The Obamas used to live in Hyde Park on Chicago's South Side, but they've moved into that controversial mansion just north of there in Kenwood. Often the neighborhoods are considered one and the same, and that's the way Michelle Obama seems to view it.
Mrs. Obama spoke with Konkol about her favorite Hyde Park hangouts.
"I love living in Hyde Park, so close to so many of our friends and family," Michelle says. "The community is diverse and very family-oriented, and, as the mom of two daughters, I really appreciate that."
Besides, Hyde Park is where the Obamas shared their first kiss -- outside the Baskin Robbins on 53rd and Dorchester.
Family suppers out often include a pie at Pizza Capri, or Caribbean grub at Calypso in Harper Square.
Back when they could blend into a crowd, the Obamas would take their girls to enjoy the lake breeze at Promontory Point. For years, the Obamas have shopped at 57th Street Books.
No supermarkets were mentioned in Michelle's list of favorites. The only grocery store I know of in the neighborhood is the Hyde Park Co-op. It's long on old world charm, but short on low-priced goods.
Here's how one Hyde Parker described the grocery store situation there last month in the Chicago "free registration required" Tribune:
"I'm curious why major grocers don't come to our neighborhood," said Esterly, who lives in a portion of Hyde Park that is identified as a food desert. "We pretty much have only one grocery store, and it's not a major grocery store."
The Hyde Park Co-op supermarket at East 55th Street and South Lake Park Avenue is down the street from the townhouse Esterly shares with her husband and two young children.
But Esterly, 34, said she stopped shopping at the Co-op years ago, turned off by what she considered high prices and poor quality of produce.
Earlier this year, the Chicago Tribune identified Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood as a "food desert," an area without a low-priced supermarket. The situation became acute in parts of Chicago after Safeway-owned Dominick's closed about a dozen supermarkets in the city.
Wal-Mart and Target, two national big boxes viewed with suspicion by labor and some Democratic politicians, would love to fill the void inside the "food deserts." Senator Obama is a vocal opponent of Wal-Mart, but of course that didn't stop his wife from until this week serving on the board of directors of a major Wal-Mart supplier.
Of course a US Senator's duties go way beyond city zoning issues, but local politician might his lead if Obama decides--which isn't likely as long as he is a presidential candidate--to tune out the anti-Wal-Mart netroots.
Not everyone in Hyde Park has a car, and lugging bag loads of groceries on a bus or an el train is quite cumbersome.
Lets hope Mr. and Mrs. Obama figure that out one day.
Related posts:
Michelle Obama quits board of big Wal-Mart supplier
Chicago's "food deserts" well known to Obama
Big-box shy Chicago facing "food desert"
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