---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 18:27:29 -0500
From: Hartford Food System <hfoods@erols.com>
To: NE community food systems <nefood-l@listproc.tufts.edu>
Subject: [Fwd: Burlington supermarket vote]
The following is an update from Craig Donnan regarding the supermarket
vote in Burlington, VT.
Mark Winne
attached mail follows:
The supermarket Shaws, came out on top in all city wards over the Onion
River coop in a city-wide vote to decide which supermarked would serve
the city's downtown, on Tuesday January 25th. Essentially citizens were
concerned that the Coop couldn't offer discount foods to low-income
populations, as they tend to offer organic and pricier foods for a
generally middle to upper income clientele. The Shaws proposal eats a
lot of downtown space and would be more costly for the city, and would
not be as overtly supportive of local agriculture.
However, the vote failed to achieve the 2/3rds majority needed for
passage, reflecting some division in the city. Shaws got 62% of the
vote overall, missing the 2/3 rds by 4%.
The Progressive Coalition, which controls 5 of 14 seats on the City
Council, and has a mayor in place, Peter Clavelle, will not revisit an
earlier decision to support the Onion River Coop at the subsequent City
Council meetings.
So - with the city divided, the action needed to make a downtown
supermarket happen will take longer, which delays access to food
services to the city's most needy, and this is the real issue here.
-cd
Hartford Food System wrote:
>
> Dear Craig,
>
> You may remember me from a few months ago when we exchanged some
> communication about the supermarket issue in Burlington. I saw in the
> New York Times that the issue was to come to a vote this past Tuesday.
> I sent the article around to a few hundred subscribers we have on a
> couple of list serves and it provoked a fair amount of discussion.
> Since I haven't seen any results of the vote, I was wondering if you
> would be able to tell me the outcome, and if possible, provide any
> commentary regarding local opinion on the issue. The matter is of
> considerable interest to the community food security community so I
> would love to share your information and thoughts with them over the
> same list serves. If you don't want me to do that, just say so and I
> won't.
>
> Thank you in advance.
>
> Mark Winne
-- -cd~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Craig Donnan 'be source, not result' - Rumi
Project Manager, Information Systems Center for Rural Studies University of Vermont 207 Morrill Hall Burlington, VT 05405 Phone: 802-656-0150 Fax: 802-656-4975 E-mail: craig.donnan@uvm.edu
http://crs.uvm.edu/staff/craig.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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