it. At least, she
says, it might improve communication between the Food Center and city staff.
Her efforts to start the community gardens and to put a roof over vendors’
heads at the Eastside Community Farmers Market taught her some lessons in
patience and perseverance.
“I’ve found the elected officials to be responsive to information once
they’re presented with the facts,” Fitzgerald observes, “but the city
bureaucracy is from hell.” – A.S.
This article appears in July 28 • 1995 and July 28 • 1995 (Cover).