Nannies outside of the Whole Foods and Barnes & Noble stores on Greenwich and Warren streets, TriBeCa. Photo: Laurah Winder

Reported on August 20, 2011

Lower Manhattan neighborhoods—a decade after the 9/11 terrorist attacks—have been able to spring back faster than what was imagined at the time of the devastation. Government grants and incentives to attract people to move into the area have played a big role in this recovery.

For Courtney Jesinkey and Dave Barnett, a couple who are in their early 30s, the desire to feel a sense of community brought them to Tribeca. In mid-July, they moved into what is now the tallest residential building on the East Coast, the 76-story Frank Gehry building on Beekman and Spruce streets. The couple felt secluded and out of touch with social activities in their Upper Westside neighborhood.

“People are a different breed [in this neighborhood] than what I have experienced in my 12-plus years in the city. From restaurants to bars, customer service to people on the street, there is just a positive atmosphere and a more relaxed state than the normal and expected pace of New York City,” said Barnett.

Longtime resident, actor Robert DeNiro, founded The Tribeca Film Festival, with Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff in 2002, with a mission in mind. It was to help renew and rebuild the economy of Lower Manhattan through film, culture and music in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people. Ceremonies to honor the victims marked the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. http://www.911memorial.org/?gclid=CLfgu8il3KoCFcnc4AoduUZX-A.

Organizers of the film festival wanted the event to bring to the area the cachet otherwise reserved for Hollywood. During the first year of The Tribeca Film Festival, there were only two movies shown. But since then the list has grown, and as of April 2011, there were 185 movies shown. The festival also expanded to five locations beyond the neighborhoods borders.

Jesinkey, a new Tribeca resident, said, “Early on, my entire New York City life was spent in Alphabet City. I swore I would never move above 14th Street.” But after she met Barnett, she moved to the Upper Westside.

“As much as we loved the surrounding area, it was not a good fit for us. We longed for a neighborhood that felt less suburban and more ‘city.’ This neighborhood is a perfect mix of both,” Jesinkey said. “This area offers a genuine sense of charm, confidence and pride that I never knew existed.”

But some people who were residents of Tribeca at the time of the attacks are wary about the location.

Ivana Kaufman said she stayed and bought a loft, with her husband and two children, because she was offered a price below market value. She said the memory of devastation from the attacks is never far from her mind, especially when she thinks about health-related issues that might stem from the attacks. Kaufman said her long exposure to the area could lead to health problems that haven’t surfaced yet. The family has lived in the same building for more than nine years. http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/wtc/html/background/addressingscore.shtml

The infusion of millions of dollars in federal funding has helped draw people to Lower Manhattan, fueling a surge in population. City statistics that group Tribeca, Soho, Civic Center and Little Italy for the count show a 16 percent in population to 42,742 last year from 36,757 in 2000. The neighborhood elementary school, Independence P.S. 234, has a waiting list of students and has had to rezone its boundaries. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/neigh_info/mn01_info.shtml

The neighborhood offers seven nearby dog parks and bike trails on both the East and West sides of Tribeca.  The bustling Whole Foods Store that shines in the center below a massive always-crowded Barnes and Noble store, are signs of a community that has recovered.  As early as 2006, Forbes Magazine ranked Tribeca as the city’s the most expensive neighborhood.

Businesses are thriving. The owners are finding themselves having to keep up with the demand for new products that didn’t have a space on the shelves before the attacks. They are seeing new businesses that didn’t exist years ago. There is a Tracey Anderson Method Studio, which has been known to cater to Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna and Nicole Richie. High-end loft apartments have celebrity residents who are actors and entertainers, including Jay-Z and Beyonce.

During the dark days after the attacks, businesses all across Greenwich Street pitched in by opening their doors in the evening to the local residents so they could have a meal at night—for free. Now, the owner of Gee Whiz, Chris Panayiotou, said he is amazed at how drastically the area changed.

Rachel Baker, a resident of Tribeca who left the area after the 9/11 attacks, remembers how the acts of terrorism forced her to evacuate her building for 11 days. “I was so angered by the circus of tourists and reporters who came to the area to climb lampposts to take pictures of the ever- smoldering buildings.” Her mother decided to stay in the same apartment.

“You think to yourself, it can happen anywhere, at any time. We stayed [her mother and grandmother],” said Baker, who added that when she goes back to visit her mother, she is surprised to see how different the community is now. “When I look at the community, in the shape it’s in today, it’s as if 9/11 never happened.”

Baker said although she has moved out of the area, she has been left with an upper respiratory condition for the rest of her life.

The city has continued to work hard to build the downtown community both structurally as well as emotionally, and is dealing with concerns the Tribeca neighborhood has about health issues. According to the 2010 Annual Report on 9/11 Health, well-documented studies have tracked a variety of respiratory problems with people who have lived and worked in the area during the past 10 years. http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/wtc/html/background/funding.shtml

Barnett, who lives in the Gehry building, concluded, “9/11 will always be on my mind. What the area does is continue to remind me to never forget what happened and live every day of your life to the fullest. I should hope every New Yorker feels the same, living downtown, or not.”

Mice droppings at a Curry Hill restaurant have cost them many violation points. Photo: Sabrina Buckwalter

Reported on Aug. 20, 2011

The name Curry Hill invokes thoughts of dosa, tandoori, and chaat for Manhattanites who crave Indian food, but for the health inspectors from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the neighborhood has seen scores of restaurant health code violations.

The infractions for Indian restaurants here routinely include evidence of mice and roaches, with additional points docked for serving food at temperatures that are too low, according to the Department of Health.

Compared to other restaurants in the neighborhood, inspectors have graded Indian restaurants very poorly with 84 percent receiving a grade of B or lower, compared to sandwich shops at 36 percent; Chinese restaurants at 38 percent; and American cuisine restaurants at 39 percent.

That incongruity is not lost on the owners of several Indian restaurants in Curry Hill, like Anand Singh (name changed), the owner of Tamba who feels that Indian restaurant owners have been unfairly targeted, “It’s clearly a case of discrimination,” he said.

Another Indian restaurant just a few blocks south of Curry Hill, Tamarind 22, was hit with 31 violation points in July. In 2009, it won “Best Indian” by New York Magazine and most recently received the highest Zagat food rating. However, the Department of Health found at the most recent inspection items not kept at cold temperatures, live roaches, inadequate personal cleanliness, lack of proper hair constraints and conditions conducive to attracting vermin. Owner, Avatar Walia was unable to reach for comment.

New York City’s restaurant grading system began in 2010 in response to 311 hotline complaints about food poisoning, according to the Department of Health. One year has passed since the grading system began. Mayor Michael Bloomberg lauded the improvement in the sanitation of city restaurants during a press conference on August 1 at Spark’s, a deli in Long Island City. There, Bloomberg cited a total of 90 percent of city restaurants that received an A grade. He announced a reward to restaurants that maintained an A for 6 months or longer with waived violation fees (A grades are given to restaurants with 13 or fewer violation points). He said $3 million had been saved in violation fees as a result.

When it comes to violation points in Curry Hill, some owners cite the buffet-style set-up, popular in Indian restaurants, as the cause of many violation points because of the difficulty of keeping temperatures at the required levels. “It’s hard to keep food at a certain temperature when food burners are keeping it warm,” said Singh. The most recent grade his restaurant received was a B for 27 violation points for evidence of mice or live mice present in addition to other violations. He has asked his landlord repeatedly to bring in exterminators, as he says it’s his responsibility to do so, but has had little to no luck getting the landlord to cooperate.

The number of points assessed for a particular violation depends on how much health risk it poses to the public, according to the Department of Health. There are three different categories of violations, including a public health hazard that triggers a minimum of seven points; a critical violation that triggers a minimum of 5 points; and a general violation that triggers at least two points. Public health hazards include temperature violations and visible plumbing problems. Critical violations include the presence of mice and roaches. General violations include the failure to properly sanitize cooking utensils, food preparation areas and failure to wear proper hair covering.

Most often than not, the restaurant contests the grade if it falls at a B or below, at which point there the Health Department’s Administrative Tribunal that holds a hearing for the restaurant owner. The restaurant will then receive a “Grade Pending” card to display in their window until the hearing process is complete in 30 days.

Tamba was closed down because of plumbing issues last year in May, 2010 when a water from an upstairs residence began to seep through to Tamba.

“I was shut down because of a leak that was coming through the ceiling,” Singh said. The landlord couldn’t be contacted to fix it immediately, so Singh said he was forced to fix the leak himself. “I’ve asked the landlord to do something about the mice droppings and the cockroaches, but he won’t do anything. It’s not my building, not my responsibility. Why should I, as a tenant, have to pay for these things?”

Because of the dire situation the plumbing problem created, he said he spent $3,200 of his own money to fix the problem and consequently did not pay his full rent of $12,000 that month.

Restaurants like Tamarind 22 and others are reviewed at a local South Asian blog, NYIndia.us. The bloggers are particularly reverent when it comes to reviewing South Asian restaurants in the city. They keep their website updated with current Department of Health ratings on South Asian restaurants and provide the latest violation details to their readers. They have regularly noted that South Asian restaurants in the city are graded poorly.

With violations there is the threat of food-borne illnesses, but at least 10 people interviewed for this article who eat at Curry Hill establishments did not report gastrointestinal problems. Patrons said they forgave ratings lower than an “A.”

Nick Lopez, a vegetarian who lives just blocks from Curry Hill, says he goes to the Curry Hill restaurants because of the vast vegetarian selections they offer. As long as the food tastes good, he says he doesn’t pay much attention to the health department’s rating system. “It’s nice to know the rating and the risk I’ll be taking, but it’s more about whether I like the food,” he said.

Manpreet Singh, a taxi driver who eats in Curry Hill regularly says he looks at the grade a restaurant has been given and refuses to eat at places that have received a grade of B or lower. “I watch how they make my food and make sure it’s hygienic,” he said.

Amrita Ghosh-Douglas who eats at Curry in a Hurry and Saravana Bhavan didn’t feel the rash of poor scores for Indian restaurants was necessarily bad, “I don’t know how sad this is–it’s a cleanup. All I can say is I’ve never had a problem.” Ghosh-Douglas favors the bad grades in a way, in the sense that it means restaurants will be forced to become more sanitary.

The owners of Curry Hill restaurants feel unfairly targeted and frustrated say Singh. They have a different take on their business since the grading system began. Singh’s wife said she remembers a couple that ate at the restaurant four to five times a week until they saw the “Grade Pending” sign on their window.

According to the World Health Organization, there are 76 million cases of food poisoning each year in the U.S., resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths each year.

While the New York State Restaurant Association recognizes the seriousness of food-borne illnesses, its senior leaders also worry that the grading system has negatively affected small businesses. “The amount of fines generated continues to increase, burdening small business owners,” said executive vice president, Andrew Rigie.

Rigie says he has heard numerous complaints from ethnic restaurants that cite a lack of consideration for their form of food preparation and serving methods. “I’ve heard from Japanese restaurants that have complained about violations for sushi rice, and I’ve also heard from Indian restaurants who’ve encountered problems with temperatures of buffet-style food.”

He also says problems like the kind Singh had with his landlord that contributed to poor grades are not unique. Rigie receives complaints from restaurants that receive violation points for rodents because they’re located next to a rat-infested city parking lot.

Though Indian restaurants in Curry Hill have suffered a hit when it comes to grades, business hasn’t slowed for at least one owner. Shiva Natarajan who owns Dhaba and Bhojan will open his third Curry Hill restaurant next month.

The Liberty Aircraft Plant on Motor Avenue during the 1940s and the property today. Photo: Library of Congress/Amanda Fiscina

Reported on July 28, 2011

The debate over the toxic legacy of a 22-acre site on Motor Avenue resurfaced this summer, as Town of Oyster Bay officials consider proposals about what to build there.

Cleanup of the property, which is known as the Liberty Site, is on track to finish next month. The town board rezoned the property to allow recreational use at the July board meeting, leaving some residents campaigning for a pool and a community center and some worried about the site’s history of contamination.

“We don’t question the safety of the area,” said Bill Manton, head coach of Farmingdale Aquatics, a year-round, competitive swim program whose members have submitted a proposal asking for an aquatics center to be built on the site. “We think after all this, it is ok to be there,” he said.

Some residents disagree.

“I am an avid swimmer and would love to have a town pool in Farmingdale, but until facts are presented that prove a pool is safe from cancer producing chemical contamination, I cannot support that my tax dollars are used to build a pool at this location,” said Farmingdale resident Rosemarie Stauber.

Two decades ago the E.P.A. named the area a Superfund site for groundwater and soil contamination.

According to a report issued by the E.P.A. in 2011, the Liberty Aircraft Products Company produced aircraft parts there during World War II. After the war, the site was converted to an industrial park and later to a warehouse. Liberty and the other companies left behind a contaminated groundwater plume.

In 1986, the E.P.A. took the lead role in the $32 million cleanup, which involved creating a filtration system to remove the heavy metals and volatile organic compounds from the groundwater. Some of soil was also hauled from the site.

Ultimately, the E.P.A. plan only cleaned up the property to industrial standards. This became an issue in 2001 when the town announced its intention of acquiring the property and building recreational facilities there.

“The E.P.A. cleanup was the equivalent of having a dirty floor and putting a rug down,” said Town of Oyster Bay environmental consultant Hal Mayor. The town took over the next cleanup stage in 2002, spending $4 million to haul the rest of the soil from the site.

Health risks at the site are “no longer a worry,” Mayor said, since the water plume is not connected to any wells used by water districts and all the old soil is gone.

The last of that soil is being removed this summer and residents have brought proposals for a town pool, a community center and additional fields to the board.

Of the 22 acres adjacent to Allen Park, only 16 are viable for projects, since part of the area contains the underground filtration system.

“We are reluctant to put anything of an active nature over that area because if there ever is a problem and we have to get to it, we will have to completely disrupt that portion,” said town attorney Len Genova.

The town environmental consultant said it wouldn’t be an issue of safety, but of costs, to build a pool there.

“We have currently removed the soil 12 feet down to the water table,” Mayor said. “To build a pool we’d have to excavate below that, which brings new construction and soil testing costs. But it’s not a health concern because we’d remove all the contaminated soil long before the pool was finished.”

The town estimates that the center would cost $25 to 30 million to build. The pool the club currently uses at Farmingdale High School is 40 years old and the club is unable to host meets there because two lanes are too shallow.

The town plans to hold a community meeting in the fall to discuss all of the options, where residents like Manton and Stauber can express their views.

“I hope the town does its research,” Stauber said. “This is a pool that we put our bodies in, not a park we walk around in.”

A group of students walk past the vacant lot that the Clinton School for Writers and Artists wants to convert into a play space. Photo: Bogdan Mohora

Reported on June 18, 2011

Four days a week at 11:30 a.m., roughly 300 middle school students descend on West 33rd Street for recess. The students from the Clinton School for Writers and Artists play among parked cars and pedestrians on the closed street, fenced in between police barricades and just a stone’s throw from the Lincoln Tunnel entrance.

“It’s impractical,” said Miles Chapin, 56, co-president of the Clinton School Parents’ Association and father of a seventh-grader.

Chapin said that some of the challenges are managing a lunch hour that is divided into three shifts and dealing with business owners, upset that access to their buildings is disrupted while the street is closed. When the street remains open on Fridays, the auditorium that doubles as a lunchroom becomes overcrowded with energetic kids.

Providing outdoor recess space for students is a struggle public schools face.  In the current climate of relocation, closures and consolidation of public schools, many are making due in less than ideal facilities.  In a densely populated city faced with limited open space, schools, like the Clinton School, sometimes close a city street to make do. 

“There are many other schools that have play streets, P.S. 11, our old location, being one of them,” said Susan Kramer, board member of the parents’ association.

As soon as this school year, students at the Clinton School may have a new place to play though.  If parents and administrators have their way, a vacant lot adjacent to the school will be converted into a play area. They’ll be able to get their kids off the street and provide a safe place for recess while keeping the street open for businesses.

On Wednesday, Community Board 4’s transportation committee unanimously passed a resolution to support transforming the vacant lot into a recreational area for students of the Clinton School.

“I felt so gratified leaving the meeting that there was no opposition in the room,” said Miles Chapin.

The Clinton School hopes to use the lot by fall 2011 and the next step will be to get approval from the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.   The parents’ association argued in a written proposal to the transportation committee that student health and safety are at risk because the school building lacks outdoor recreational space.

The Clinton School moved to West 33rd Street in September 2010 and since then closing the street in front of the school to allow students to use it for outdoor recreation has been the only solution.

Marisa Zalabek, parent of a seventh grader at the Clinton School and faculty member at the National School Climate Center expressed concern over the potential for abductions, stating that middle school children are at the most vulnerable age for that kind of crime.

“It’s a straight shot to the Lincoln Tunnel,” Zalabek said.

The proposal also said that converting the lot owned by the Port Authority would improve the health and well being of students by getting them off the street as well as serve the interests of businesses. Planting greenery in the lot to help clean carbon monoxide from the traffic-heavy area was one possibility, according to Zalabek.

In a letter to the Port Authority, Principal Joseph Anderson wrote: “Neighboring businesses have concerns about the ability to receive deliveries during the time the street is closed.”

At the June 15 transportation committee meeting, Bill Young, a representative from Port Authority, confirmed that the space could become a parking lot for commuter and charter busses, but that no deals had been made.  If the request is granted for bus parking, the parents’ association believes the busses will bring new safety and health issues to the school.

Oil refinery waste, pesticides, and banned carcinogens have for years plagued the Newtown Creek, tagged a federal Superfund site in 2010. Photo: Mark Lungariello

Reported on July 16, 2011

Years ago, the pungent odor of the Newtown Creek was so strong that some locals say you could have followed your nose to Greenpoint.

Lifelong resident Laura Hofmann recalls that, as a child, she always knew when the family was back home after a long road trip by the oily smell wafting from the waterway, even when she was asleep in the backseat of her father’s car.

“It was so strong it would wake me up from a complete sleep,” Hofmann, now 53, said.

The Environmental Protection Agency has called the Newtown Creek one of the most polluted urban water bodies in the country, its flow oozing with oil refinery waste, sewage leakage and industrial chemicals. On July 11, the agency announced it had reached an agreement with the city and five oil companies responsible for the pollution to begin a long-term cleanup of the creek. The first step will be conducting tests on soil, water and air quality this summer to get a handle on the scope of environmental hazards. Once the extent of the pollution is determined, a long-term remediation plan will be set.

The Phelps Dodge Refining Corporation, Texaco, BP Products North America, National Grid NY, ExxonMobil Oil, and New York City agreed to pay the E.P.A. $750,000 for work already conducted at the site and will reimburse the agency for further activity once a long-term cleanup plan is set. The full cost of a cleanup is unknown until the extent of remediation projects could be determined.

Judith Enck, regional administrator of the E.P.A., said the first phase will be a study looking at sediment, water, and surrounding air quality. “The agreement also ensures that the parties responsible for the pollution, not the taxpayer, will foot the bill,” she said via a press release.

The 3.8-mile creek, which separates Brooklyn from Queens, was an industrial hub during the 19th century. More than 50 oil refineries lined the Newtown’s banks, as did glue and fertilizer factories, sawmills and coal yards. Several oil refineries and a sewage treatment plant are still active there.

For decades, refineries spilled oil into the ground and water, according to the Newtown Creek Alliance, a nonprofit group. The full extent of the spill wasn’t known until 1978, when a Coast Guard helicopter patrol noticed an oil plume seeping out from Meecker Avenue into the creek. The E.P.A. found the spill had poured into the soil and water over 17 million gallons of oil, at least two times the amount of oil spilled during the 1989 ExxonValdez disaster. The state Department of Environmental Conservation said that over a 52-acre area, 11.4 million gallons of petroleum have been removed since the spill was discovered.

Lawsuits seeking accountability against local oil companies began in 2007, from then-Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and a water purity activist group called Riverkeeper. A class action suit was also filed by over 300 residents of Greenpoint and surrounding neighborhoods on the ill effects of the contamination. Exxon Mobil settled their part in the suit last year for $25 million.

Resident Tom Stagg, 62, said he was pleased with the news that a cleanup was finally being undertaken, but he believed the impacts on the health of the community were just now oozing to the surface. He said he knew of a high rate of cancer cases from the small block of two-family row homes where he grew up on Diamond Street between Meserole and Norman avenues, including his father who died of pancreatic cancer at 52-years-old.

There is still a long way to go, Stagg said, before the water is clean enough to fish from the creek. “I know I’m not eating anything out of there, unless you want to glow later on,” he said.

The Hell’s Kitchen Farm Project donates produce to neighborhood soup kitchens. Photo: Brett Essler

Reported on Aug. 20, 2011

Against the backdrop of gleaming Midtown residential towers and the cacophony from the nearby Lincoln Tunnel sit six diagonal rows of baby pools. Yet, this is not children’s play area. It’s a rooftop farm, built by a neighborhood volunteer dedicated to providing better access to fresh food for Hell’s Kitchen.

As an Americorps volunteer at a local soup kitchen, Anthony Reuter, 24, saw firsthand the problems of trying to find fresh vegetables and fruit for the food pantries he works at in Hell’s Kitchen.

“We don’t know where the vegetables are coming from. We don’t control the price. We don’t control where we get that money from,” he recalled saying.

After a year of community planning, the result is the Hell’s Kitchen Farm Project: A 1,000-square-foot farm in the middle of the city, comprising newly planted rooftop farm and a CSA (community supported agriculture) with 34 members, both based at Metro Baptist Church on West 40th Street. Started with an urban-farm seed grant from the United Way, the farm is expected to supply 1,000 pounds of produce to the food pantries at Metro Baptist and nearby Metropolitan Community churches this summer and fall, said project coordinator Reuter. The CSA also will also donate extra food to the needy and will offer subsidized options at $440 for low-income members. A typical CSA membership costs $485 a share. The farm project, along with an expanded weekly farmers’ market, are just two of the ways residents and volunteers are trying to transform Hell’s Kitchen into a healthier neighborhood.

Food contamination scares, like Europe’s recent E.coli outbreak or the 2006 multistate spinach contamination the U.S., have heightened consumer awareness about food safety and sources, prompting local governments to try to create policies that allow more people access to fresh, affordable, and locally grown food. In New York City, the Mayor’s Office of the Food Policy Coordinator was created in 2007 to coordinate the efforts of city agencies, nonprofit groups and community members to improve such access.

Kim Kessler, the city’s food policy coordinator, said in an email that the city “leads our country in creating innovative programs to increase access to healthy foods,” noting a number of recent initiatives including incentives for food stamp usage at farmers’ markets; Green Carts that bring fresh produce to underserved communities; and new zoning that encourages supermarket development in underserved neighborhoods.

For their part, Community Board 4 is “very much in favor of green roofs and urban farming,” says David Pincus, co-chair of the Land Use Committee. The board has discussed the issue, he says, but has not yet taken an official position.

In addition to the farm project’s efforts to improve Hell’s Kitchen’s access to fresh food, the neighborhood enjoys a thriving farmers’ market presence, with Greenmarket locations at 57th Street and 9th Avenue and in the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Both farmers’ market vendors accept food stamps or other vouchers from low-income customers. The 2007-2009 American Community Survey 3-Year estimates show that 5.8 percent of Community Districts 4 and 5 residents are supported by government benefits, such as food stamps, the program for women, infants and children, known as WIC, and SNAP, a United States Department of Agriculture food assistance program.

On a recent Wednesday at lunchtime, the market was teeming with local residents and workers from nearby Midtown office buildings.

According to Alexis Stevens, food access projects manager at Greenmarket, which organizes the city’s farmers’ markets, the 57th Street Greenmarket saw a 30 percent increase in customer walk-throughs between 2009 and 2010. Food stamp sales at that location have averaged about $50 per market day since vendors began accepting them in September 2010. Comparative data for the Port Authority market was not available.

Linda Rivera works in Hell’s Kitchen but was visiting the 57th Street farmers’ market for the first time. For her, a discount is the incentive to shop local. “I get coupons to come to the fresh market,” she says. “For my babies, I’m in the WIC program.”

Mike Dougherty of Meredith’s Bread, who sells at the 57th Street Greenmarket every Wednesday and Saturday, says he’s seen a roughly 15 percent increase in sales volume over the last year.

“The market is catching on,” he said of the Hell’s Kitchen location. “Customers want fresh food. They want to know it’s coming here fresh.”

According to Kubi Ackerman, project manager at Columbia University’s Urban Design Lab, achieving food security requires “policy incentives as well as a critical mass of people willing to invest some serious effort and equity into developing an alternative system. It will also require continued awareness of the issue on the part of the consuming public.”

For Reuter, the ultimate goal for the farm project is to give Hell’s Kitchen an abundant amount of fresh, healthy and local food.

“Urban farming and the local movement have become mainstream,” Reuter says. “We don’t have to explain it to people, and that’s great.”

The Greene Hill Food Co-op at 18 Putnam Ave. in Clinton Hill is slated to open its storefront to the public this fall after nearly four years of planning. (Photo: Lucas O’Neill)

Reported on Aug. 15, 2011

Had you told DK Holland in 2008 that it would take nearly four years for the Greene Hill Food Co-op to open its doors to the public, she probably would have abandoned the project on the spot.

“If I had known then,” she said, trailing off. “If anyone had known then…”

They didn’t know, however, and as a result the vision of Holland, the president of the Clinton Hill-based food co-operative, is close to coming to fruition. The co-op, which leased space at 18 Putnam Ave. last year, is eyeing a fall opening for its storefront — perhaps as soon as late September.

The aim is to provide access to quality fresh food at affordable prices, a combination that isn’t always readily available in the Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Prospect Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant communities the co-op expects to draw from.

And when the building, located between Downing Street and Grand Avenue, officially opens, it will mark the final step of what co-op member Anna Muessig describes as a three-phase process.

The first phase started in December 2007, when Holland, who was then a member of the Park Slope Food Co-op, mentioned to The Brooklyn Paper that she was thinking of starting a food co-op in the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill area, where she has lived since 1983. The paper ran an article featuring a photo of Holland and co-founder Kathryn Zarcynski juggling fruit, and in the days that followed some 900 people signed a petition in support of the idea. Weekly meetings soon followed.

“I hate meetings and yet they make me happy because everyone agrees,” said Holland, a writer, designer and activist who sports short auburn and gray hair and a pair of black and neon green-rimmed glasses.

Phase II entailed the creation of a buying club. Co-op members submit their orders online and pick them up on alternating Wednesdays. On a recent pickup day, co-op members came into the Putnam Avenue headquarters between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., handed over their checks and had their orders fulfilled.

Eventually.

A slight woman with shoulder-length brown hair rolled her bright blue eyes as co-op volunteers struggled to fill her order.

About 4 feet behind where the other members sat to process orders stood four white refrigerators and a large freezer adorned with a square of black chalkboard paint. Yellow and pink chalk marked which fridge contains what — lamb, milk, beef, overstock. “Runners” moved from these vessels to a wall of shelves with boxes of produce and other items, grabbing items and comparing them against the order slip.

Unlike Community Supported Agriculture groups, where members get whatever produce the affiliated farm provides any given week, co-op members select the produce, dairy, meat and other products they’d like from vendors, the biggest of which is Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative in Lancaster, Pa.

“You don’t want to act like a New Yorker,” said the woman, who asked not to be quoted saying anything negative about the co-op. “But I don’t want to wait a half hour to have my order filled.”

This is one of the problems with a young co-op. Part of joining means work — sweat capital — and all members are theoretically required to do a four-hour shift every few months, a number that will increase once the storefront opens. On this Wednesday night, however, a couple of people hadn’t shown up, and things were busy.

“This is what happens when people don’t do their shifts,” Holland said at one point.

She later clarified that most members were conscientious, but either way the scene was slightly disorganized, a symptom of the co-op’s main hurdle: a lack of members. It has taken so long to open the storefront because few of those 900 people who initially expressed interest actually signed on.

That means there are fewer people to do the heavy lifting — to plan, attend meetings, stock shelves, fulfill orders, make fliers and do outreach.

Fewer people also means diminished buying power, which is problematic in two respects: First, the co-op isn’t able to get the best bulk prices; second, it’s not able to buy a diverse a range of items, which means fewer choices. There are some: Sweet Ella’s peanut butter is $4.61, versus $3.71 for a comparably sized jar from Peanut Butter & Co.

But for potential members who might not want — or be able to afford — only grass-fed meat, for instance, this could be a deterrent.

“We don’t have enough inventory to have different price points,” said Aaron Zueck, a tall and trim man with short-blond hair and a beard who was fulfilling orders while simultaneously answering a reporter’s questions.

The co-op is running into something of a Catch-22, Zueck said, where the store isn’t open, so people are less likely to join and people aren’t joining because the store isn’t open.

All of these factors explain why outreach has been a priority in each of the three phases, but especially now. Currently, the co-op is in the midst of what it calls the +1 Project, for which each member is encouraged to find a counterpart to join. As part of those efforts, Greene Hill will host a community day on Aug. 27 with face painting, storytelling, yoga and dance lessons.

Between the +1 program and the news that the storefront will soon open, the Greene Hill Food Co-op is making significant process, according to Muessig, a Minnesota native who co-chairs the outreach committee. At the beginning of the summer, the co-op had about 250 members; by mid-August, that number had climbed to 425.

“We knew they were there all along,” she said. “As soon as the project became real to them, people started to come out en masse.”

The goal is to get to 700 by the time the storefront opens. Who those members are is important, however. While some people join the co-op simply to get a break on good food, for others there are additional considerations. There is a desire, for instance, to attract long-time residents, people of color and those from a variety of socioeconomic groups who are often underserved when it comes to reasonably priced, quality food.

Bedford Stuyvesant is considered a food desert, or a place devoid of any meaningful access to quality groceries. And Fort Greene has a number of markets, Muessig said, but often they are expensive.

While Clinton Hill has the bodegas and specialty shops, it also has a supermarket that has stood just two blocks from the Greene Hill location for more than 43 years. Rocky Widdi’s father, Wakeem, opened the Met Foods Supermarket branch at 991 Fulton St. in 1967, and since Rocky took over, he has expanded the selection to better serve a neighborhood that, according to Census figures, has seen an influx of young, mostly white professionals during the past decade.

Half of the produce is now organic, and the store carries an ever-increasing selection of all-natural foods. It remains a neighborhood fixture, Widdi said from his office overlooking the store’s interior last week, and the co-op doesn’t really affect him.

“The co-op is nice, but it does nothing for the economy,” he said. “It doesn’t provide jobs. It doesn’t provide taxes. It doesn’t provide anything.

“You save a few pennies, but then you gotta spend three hours a month there.”

But sometimes it’s more than pennies. The same jar of Peanut Butter & Co. that the co-op sold for $3.71 was $4.99 at Met. That can add up. The co-op has worked with the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, parent-teacher associations and City Councilwoman Letitia James’ office to spread the word.

“They are making all efforts to make outreach to entire community,” James said of the co-op in an email. “It is about education, marketing, outreach, convenience, product diversity and cost.”

On that last piece, a central tool in food access initiatives for low-income communities is the acceptance of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, which deliver public nutritional assistance (formerly food stamps), and Greene Hill recently added this option. Indeed, personal checks and EBT cards are the only forms of payment accepted. Cash is avoided for safety reasons, credit cards because of fees.

The co-op also offers a variety of membership plans: The standard (“lettuce”) plan includes a $150 investment and a $25 administrative fee, but the “apple” plan only requires $5 up front, with the $150 investment spread out over five years. Between those is the “carrot” plan, which requires $25 up front and the $150 paid, in $25 installments, during the course of a year. Nearly a hundred of the current members utilized the carrot plan, while seven joined through the apple program, according to co-op member Nick Collins.

“We really are building a very diverse group of people — racially, economically and in terms of what different people want out of the food co-op,” Muessig said.

And if the altruistic motivations aren’t enough, there is what Holland described as a selfish but universal impetus: everyone wants good food for cheap.

Mary Wu in New York in 2009. Photo: Joseph Wu

Reported on Aug. 19, 2011

A subject like organ donation can make people squeamish.

“Many people shy away from talking about organ donation. People think they will jinx themselves,” said Joseph Acocella Jr., 30, discussing barriers to donation during a recent interview. Acocella, the town clerk in Harrison, N.Y., a town about 20 miles south of Mount Kisco, was hoping for a matching kidney donor.

New York state has almost 9,700 people waiting for an organ according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network; so, in a town the size of Mount Kisco, that translates to about eight people. But, the number of people on the transplant waiting list today doesn’t reflect the spectrum of the lives that will be affected in the future: people who will be newly placed on the waiting list; those who will face the decision of whether to donate a family member’s organs; those who will receive a gift of life – often from a complete stranger; and those who will die waiting.

In discussing Lauren’s Law, a bill that was proposed this spring designed to increase the New York organ donor registries, Acocella stated, “I believe if people understand the process and how many lives can be saved, more people will make a decision to openly donate. The biggest thing right now is to promote awareness and how one person can make a difference.” Acocella died on Aug. 11, after approximately two years waiting for a donor.

Lauren’s Law

Stony Point, N.Y. – a town across the Hudson River and about the same size as greater Mount Kisco – is home to Lauren Shields, an 11-year-old girl for whom Lauren’s Law is named. Lauren received a heart transplant when she was 9 after her heart became dangerously enlarged following an acute medical condition.

The proposed bill would require New York driver’s license applicants to choose whether to enroll in the state organ donor registry, selecting from the options of “yes,” “no,” or “not at this time.” Earlier this year, the bill quickly and unanimously passed in the state Senate; however, encountering controversy in the Assembly about whether the legislation could paradoxically reduce donor registrations, it did not come to the floor for a vote.

The primary sticking point is around the “no” option. According to Julia Rivera, director of communications with the New York Organ Donor Network, advocacy groups were concerned that people might check the “no” option in haste, without seriously considering their decision and potentially create the unintended effect of fewer new donor registrations.

Discussing the proposed legislation, Assemblyman Robert J. Castelli of District 89, which includes Mount Kisco, said that he sees organ donation as saving lives and he would support the legislation as written, providing it contains a “no” option. Castelli said that he prefers optional, rather than mandated, donor questions and referring to people who don’t believe in donation, added, “We don’t want them to feel forced to do something they don’t want to do.”

For those needing a transplant, there is sometimes the option to find a live donor, especially for kidneys, but without a willing donor who is a tissue match, people with organ failure must wait for an organ from a deceased donor to become available. New York ranks as the third lowest U.S. state with only 15 percent of the population registered to donate according to the National Donor Designation Report Card in April from Donate Life America.

Speaking of how to increase donor awareness, Castelli said, “Education is the key,” noting other societal changes like having a designated driver or wearing seat belts that have occurred in some part due to public awareness and peer pressure. “We need dialogue in the public forum,” Castelli said.

Discussions are expected to resume regarding Lauren’s Law when the Assembly returns. Meanwhile, efforts to increase the organ donor registries still heavily rely on increasing public awareness through other grassroots efforts, including educational outreach and sharing of personal stories.

Grassroots Education

Jeff Graham worked in the apparel industry in management and marketing for more than two decades then later as an insurance agent. His appearance as a 65-year-old energetic retiree gives no hint of the liver transplant he had 15 years ago for sudden liver failure. Graham is now the co-president of the volunteer and advocacy group, Transplant Support Organization, which serves several New York counties, including Westchester.

Graham describes how the organization’s volunteers collaborate with area high schools to deliver a voluntary curriculum on organ donation and transplantation, “We don’t tell students that they should become donors; instead we present the facts and then we encourage them to go home and discuss the matter with their families.” The group has spoken to more than 58,000 students since starting outreach in 2000, according to Graham.

Dawn Marinich has taught health education for 16 years at Fox Lane High School, the public school attended by many Mount Kisco students. Marinich said that Graham’s classroom visits help to dispel myths about organ donation and she describes her students’ reactions as overwhelmingly favorable. “There’s no education before this, they don’t know anything about it,” said Marinich. “Every time, one or two kids come back and say that they talked to their family.”

Art Nelson lives in Mount Kisco and teaches health education at Edgemont High School in Scarsdale. Discussing how Graham’s visits prompt curiosity, he described, “Students usually bring up the topic of organ donation after the visit and sometimes write about the subject in journal exercises.” Nelson shared an amusing personal anecdote about Graham’s encouraging students to talk to their family. One evening, his son, then a sophomore at Fox Lane High School, initiated an impromptu discussion about how a “guy” had visited their class that day and they discussed organ donation; Graham’s work coming home.

Talking to families in advance is important since deciding about organ donation in the midst of shock and grief is difficult, especially if they don’t know if their relative wanted to be a donor. “The more clearly you can make your wishes known, the better off you are,” said Neil Reig, a Mount Kisco health care attorney. Neig advised that people also have a living will, and periodically update written documents, to avoid ambivalence.

Two Sides, One Coin

Growing up in nearby Thornwood, Mary Wu didn’t speak openly about her transplant experience for many years. According to Wu, the reasons might have been her age, her Chinese-American heritage or fear that people would see her differently. She doesn’t remember having her first transplant when she was only 5, but organ failure had left her with physical complications, including problems walking and the need to wear diapers for urinary incontinence. When her first transplant failed after six years, she explained, “No one in my family was a donor match, so I was placed on a national organ waiting list for two months.”

Wu’s second transplant at age 11 made a major difference. She was freed from the dependence of a wheelchair and the need for diapers, but Wu experienced survivor’s guilt. “After I got the second transplant, I couldn’t stop thinking about the donor and her family. I felt so thankful that I could live out my teenage years.”

Seventeen years later, Wu, now 28, works as a chemotherapy scheduler at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Sleepy Hollow and receives her nephrology care at the Mount Kisco Medical Group. As an organ donor advocate, Wu radiates poise and confidence as she speaks about her experiences. “Organ transplantation is all about life; people can live on, literally and figuratively,” said Wu with passion. “Someone literally saved my life. It’s not just my story, it’s my family’s story; it is my organ donors family’s story. This is my testament to my organ donor’s family – talking and spreading the word.”

As Wu notes, deceased donors and recipients are on different sides of the same coin: one dies and, in turn, passes along a chance for life to another.

Deborah DeFrancesco, 48, a resident of the adjacent town of Somers, shares the personal experience that changed her perspective about organ donation, “I was on the fence before that. I don’t know if I had signed a donor card.” But eight years ago, her son Benjamin, then 3 years old, died in an accident. She had not spoken to the media about it previously but felt this was the time to share their story.

After reaching the hospital, Ben was put on life support but despite rescue efforts, he had suffered brain death. DeFrancesco and her husband then faced the difficult choice of whether to donate Ben’s organs. After meeting a mother who had been through a similar situation, they decided to donate. “It infused the situation with hope,” she explained. The couple later had contact with two of the recipients of Ben’s organs, a child and an elderly woman. DeFrancesco added, “Despite our situation being such a tragedy, it gave life to others.”

Asked what advice DeFrancesco would share with those facing a similar decision, she replied, “Think about it in advance and err on the side of hope instead of fear.”

Rich Awn, 33, pours his homemade kombucha into a bottle for sale in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Aug. 20. He makes and sells the tea illegally out of his apartment in a neighborhood called Greenpoint, which has become a hub in recent months for local food producers. Photo: Anna Spinner

Reported on August 21, 2010

“Sorry about the smell,” said 33-year-old Rich Awn, referring to a sweet vinegary odor wafting through his Greenpoint apartment.  Awn is used to the scent, but it is not one you might expect from his clean and almost obsessively organized home.  The kitchen is spotless. Photos are arranged on the refrigerator with the precision of tiles.  Even the odor’s source is neat: eight glass bowls are evenly stacked above the kitchen cabinets and filled with golden liquid, gelatinous layers of bacteria and yeast floating atop.

Awn, a suntanned blonde who could have stepped out of a 1960s surf movie, sat at the kitchen table with his iPhone.  He was waiting for a customer to pick up a bottle of kombucha [pronounced kom-BOO-cha], a fermented tea he makes and sells out of his home illegally.

He is part of a growing Greenpoint local food movement manifest in projects ranging from backyard beekeeping to rooftop farming.  Even the local soup kitchen serves its own garden vegetables.  And many amateur cooks like Awn make and sell food out of home kitchens in violation of health codes, often saying the requirements for legitimacy are too expensive. But the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, which oversees food processing for resale, says its rules protect food safety and skirting regulations puts consumers at risk.

Awn got his start at the Greenpoint Food Market.  The homemade food market, held once a month, launched in September 2009.  After a June feature in the New York Times it attracted scrutiny from the New York City Departments of Agriculture and Markets and Health and Mental Hygiene for serving food by unlicensed, uninsured home cooks.

To prevent being shut down, Joann Kim, the market’s 26-year-old organizer, said she canceled the June sale and held a panel with representatives from the departments of Health and Mental Hygiene and Agriculture and Markets,  New York City Councilman Steven Levin of the 33rd District, and vendors, including Awn, to discuss how to preserve the market and help cooks comply with health codes.

But when only a handful of about 100 vendors were legal before a planned July sale, Kim canceled the market indefinitely.  The main obstacle for cooks, she said, was cost.  For their goods to be legally ticketed and sold, they need licenses, insurance and must work in commercial kitchens unless making one of a few exempt foods. Since many artisanal cooks barely break even, Kim said the $200 per shift at New York’s two incubator kitchens sets the cost of legitimacy too high.

While some vendors are able to arrange special deals with restaurants to cook during off hours, which Awn is looking into, his profits would disappear if he rented space at an incubator kitchen. Selling 20 bottles of kombucha a week at $20 for new bottles and $15 for refills, his profits average $330 a week. Renting two weekly shifts at an incubator would cost $400 a week.

“There’s such a marginal profit here that it’s really about the enjoyment and the satisfaction I get out of it,” he said.

But commercial kitchens are required because their facilities are designed to protect consumers from food borne illness, said Jessica Ziehm, a 36-year-old spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.  Steel countertops are easier to sanitize than home countertops, which are often porous, and double-basin sinks help prevent cross-contamination, she explained.

“We’re not trying to make people’s lives difficult. We’re trying to help them ensure a safe product,” she said.

Councilman Levin said Greenpoint’s artisanal cooks are a local economic engine and he wants to help make their businesses viable.  In a June 23 letter to New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, Levin wrote: “The cost of renting a commercial kitchen is too high for most independent, start-up vendors.”

Awn acknowledges the need for regulations but he says he cooks for customers with the care he would for family.  He is hardly the only one working outside regulations.  Thirty-two-year-old Ben Sargent has a lobster roll business out of his Greenpoint basement, using underground status as a selling point.

In an Aug. 13 Facebook message signed Dr. Claw, Sargent told customers to bring $14 and “Make the exchange in a claw-shake when you meet the Doctor.”

Others say they are illegal by necessity.   Twenty-four-year-old Ben Israeli runs a homemade dessert delivery service. Only three weeks into business when interviewed, he said he was still losing money.

“Sure it’s illegal for now but if it gets bigger, the business starts to pay for itself and there’s no reason why I wouldn’t rent a commercial kitchen,” he said.

Awn, like many, did not begin making his product with an aim toward business.  He was brewing kombucha for himself and his then-girlfriend when they realized selling the tea could bring in extra cash.

“Finally we both had this idea that we should put a label on the stuff and try to sell it at a local market,” he said.

In November they hauled 20 one liter-sized bottles of Mombucha, named for Awn’s mother who used to make him drink her tea long before he developed a taste for it, to Kim’s market.  He sold out, much to the surprise of his proud mother who he said was “super-psyched,” and another of Awn’s  business ventures—including a nationally-syndicated radio feature, partnership in a SoHo restaurant, and real estate —was born.

Craig Shillitto, a 42-year-old architect who has known Awn for years, laughed when asked about Mombucha.

“I just think it’s funny that a guy like that chose to go sell his mom’s tea at a green market,” said Shillito.

Awn loves the do-it-yourself aspect of his business and Kim said Greenpoint Food Market customers were drawn to that too, flocking to Awn past another kombucha brewer whose product is in stores.

“The conversation and energy is completely different.  It’s like a total drug dealer relationship,” said Kim.

But Awn, like many artisanal cooks, wants to see his business grow and his product on shelves.

“I wish I could quit all my other jobs and just do this,” said Awn.

There is demand for local products, according to Cody Utzman, the 32-year-old executive chef and owner of several Greenpoint restaurants including Brooklyn Standard, a locally-sourced deli.

“People know it’s better.  There’s creativity in the packaging,” said Utzman.

And this can be enough for customers to pay much higher prices. A 24-ounce jar of pickles from Brooklyn Brine Co., a Greenpoint business, costs $9.29 at a store on Manhattan Avenue while a 32-ounce jar of Vlasic pickles sells for $3.49.  A year after launch, Brooklyn Brine Co. pickles are sold in more than 20 New York City stores including Whole Foods.

But Awn is not taking the financial leap to legally launch Mombucha, at least not until he can help others do the same.  He is partnering with Kim to create a nonprofit cooperative incubator that will give member cooks commercial kitchen space at a fraction of the cost charged by New York City’s existing incubators.

“The kitchen is going to be the hub not only for this product but also about 30 other products,” he said.

Awn and Kim are finalizing a business plan and have support and guidance from Levin, New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, as well as contacts at the Departments of Health and Mental Hygiene and Agriculture and Markets.  Shillitto will be the project’s architect.

The team is negotiating for a 5,000 square foot space to house the kitchen, a storefront to sell members’ products, an event venue, and a rooftop farm.  To use the kitchen and sell goods in the store, members will pay $200 a month and commit to work a set number of hours to maintain the business.

But business plans are not finalized and the space is still pending.    In the meantime, Awn juggles a few businesses, scraping together a living in part by selling fermented tea from his home.

He was eating from a bowl of cherries when his phone rang.

“Yo dude,” said Awn.

His customer was nearby.

Awn opened the door for Rebecca Brice, a 34-year-old bookkeeper who has bought Mombucha every few weeks since May.

The two chatted for a few minutes before he listed current flavors: white tea, black tea called Ruth’s Blend, and a new flavor called Blewbs, or bilberry.  Brice chose Blewbs.

Awn poured her a taste.

“Mmm it is good,” she said.

She was not bothered that his product is home-brewed. She said she bought kombucha in stores but never liked it until she tried Awn’s, which is sweeter and milder.

She pulled a glass bottle out of her bag.

Awn funneled tea into the bottle, pasted on a homemade label, and Brice was off.

“I’ll let you know when I need my next fix!” she called out from the door.

Moments later, the buzzer rang.  Brice was back.  Giggling, she gave Awn $15.  The monetary exchange had slipped both their minds.

More stories by Anna

Residents of Prospect-Lefferts Gardens have a variety of fast-food options. Photo: Melissa Smith.

Karen Oh, who lives in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, has decided to do something about the lack of healthy food options in her neighborhood.

“I think that any community, regardless of socioeconomic status or race, should have access to affordable high quality food,” Oh said.

On a three-block stretch of Empire Boulevard, there are five fast-food restaurants.  The main grocery option, Western Beef, does not carry enough fresh and organic foods, according to several residents. Oh, 38, who has lived in the neighborhood for four years, has trudged to the subway to get her groceries from neighboring Park Slope.

Oh rounded up some neighbors and started organizing the Lefferts Community Food Co-op.  And she is one of many co-op organizers throughout the city area. Co-ops are sprouting in Jersey City, N.J., and the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Clinton Hill and Bedford Stuyvesant, to name a few.

Stuart A. Reid, 53, executive director of the Food Co-op Initiative, which advises co-op organizers on how to open successfully, says that within the last five years or so there has been a spike in interest to start co-ops in lower-income urban areas.

Socioeconomic disparities in health have, historically, put many of the city’s lower income communities, with oversaturated fast-food markets and inadequate grocery options, in the spotlight as symbols of unhealthiness and obesity, according to a 2009 report by the United States Department of Agriculture.  In Reid’s opinion, the recent national interest in nutrition is driving residents of underserved communities to want access to healthy food. But starting a co-op in a neighborhood with vast socio-economic and ethnic differences poses its fair share of obstacles.

Market research indicates that the best area for a co-op is an upper middle class educated white community,” said Reid.

The main challenge in opening a food co-op in an urban neighborhood is getting people who are undereducated about healthy eating to understand how the co-op will be a benefit to them since cost is typically not one.

“The price of Wonder Bread at a food co-op and at your local bodega will be the same. The price of organic wheat bread will be higher because it’s better quality,” Reid says.  Co-ops can make organic food more affordable but they can’t make it cost the same as its lower quality counterparts.

Oh wants to use the Park Slope Food Co-op as a guide —a member-only labor model where shoppers have a monthly work requirement to keep their membership. This way, staffing costs are not getting passed onto the consumer; ensuring the lowest possible price for high-quality food.

Oh’s co-op model is far from what was the norm in the food co-op boom of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. The Park Slope Food Co-op began small in 1973 and in 37 years blossomed into the more than 12,000-member organization it is today. Oh envisions the genesis of her food co-op differently.

“I want this to look like an actual grocery store for the community from the beginning,” Oh said.

A critical part of successfully opening a co-op that serves a large community is getting enough people involved and signed on at the outset.  Oh and her team are focusing the lion share of their efforts on food education and outreach. They are pamphleteering the neighborhood and holding food education workshops in an effort to tap into the community. Nadia R. Williams, 32, a core member of the co-op’s outreach group, says, anecdotally, that the large West Indian community will help advance the co-op’s mission.

“Knowing West Indians – we want access to fresh fruits and vegetables like where we came from,” Williams said.

A study in the June 2007 Obesity Journal notes that foreign born blacks were 40% less likely to be obese than U.S.-born blacks. Yet, acculturation that follows in next generations has many immigrants adopting American eating habits.

Oh wants to open the Lefferts Community Food Co-op in fall 2012.

“It takes three to four years to change shopping habits,” Oh said.

Through her team’s extensive community outreach and education, Oh hopes, within the next two, to persuade people to make the switch.