Chicago's "food deserts" well known to Obama

A new economic term has come to Chicago: food desert. And what is that? A food dessert is an area not served by a large grocery store. Oh, there are smaller groceries in these deserts, but typically they don't offer much of a selection, and the prices are higher. Dominick's, a large grocery chain recently closed some Chicago stores, leading to the further desert-ification of the city.

Last Sunday's Chicago "free registration required" Tribune had a story that caught my eye. It was about the increase in business of Peapod, the grocery delivery company, in the food desert areas.

Like life, capitalism always finds a way.

In the print edition of the Chicago Tribune, the story was accompanied by a map of the city and it marked in bold Chicago's food deserts. Sadly, the deserts are concentrated for the most part in Chicago's poorest neighborhoods. One exception is Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, which is where until a couple of years ago, Barack Obama lived. His wife Michelle works there--at the University of Chicago. The Obamas now live in Kenwood, which is just north of Hyde Park.

Another notable food desert is on the far South Side of Chicago--at the center of which are the Roseland and West Pullman neighborhoods. South of there is the Altgeld Gardens housing project. Obama scholars will recognize these places--it's where Obama worked as a community activist in the 1980s, as he proudly wrote about in his memoir, Dreams from my Father.

One tonic for Chicago's food desert is to let the big-boxes, such as Target and Wal-Mart, into these parched areas. But that's a problem. Both outlets are non-union, and Wal-Mart in particular is disliked by liberals such as Sen. Barack Obama. In fact, it's safe to say that Obama, like John Edwards, is anti Wal-Mart. Chicago is a very Democratic city that is divided into 50 wards, only one of which is represented by a Republican.

Food deserts or Chicago big-boxes? To me, the answer is easy; however, liberals such as Obama care more about their causes than the end result, which is helping people who need it the most.

Of course liberals are for the people. They tell us that all the time.

Related posts:

Big-box shy Chicago facing "food desert"

Obama and Wal-Mart

More Obama: Wife serves on board of company whose biggest customer is Wal-Mart

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