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RAHM'S PSEUO-NEWS: Sun-Times and Whole Foods help mayor cover up failure on 'food desert' promise

George N Schmidt - September 05, 2013

A "news"paper in 2013 doesn't need reporters or news photographers -- or for sure copy editors -- when it can get its "news" stories straight at taxpayers' expense from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Just check out the recent Sun-Times coverage of Rahm. Rahm supplies the words. Rahm supplies the quotes from the "community." Rahm supplies the graphics. The Sun-Times just slaps the label "news" on the story and away we go!

It was a quickie pirouette even for Chicago's agile mediagenic mayor, Rahm Emanuel. Within four days after the crusty investigative reporters at the Chicago Tribune had reported, based on some serious number crunching (oh, would they do the same with Rahm's claim to have "reduced the CPS bureaucracy" by $600 or $700 million!...) that Rahm's claims about ending so-called "food deserts" in Chicago's Black community was bogus, the Chicago Sun-Times recycles some Rahm press releases and reveals that Rahm is bringing Whole Foods into that "food desert" in Englewood.

As readers who compare the "news" reported in the Sun-Times with the public relations issues at taxpayer expense by the Mayor's Press Office (see below), the Sun-Times didn't have to waste reporting talent on providing their buddy with this bit of propaganda. This cute graphic was provided at taxpayer expense to Chicago media by "The Mayor's Press Office" of Chicago. It purports to show the Whole Foods store that supposedly will be built in Englewood thanks to Rahm's buddy relationship with the owner of Whole Foods.Rahm gets a "news" story in the ever loving Chicago Sun-Times followed by his own fully publishable press notice (complete with picture). The story is that Whole Foods -- thanks to Rahm -- will be creating a store in Englewood. Of course, the store will pay virtually no taxes, and have most of its costs supported by TIF dollars. Even the quotes from the preachers are taken out of the mayor's press release. Following the mayor's PSEUDO-NEWS below are the original Tribune investigation of Rahm's lies and the Sun-Times cover ups (one was the Fran Spielman story reported here earlier, the other the Whole Foods "news" story).

MAYOR'S PRESS RELEASE ON THE WHOLE FOODS STORY:

WHOLE FOODS MARKET® AND MAYOR EMANUEL ANNOUNCE NEW STORE IN CHICAGO’S ENGLEWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 4, 2013

CONTACT: Mayor’s Press Office

312.744.3334, press@cityofchicago.org

Whole Foods Market, 201-567-2090 ext. 411. Robin.Kelly@wholefoods.com, 512-542-0390. Kate.Lowery@wholefoods.com

Whole Foods Market today joined Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Ald. Jo Ann Thompson to announce that Whole Foods Market will open a store in the Englewood neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. The 18,000 square-foot store will bring an estimated 100 jobs to the intersection of South Halsted and West 63rd Streets and provide convenient access to fresh, healthy natural and organic food for residents of Englewood and South Side neighborhoods. DL3, led by Leon Walker, will be responsible for the development of the property.

Partnering with Whole Foods Market to bring a full-service grocery store with healthy and affordable options into the Englewood community is part of Mayor Emanuel’s economic development and food access plans, which includes efforts to work with the community and local businesses to develop the areas surrounding the new Whole Foods Market.

Mayor Emanuel met with CEOs of major grocery chains early in his administration to make the business case for these stores to move into communities lacking in options. Whole Foods was interested in the Englewood community and over the course of the last year and a half has worked with the Mayor’s office to make this store a reality. Additionally, he has been working extensively with Ald. Thompson for a plan to develop and revitalize the Englewood community through Chicago Neighborhoods Now.

“I have worked with Whole Foods Market for the last year and a half to invest in one of our oldest neighborhoods and address a pressing need for fresh, healthy food, and I’m proud to announce this wonderful new facility that will help meet this need while creating a strong economic anchor in this community,” said Mayor Emanuel. “I am completely committed to ensuring that all Chicagoans have access to fresh, quality and affordable food in their neighborhoods. This store will not only provide these important resources, but it will also create jobs and spur economic growth -- a true win-win.”

Slated to open in 2016, the 18,000 square-foot store is part of a 13-acre development located at a four-way intersection near Kennedy King Community College. The available space surrounding the Whole Foods Market will be explored for a variety of potential uses, with strong retail potential. All parties share the vision that the new Whole Foods Market will be a catalyst for further development of that area.

“We are honored and excited to be asked by Mayor Emanuel to join in these efforts to make fresh, healthy food more widespread in Chicago. His challenge to me last April helped us to consider new business models to provide fresh food and economic development in neighborhoods that need it most. We look forward to joining organizations and community members to envision and develop a store that meets the needs of Englewood,” said Walter Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods Market. “We believe that fresh, healthy food choices along with information and education about food should be accessible for all communities. We hope that our efforts on Chicago’s South Side and in other communities across the country, combined with the work of others, will help make a meaningful impact on the health of our nation.”

The retail portion of the site is being developed by DL3. There is a strong expectation that the presence of a Whole Foods Market at that site will spur significant interest in the other property in the development; likewise, the development of that property is expected to spur a lot of interest and traffic to the Whole Foods Market. Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives has submitted a TIF application to receive assistance to develop the entire site, including install necessary infrastructure for the Whole Foods Market site.

The Englewood neighborhood is one of the seven neighborhoods being targeted by Mayor Emanuel’s Chicago Neighborhoods Now program. There are more than $363 million in public and private investments in greater Englewood. These investments are helping establish one of the nation’s largest urban agricultural districts, expanding industrial and housing opportunities, and coordinating open space development throughout the community.

The opening of this new Whole Foods Market will have an additional positive impact as part of the Mayor’s efforts to combat food deserts on the South Side of Chicago. When this store opens, 2,648 more residents in Englewood will be within a mile of a grocery store – which will mean a 3.3 percent decline in the total residents living in low-income areas who are more than a mile from a large grocery store. Additionally, this new store will bring another high-quality full-scale grocery option to all the residents of Englewood – a major step forward for economic development for the area and of course healthy food availability, providing a new, high quality option for the approximately 30,000 residents of Englewood.

Whole Foods Market currently employs 2,195 team members who reside in Chicago and has 18 stores with three under development including the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago and Lake Forest and Park Ridge, Ill. In 2012, the company contributed more than $750,000 in donations and 50,000 community service hours to local organizations and community initiatives. The company has been featured on Fortune’s "100 Best Companies to Work For" for 16 consecutive years.

“Whole Foods Market has been in Chicago since 1993 and we are excited to serve more neighborhoods as we open our first store on the City’s South Side,” said Michael Bashaw, regional president for the Midwest region of Whole Food Market. “We have been looking to expand further south for many years and this new store will help offer more Chicagoans fresh, high quality foods right in their neighborhood. We’re excited to work together with the city and local community long before we open our actual doors to build a custom store that meets the needs of Englewood.”

Whole Foods Market’s Chicago stores have supported nonprofits and community organizations in Englewood including Fresh Moves and Growing Home for several years, and the company is currently expanding its relationships with local producers and suppliers, schools and government officials. Whole Kids Foundation, the company’s nonprofit dedicated to improving childhood nutrition through school salad bars, gardens, and nutrition education classes for teachers, will direct $20,000 in funding to support schools and community organizations in the Englewood area. Additionally, the foundation will make its free Healthy Teacher nutrition education and cooking program available to educators in Englewood and citywide. The company also plans to help local business and entrepreneurs through its Local Producer Loan Program and Whole Planet Foundation, which provides microcredit loans.

“When we come to a new community, our first step involves listening to the wants and needs of our future shoppers, which is why we’re excited to start building meaningful relationships with existing neighborhood organizations now. We will host free educational classes on healthy eating and nutrition, shopping on a budget and cooking demonstrations with the hope of making our store a true community partner and a trusted resource for quality natural and organic foods, and health and wellness information,” added Bashaw.

This announcement is another step in the City’s comprehensive plan towards eliminating food deserts and increasing access to healthy foods for residents across Chicago. Since the beginning of Mayor Emanuel’s administration, he has taken numerous steps as part of this ongoing commitment, including the launch of “Farmers for Chicago,” a program that will make available up to five acres of City-owned vacant lots for urban farming activities and help expand the supply chain for local neighborhood-level food production and wholesale. The City also expanded community gardens and urban farms to increase resident access to fresh produce, while creating green jobs throughout Chicago neighborhoods.

The City of Chicago continues to work with a number of businesses and organizations to solve food deserts. In 2011, Mayor Emanuel convened a food desert summit with the CEOs of major grocery chains in Chicago to ask them to build stories in food deserts and increase healthy food options. That same year, the City hosted a pre-planning workshop with stakeholders from the community health, neighborhood development and urban growing sectors. Mayor Emanuel also announced Walgreens’ initiative to build more than a dozen new stores, include fresh produce in 39 existing stores currently in food deserts, while creating 300 new jobs in those communities.

The Emanuel Administration has made an annual investment of $750,000 in transitional programs with Chicago nonprofits in the urban agriculture sector, including innovative social enterprises such as Beeline Beauty Products in urban beekeeping, and Neighbor Carts, which distributes fresh produce in food deserts. Mayor Emanuel remains committed to adopting innovation solutions that will increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables to ensure Chicagoans have the food options they need to lead a healthy lifestyle.

# # #

COMMENTS FROM MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY ABOUT THE NEW WHOLE FOODS STORE IN ENGLEWOOD

Alderman JoAnn Thompson. Alderman of the 16th Ward... “One of the issues faced in a community such as Englewood is the difficulty of finding healthy food right in our own neighborhood. With this new Whole Foods comes the opportunity for the members of our community to have access to healthier food and healthier lifestyles. In addition to the health benefits, the store will stimulate the economy of our neighborhood by providing new jobs.”

Asiaha Butler. President - R.A.G.E – Resident Association of Greater Englewood. "If anyone told me two years ago that we'd have a Whole Foods coming to Englewood today, I would not have believed it. This store will provide residents greater access to quality produce and food within the neighborhood.”

Bishop James Dukes. Liberation Christian Center. “Bringing Whole Foods to Englewood is a smart and strategic decision for our community. This store will greatly contribute to a healthier community and highlights the mayor and his desire to see every neighborhood have access to fresh foods and jobs.”

Minister Johnny Banks. A Knock at Midnight. “In a community that is working to restructure its outlook, bringing this store will help enhance the lifestyle of the people of Englewood by providing new opportunities.”

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RAHM'S FOOD DESERT CLAIMS VARY FROM THE FACTS. TRIBUNE STORY BELOW HERE...

Emanuel's food desert efforts fall short... City Hall announcements don't result in much change getting healthy food into underserved neighborhoods. August 28, 2013, By Bill Ruthhart, Chicago Tribune reporter. PUBLISHED BOTH ON LINE AND IN PRINT.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has rushed to declare "great progress" in the war on food deserts, but the Tribune has found that many of his announcements about making healthy foods more readily available to Chicagoans have fallen short.

Among the findings:

•Two years ago, Emanuel proclaimed that Walgreen Co. would be selling fresh fruits and vegetables at 39 food desert stores by this June. City Hall counts nine that are open, but three of those are not in food deserts.

•The mayor also announced that 17 new grocery stores would open in food deserts. Nearly two years later, just four of those are open and one is being built, with at least two of them approved before Emanuel took office.

•Emanuel called on grocery CEOs at a "food desert summit" to build stores on 11 parcels primed for development. All 11 lots remain vacant.

After the Tribune contacted several supermarket and drugstore companies this month about the gap between what Emanuel pledged and what has been delivered, the mayor's press office put out a news release claiming its success in eliminating food deserts.

But in doing so, Emanuel aides moved the goal posts by narrowing the focus to a fraction of the city's food desert population — those who have the lowest incomes and live the farthest from stores. Before then, Emanuel had framed up the issue in broader terms to emphasize that the problem as more far-reaching.

"We've generally made good progress," said Michael Negron, Emanuel's policy chief who oversees the administration's food desert efforts. "We are working with the different chains to get them to open (stores) on timelines that remain aggressive, and we anticipate more opening in the coming months and year."

The food desert situation reflects a pattern with many of Emanuel's major initiatives: hold a flurry of events on the same topic meant to convey a sense of momentum on an issue and put out numbers that don't always hold up to closer scrutiny. Past reports in the Tribune have shown that dynamic unfolding on the administration's overestimated savings from switching the city's garbage collection system, overstated job creation numbers at his frequent corporate announcements and delayed projects at his Chicago Infrastructure Trust.

Vacant lots, fewer stores

Emanuel made combating the city's food deserts one of the core issues of his campaign for mayor. They're primarily located on the South and West sides, and leading research has shown that about 70 percent of those residing in Chicago food deserts are African-American. When the mayor is asked about dissatisfaction among black voters with his job performance, he has brought up his work to reduce food deserts as a point in his favor.

About a month after taking office, Emanuel held a food desert summit in June 2011.

In a wood-paneled conference room with executives from Wal-Mart, Walgreen Co., Aldi and other grocery chains seated to either side, Emanuel unveiled food desert maps. The mayor "built detailed business cases for specific plots of land in each desert area," according to an administration news release recounting the event.

More than two years later, those 11 plots Emanuel highlighted are empty, with little more than cracked concrete, overgrown weeds and scattered trash.

"Something like that is a starting point. It shows you brought some thought to the process," Negron said of the parcels the mayor pitched as open for grocery store development. "But when you go into the planning process and are actually looking for a site, you might find other areas make more sense."

Two weeks after the summit, Emanuel stood with Walgreen CEO Gregory Wasson to announce the company would add fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods to 39 of its stores in food deserts over the next two years.

Walgreen fell far short. Spokesman Michael Polzin said the company added healthy foods to 15 food desert stores. He would not identify them, citing "competitive reasons."

In response to Tribune questions, the Emanuel administration provided the locations of nine Walgreens stores where fruits and vegetables are now sold and explained that the other six stores the company had counted are not in food deserts. The Tribune found an additional three stores the city counted that also are not in food deserts, according to the city's maps. An Emanuel aide said some of those stores are on the periphery of food deserts.

"It's not unusual for innovative programs like this to take several years to progress before they hit their stride," Polzin said. "As we learn more about what works and what doesn't at these locations, we are refining our approach to ensure we meet our customers' needs and go forward with a successful business model."

A month after that announcement, the mayor's office said Walgreen would build 12 new stores in food deserts on top of the 39 it said it would expand. Polzin said Walgreen never committed to build the 12 new stores. An Emanuel spokesman did not respond to questions about the discrepancy.

Emanuel's announcements went beyond aisles of fruits and vegetables at Walgreens stores. In October 2011, the mayor welcomed first lady Michelle Obama back home to draw attention to the food desert issue.

"We have a commitment, over the next couple years, of three dozen stores to open up or be retrofitted here in the city of Chicago in our designated food desert areas," said Emanuel as he stood in front of displays of apples and oranges at a South Side Walgreens.

Of those three dozen stores, 19 were Walgreens expansions Emanuel already had announced.

The other 17 new stores included what the mayor's office said were commitments from Save-A-Lot, Wal-Mart, Aldi and the upscale Mariano's chain. Nearly two years later, four of the 17 are open with another expected to be open by year's end. The city also notes the opening of Wal-Marts in Back of the Yards and Little Village that weren't part of the company's initial announcement.

According to the mayor's office, Mariano's was to build three stores in food deserts. One is open in Jefferson Park on the Northwest Side. A second under construction is in the South Loop, which is not a food desert. A third Emanuel touted for Bronzeville, but Mariano's declined to comment on whether it's pursuing a store in that neighborhood.

Of the nine Save-A-Lot stores the mayor announced, only one has opened, and it already was being built before Emanuel announced it.

As mayor-elect, Emanuel attended a March 2011 ribbon-cutting to mark the opening of an additional five Save-A-Lots that opened in food deserts. The next year, two were shuttered as part of a strategy to close "underperforming or non-strategic" stores, according to the company.

Negron, the mayor's policy chief, said the administration isn't disappointed that so few of the stores it predicted have opened. He did, however, point to the sluggish and competitive nature of the grocery industry.

"We've still got responsive partners. They're working with us," Negron said. "We expect there will be continued grocery stores opening in food deserts over the next year, and all the (food desert) numbers we're tracking will continue to go down."

Numbers game

After the Tribune asked questions about Emanuel's progress on food deserts this month, the administration put out a news release claiming "great progress" on the issue.

As Emanuel has emphasized the importance of battling food deserts, he frequently has referred to the nearly 450,000 people who live without access to healthy foods. The administration derived that number from a 2011 map that tallied how many Chicagoans live more than a half-mile from a grocery store of at least 2,500 square feet (excluding the city's 10 wealthiest neighborhoods where City Hall presumed residents could get to a grocery store).

But this month, when gauging the progress the city had made on cutting down food deserts, Emanuel staffers used a different set of measurements: the 100,159 low-income Chicagoans who lived more than 1 mile from a 10,000-square-foot grocery store. By narrowing the income demographic and focusing on the smaller pool of people who live farther away from a store, Emanuel proclaimed that low-income residents living in food deserts had decreased by more than 20 percent to 79,434.

The decrease is much less when looking at how the mayor originally framed up the issue. For low-income people living more than a half-mile from a store, the drop was just 3.4 percent, or about 7,750 people, city figures showed. Overall, the 446,040 people living in food deserts had shrunk to 425,284, or 4.7 percent, according to data City Hall released Tuesday in advance of the Tribune publishing this story.

In addition, the administration counted one of the two Save-A-Lot stores that closed when coming up with its numbers.

"We think we've made great strides with the folks who need access to healthy food the most," Negron said in defending the city's analysis. "You have to measure toward the outcome you're trying to effect. Our focus is on low-income families who are over a mile from decent-size grocery stores."

Researcher Mari Gallagher, whose groundbreaking 2006 study on Chicago food deserts helped popularize the term, said the city's numbers are flawed in several ways.

City Hall's analysis does not evaluate what stores sell. It uses a list of businesses with retail food licenses and throws out gas stations, convenience stores and other establishments with names that don't appear to be grocery stores.

To truly measure food deserts, Gallagher said, the city shouldn't rely on any single distance or store size. Instead, fieldwork is required to determine what foods stores actually sell, and the city must be evaluated on a block-by-block basis to determine a reasonable distance to a store for each neighborhood, she said.

Gallagher's study seven years ago found more than 600,000 Chicagoans lived in food deserts. An update in 2011, released shortly after Emanuel succeeded Mayor Richard Daley, showed the number had shrunk to 383,954.

Progress on some fronts

While some of Emanuel's proclamations have fallen short, Gallagher said the mayor deserves credit for "creating a lot of good energy" in focusing on the issue and coming up with creative alternatives.

That has included two converted CTA buses, dubbed Fresh Moves, that drive around the city's food desert neighborhoods selling fruits and vegetables. Emanuel also secured corporate contributions from Safeway and Kraft to fund five West Side farmer's markets in food deserts the last two years, although the administration hasn't met a goal of adding five more on the South Side this year.

Emanuel also passed a city ordinance that loosened the red tape on urban agriculture operations, making it easier for them to sell their food. Iron Street Farm on the South Side has garnered a lot of attention from the administration.

The mayor has made at least three visits, including one with Michelle Obama. At a ribbon-cutting to open the farm in July 2011, Emanuel said the operation would farm 7 acres and employ up to 150 people.

Two years later, the operation farms 2.5 acres, has 20 full-time employees and 30 summer interns and taps other students for a six-week paid program. Erika Allen, who runs the farm, chalked up the slower start to a dispute with the person who owns the land.

Still, she said Emanuel has made urban agriculture easier.

"There has been a culture shift from just wanting to see things proceed to actually getting things off the ground," Allen said. "The amount of understanding and movement has been overwhelming."

Gallagher applauded the food buses and farmer's markets Emanuel has added, but said the biggest results will be tied to more grocery stores. So far, Emanuel's predictions of store openings have far outnumbered actual ribbon-cuttings.

"I don't know if he thought it would go more quickly or if he went into it naively," Gallagher said of the mayor. "These grocery store deals are difficult. They always take longer and the politicians tend to over-promise."

Tribune reporter Alex Richards contributed.

bruthhart@tribune.com

Twitter @BillRuthhart

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