Serrano Testimony to NYS Council on Food Policy

Testimony by State Senator Jose M. Serrano given before the New York State Council on Food Policy on April 3, 2008

Supermarkets are closing in East Harlem. The reasons are varied and hard to define precisely, but it lies somewhere in the nexus between rising rents, higher food prices and increasing energy costs which affect everything from refrigeration to lighting to deliveries. The skyrocketing cost of doing business in East Harlem has recently caused multiple supermarkets to close their doors. A spate of further closures looms just over the horizon.

We are looking at a public health crisis of dangerous proportions. The supermarkets that are able to provide a wide variety of fresh and nutritious food at reasonable prices cannot afford to do business in our community any longer. East Harlem already has some of the highest rates of preventable diet related diseases in the city. I dread the social cost of having the remaining healthy options driven out.

Some of our constituents are determined to eat healthy and are willing to make lengthy trips in order to get nutritious food. However, for many of our elderly and disabled residents that is not an option. In one striking example, a neighborhood resident was carrying her groceries back from the market when she had a heart attack. She used to shop at a nearby Pioneer Supermarket, which closed in February.

We formed a task force to address this crucial issue at a time when the future of the neighborhood is being shaped in important ways. The task force is an attempt to bring together all the relevant stakeholders, from business to non-profits to community residents, and meet with representatives from various government agencies and elected officials to discuss and explore solutions.

Our first meeting brought in Ben Thomases, the Food Policy Coordinator in Mayor Bloomberg's administration. We presented him with East Harlem specific information gathered by our office. The task force looks forward to a continued dialogue with the Mayor's office.

We hosted representatives of a company that owns six Northern Manhattan markets at our second meeting in order to understand the business aspects of owning a supermarket in East Harlem. It was informative hearing about the costs of operating a supermarket and the barriers that exist to success.

We are currently communicating with The Food Trust from Pennsylvania. This non-profit has successfully fought for improved food access throughout low-income communities in that state. We hope to combine resources and ideas with the group to bring forward solutions that will work in East Harlem and ultimately throughout all of New York.

As I said before, it is difficult for us to pinpoint the exact causeof supermarket closures. Obviously, skyrocketing rents in East Harlem have emerged as the easy answer to the problem. We are looking at possible commercial rent stabilization mechanisms to ensure that food retailers can depend on the steady rents that make a business viable.

However rising rents are not the sole reason for the market closures. The costs of doing business have risen across the board, bringing up the price of food. Yet New York City is still not claiming all the food stamp dollars to which is it entitled. Five hundred million dollars in federal benefits that residents of this city qualified for were not claimed last year. We must close this gap, while encouraging the use of those dollars on healthy purchases. To this end, our office has been looking at ways to make the ability to redeem EBT dollars contingent on grocers stocking healthy offerings.

Another possible course of action would be a program that offers low- cost loans and grants to help small community grocers grow to meet the needs of the community. East Harlem is full of an entrepreneurial spirit that can be harnessed to meet these great challenges. Furthermore, if these businesses hire within the community, we further spur economic development and put more dollars in the pockets of neighborhood shoppers.

Finally there is the question of education. Our friends at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene deserve the highest praise for their campaigns to increase awareness of healthy lifestyle choices in Northern Manhattan.

I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. We invite any suggestions the Council on Food Policy might have as to how to continue to move forward efficiently and effectively. We also would like to extend an invitation to the council to send a representative to the next meeting of the supermarket task force. It is our hope we can foster a strong working relationship and move forward to solve this problem together.