NYC Neighborhood Grocery Store Shortage Study

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/supermarket/index.shtml

Yes it's from 2008, no, there hasn't been a rash of grocery store openings since then

Bernie from Brookly, you have to BUY it first before you can cook it! So there is one supermarket in Brooklyn. What about the rest of the city, you know there are 8 million people here right?

Have you ever bought a fresh vegetable or fruit? It's more expensive than meat. Fresh food is the most expensive thing in the store.

cathy from coney island- you don't know what you're talking about- go to path mark across from the metal recycling place. you can get cans of beans, 2 for $1, cans of tomato sauce for $1.29, 2 10oz bags of fresh spinachfor $5, chicken breast for $1.79lb and so on and so on. do you know how many meals you can make out of that? alot.
and i live in bed-stuy, not bklyn hts.

"raw veggies are cheap, fresh fruit is cheap. beans are cheap etc...."

Are you sure about that Bernie??? I'm a vegan and eat natural food, but I find myself digging deeper into my wallet for my goods.

To James Kaboui:

Not necessarily true. Many professions have to get fingerprinted when you're getting state and federal licensing, for example anyone working in the brokerage industry.

Xtina- you are dead wrong. if you learn how to cook a little bit you can eat very healthy food on the cheap especially w/ food stamps. the problem is that most people i see using food stamps are buying prepared food and junk food. cook for yourself!
raw veggies are cheap, fresh fruit is cheap. beans are cheap etc....
stop being lazy and cook for yourself

Bernie from Bklyn must be from Brooklyn Heights or Park Slope because everyone from lower income neighborhoods in the borough know how difficult it can be to find healthy fresh food. A perfect example is the Coney Island/Brighton Beach area. The retail sections east of West 8th St (with a more affluent population) are filled with grocers and very affordable produce. West of Ocean Pkwy (with a poorer demographic) is completely the opposite.

I don't understand why it is so onerous to get fingerprinted. There is massive abuse of the system, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of people illegally in the city.

Brian - stop being so 'low key' with your gusts. this is not neutrality. it becomes unintended bias.
the commissioner's respond that 'things can be done better' is typical bureaucracy respond to SUFFERING!

Of all the problems besetting NYC, hunger shouldn't be difficult to solve. This is an extremely prosperous society, and ingenuity of all stripes is not in short supply. Allowing anyone to go hungry here-- or anywhere, for that matter-- is simply immoral. Shame, alas, doesn't seem to be much of a deterrent anymore. The commissioner, whose responses to many of the questions and comments in this segment are astonishingly unsympathetic, is a disgrace.

Fingerprinting saved 5 million dollars in fraud but how much overhead is there to administer this added step?

This must be taken into account when assessing "savings".

Does anyone know?

I am liberal but don't understand the big Controversy here. Same level of security as any basic gov program. Btw, most people I see in my neighborhood using food stamp cards r buying junk food and soda. I'm not the nutrition police, but come on... And if this woman on show now has time and resources to bake bread why does she need food stamps?

How long are the fingerprints kept, & who are they available to? Are they used for anything else, & if not, how does the program make sure they aren't?

The fingerprinting is unnecessary. Its done to avert attention from the fact that the City has not streamlined its public assistance process, is extremely inefficient and unorganized.

Also, never underestimate the City of NY for maintaining and promoting bureacracy. The fingerprint step means that a private company got paid for the fingerprinting hardware/software and the City has to hire a person to take fingerprints.

The question someone on the panel should ask is how much money the City spends on the fingerprinting process.

Brian - my opinion aside, this segment is a GREAT example of what you do well. More of this, less Chris Matthews.

As it concerns fingerprinting - it's impossible in our culture to avoid associating fingerprinting with criminal activity. Whatever meager savings from misuse can't justify this obvious stigma.

I got heap assistance, but when they asked for my finger prints for foodstamps I GOT UP AND LEFT THE OFFICE. At the time the Bush Administration was in power, and I did not trust Dick Cheney with my fingerprints.

Brian,

I am a regular listener to WNYC . Reference your current topic on FOOD
STAMP how does the Food Stamp program monitor the system for people who rip off the system? i.e. wealthy people etc getting food stamp.

PLS ADDRESS !!!!!!

Is this initiative modeled after the Cloward Piven approach from the 1960's?

Bernie from Bklyn - yes it IS hard to find healthy food in the hood, unless you have a fortune to spend AND you can find a store that will accept the food stamps.

Since fast food stores won't accept food stamps, it's a moot point.

I went online to apply for food stamps. Set a time for the food stamp rep to call me. I took
off from work to accept the call(I only have a land line). The appointed time came and went, no phone call. I called repeatedly to the office and was never able to talk to a person, the phone messg said to leave a mssg, but it was always full so none could be accepted. I filled out some paperwork and mailed it in, in return I got a form in the mail saying I was denied. Turns out, my phone was out of order that day they were supposed to call due to torrential rain. In effect, I never had a chance. I use my credit card to buy food, and my cash to pay off my credit card. I'm two months behind in rent. It's tough being poor in NYC/AMERICA.

There are an incredible amount of people in New York City who depend on food stamps to buy healthy food for themselves and their families. Yes, some people who should be ineligible know how to "game" the system. However, there are many city residents who rely on the "food stamp" programs to buy enough food. A separate issue is the number of people who are wrongfully kicked out of the program, often due to clerical errors or other events that are out of their control.

to the caller- IT IS NOT HARD TO FIND HEALTHY FOOD IN THE 'HOOD! i've heard this lie over and over again....you don't want healthy food and you're too lazy to cook for yourself, that's the problem.

Speaking of bodegas, you're lucky to find one that will accept food stamps. This is a problem because this is where New Yorkers shop for groceries. But yet they think they can just not accept them, or even manufacturer's coupons for that matter.

At 83 yrs old my mother is working as a cashier 4 days a week to pay her bills. Being honest on her applications for food stamps gets her less than 15 dollars a week. Yet she processes immigrants all day long that get hundreds of dollars in F-stamps

Anyone in the #Occupy movement - if you are listening, please consider making an excursion to Queens NY to occupy the police-state that is the Queens Food Stamps Office.

why is this guy "concerned" that more people aren't asking for food stamps? am i missing something?
like everything else, if there is no oversight, the system gets abused. i know so many people that are unnecessarily receiving food stamps

Do the guests have any comments on the "hidden beneficiaries" of the food stamp program? IE the supermarkets who sell the products being bought with food stamps, and the giant food companies that make the products. This all trickles to their bottom lines too.

Can you ask your guest to speak how Food Stamp money immediately goes back into the community when it is spent immediately. People don't hoard this money it goes right back into the economy.

Thanks for bringing this up. The Food Stamp process is a nightmare. The single Queens office is like entering Abu Ghraib prison. I've seen workers threaten and scream at applicants.

Helpful hint: If you need excessive police presence in a place where you are giving away food – there's something really very wrong.

People ought not to need to be fingerprinted to get food.

Paperwork for eligibility is excessive.

Food stamps are a difficult thing. I know some people who get food stamps yet have iPhones and cable tv, is it really fair that they deserve government aid meant for those who are truly needy?

The government needs to find a way to restrict food stamps to the really needy. I know of several families on food stamps that derive their income from cash only economy. They send their children to private schools which cost several thousand dollars but are still eligible. Just as with welfare reform when the government required for the people receiving the benefit to show up the rolls dropped. This was because they were working at a cash only job.