By Antonio D. French
Filed Tuesday, October 25 at 4:04 AM
[The following editorial, published in last week's print edition of PUB DEF Weekly, was the focus of some discussion on 'Collateral Damage' on KDHX Monday night. In the interest of public discourse, we are making it available to our online readers.]
October 19, 2005 -- The burst of new development taking place in downtown St. Louis is remarkable. New buildings and businesses, new faces of people who actually live there and are not just counting the hours until they can punch the clock and go back home to the county. Most of the credit for this emerging downtown should be given not to politicians but to the actual risk-takers, the developers, the entrepreneurs. People like Craig Heller.
Heller and his LoftWorks company are responsible for some of the first and best developments downtown. Places like the 10th Street Lofts, the Louderman Lofts, and the new Moon Brothers Carriage Lofts.
Heller is also the owner of City Grocers, a quaint little shop at the corner of 10th and Olive that is downtown's only grocery store, and whose expressed goal is to be the shopping destination of choice for the central St. Louis area.
And so it was troubling to hear that, for many downtown residents, City Grocers is not an option for them to buy food. That is because the store does not accept EBT cards, the modern day version of food stamps, given to the poor and working poor of our city so that they can afford to purchase food for themselves and their families.
EBT cards work like debit cards and can only be redeemed for food. But not at the citys only downtown grocery store.
When I asked Heller about this, he said he and his partners just never felt it was necessary. He said people who use EBT cards make up such a small part of their business that they don't feel its worth the trouble.
But a person who works at City Grocer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that she turns people away daily who try to buy food with EBT cards.
Maybe it doesnt feel worth it to Heller or his partners. But for people with no transportation, who live at one of the many low-income residences downtown, it would mean a big difference. The architects of the new downtown must insure that it belongs to all of us, not just those that can afford to buy new lofts.
For some downtown residents, food and how to get it are still daily challenges.
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