On July 4, 2006 another another liquor store, located at the corner of 32nd and Martin Luther King Jr. Way (just three blocks from our office), was vandalized and burned. This follows the vandalizing and arson of two liquor stores back in November 2005.

It’s not clear who the responsible party was for the July burning and may not be related to the same groups involved in last November’s burnings. Apparently a few local people had said in the days leading up to the arson incident that they were going to burning it down.

Regardles of who the responsible parties are, this rash of burnings over the last nine months signifies a backlash in the community to the network of over 40 liquor stores that are in West Oakland. More and more each day the community is becoming frustrated with their current lack of options for healthy food.

The November arsons prompted local organizations to hold meetings during which participants called for an end to the “poisoning” of the community by the liquor stores and expressed a need for healthier alternatives for goods and services. However, little came of those meetings and West Oakland continues to go without any improvements in its food landscape.

Clearly urgent solutions are needed that do not demonize, harm or alienate the largely immigrant liquor store owners and merchants. After all, they’re just trying to survive like everyone else. And it’s not the liquor stores that are really the problem but rather much larger economic dynamics and policies, as well as consumer demand trends, that perpetuate the problem.

People’s Grocery is of course working to contribute to solutions to this crisis. We are working everyday to shift the eating habits of residents away from unhealthy foods. And we have big plans to address the issue of food access and will, in the near future, unveil our vision for a grocery store that will redefine the food landscape of the community. Stay tuned.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 6th, 2006 at 12:52 pm and is filed under People's Grocery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.