UNIONS WON'T LET BIG STORES IN BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS. GUESS IT'S RACIST WHITES TO BLAME.

Shopping choices weak on S. Side

By Johnathon E. Briggs
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 11, 2005


Poor residents of Chicago's South Side live in a "commercial desert" where they have little access to major grocers, pharmacies or other retailers, but have plenty of liquor stores and fast-food restaurants nearby, according to a study to be released Tuesday.

Once that commercial pattern is established, it perpetuates itself, making it hard for a poor neighborhood to attract other options, according to the Metro Chicago Information Center, a nonprofit research firm that examined race, income and retail food and drink locations throughout the city.

The key factor appears to be income, according to the study, which found some middle-class minority communities fared better than poor neighborhoods.

The worst off were a group of South Side neighborhoods that are predominantly African-American and where options for healthy, affordable food and medicine outlets are farthest away.

The study was funded by the Partnership for New Communities, a grantmaking entity co-funded by the MacArthur Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust. The partnership supports the Chicago Housing Authority's plan to create mixed-income communities and advocates investment in economically depressed neighborhoods.

The new findings may come as no surprise to community groups and city officials who have struggled to attract retail investment, but this is believed to be the first study to quantify the problem across 75 city neighborhoods.

The study suggests that the location of a retailer such as a Jewel or Starbucks--or a pawnshop, on the other end of the scale--attracts businesses with similar consumers, in what authors describe as a "chain reaction." Once the cycle starts, it can make or break a neighborhood.

As a result, low-income families are often far from "major player" grocers (Jewel, Dominick's, Cub Foods and Aldi) and purchase food at small corner stores, fast-food restaurants, gas stations or liquor stores.

"It's expensive to be poor," said Mari Gallagher, senior researcher for the information center and author of the study. "Food items often cost more at a smaller non-chain store, in part because owners buy their food stock individually in much smaller, more expensive volumes."

The new study is a sequel to a 2003 report that found that the South Side has fewer grocers per capita than the North Side. That study, however, did not determine whether the root cause was race or economics.

Due to historic policies and practices promoting racial segregation, income, race and place are strongly correlated in Chicago. But the new study concludes that money makes the greatest difference.

Though the study focused on food, liquor and pharmacy access, a preliminary finding suggests that communities with higher income also enjoy better access to outlets ranging from health clubs to movie theaters.

Neighborhoods with an annual per capita income of less than $9,999 had 1.7 grocery stores for every 100,000 people. Of those five communities, four are majority black neighborhoods and one is majority Hispanic.

In contrast, communities with an annual per capita income of $30,000 or more had 4.5 stores for every 100,000 residents. Of those eight communities, seven are majority white and one is majority black.

Among the 14 low-income communities (annual per capita income of less than $15,000) where there is no major grocer, the average number of fast-food restaurants was nearly 13 per 100,000 people compared with the citywide average of 10 per 100,000, the study found. Thirteen of those communities are on the South Side , and of those, 10 are majority black and one is majority Hispanic.

The study also found that South Side communities have roughly four more liquor stores per 100,000 residents on average than similar-size North Side communities (25 stores per 100,000 residents compared with 21).

But in black neighborhoods with no grocer or chain pharmacy (Walgreens, CVS or Osco Drug), the density of liquor stores soared to 46.4 outlets per 100,000 residents.

The report recommends, among other things, the creation of mixed-income communities, a task being undertaken by the Chicago Housing Authority's 10-year Plan for Transformation, so low-income families live closer to middle- and upper-income families, which tend to have a better choice in food and retail purchases.

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jebriggs@tribune.com


Chicago Tribune | Shopping choices weak on S. Side