tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post7002869116624049950..comments2024-03-27T09:17:51.095-07:00Comments on Done by Forty: Food Deserts, Restrictive Covenants, & Market FailuresDone By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-18438412719672633252023-12-03T22:23:58.325-07:002023-12-03T22:23:58.325-07:00From the dawn of humanity, food has been the corne...From the dawn of humanity, food has been the cornerstone of survival and communal gatherings. The act of preparing and sharing meals fosters relationships and forms cultural identities. Through history, civilizations have evolved, and so has our relationship with food.<a href="https://www.lascasuelasnuevas.com" rel="nofollow">Mexican Food</a><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-87165015173014620572018-08-24T23:20:42.313-07:002018-08-24T23:20:42.313-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Financial journey of a Generation Yhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02938491528720513963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-41553242110060291822018-08-23T09:32:24.824-07:002018-08-23T09:32:24.824-07:00I would be like the very worst person for that job...I would be like the very worst person for that job. I have tried organizing/implementing large things before and it is always a small disaster. I can write, I can come up with ideas, and I can support...<br /><br />But as a project leader, I just guarantee that nothing will actually come of the project.Done By Fortyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-16333126171754711042018-08-22T23:30:32.641-07:002018-08-22T23:30:32.641-07:00Well... maybe that would be a good project for a c...Well... maybe that would be a good project for a certain someone who's planning on retiring early. It wouldn't exactly be restful, but certainly rewarding! :)EcoCatLadyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15704811319510740473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-331654855363996022018-08-22T18:35:17.927-07:002018-08-22T18:35:17.927-07:00Yeah, since it's a Safeway I think there's...Yeah, since it's a Safeway I think there's a decent chance a restrictive covenant might be at play there. They keep coming up as the company using them, when I search on food deserts.<br /><br />I checked out that co-op and I love their Theory of Change page. Powerful stuff.<br /><br />I really should check out what equivalents there might be in AZ. Early google searches are coming up empty...Done By Fortyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-10347159113050222522018-08-22T17:37:34.361-07:002018-08-22T17:37:34.361-07:00"If you're living hand to mouth, you'..."If you're living hand to mouth, you're not buying 100 rolls of TP and a family sized 4 pack of pasta sauce."<br /><br />Andrew, you win this week's award for the comment which clearly should have been in the post, but wasn't. <br /><br />And I might need to go read Wealth of Nations now...haven't ever read it!<br /><br />I hope all's going well in NYC. We still dream of living there for a year or two. Maybe right before we pull the plug on RE!Done By Fortyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-8895009380532352932018-08-22T17:35:14.060-07:002018-08-22T17:35:14.060-07:00Thanks for that kind comment, FIREstarter. I start...Thanks for that kind comment, FIREstarter. I started this one weeks ago, but had more podcasts & articles to digest on the subject -- it's a complicated one.<br /><br />I get the feeling you folks in the UK have a better understanding of the market, and how government & private enterprise can work together to foster competition. Here, it's such a joke dichotomy with many citizens: it's private enterprise VERSUS government regulation. <br /><br />And yes, sleeping is going better...though a long, long way off from the ideal. I think I may retire early just to get some sleep!Done By Fortyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-16811680144462507002018-08-22T15:05:26.134-07:002018-08-22T15:05:26.134-07:00Wow! I had no idea. I guess that explains why the ...Wow! I had no idea. I guess that explains why the building vacated by the Safeway in my neighborhood became a gym despite the many pleas by the residents for another grocery store. I live right on the edge of a very economically depressed area - well... it used to be. With the housing market what it is, people are snatching up houses there and flipping them... but that's another story. <br /><br />Anyhow, there's one little non profit that's working to remedy the food desert part of the situation. They're really innovative and so far I think they've started 2 community farms in the area, helped over 500 families start backyard gardens, and they're opening a food co-op/neighborhood owned grocery store. I guess if you can't get what you need from the corrupt corporatocracy, you just have to go around them. Here's a link if anybody's curious: https://www.revision.coop/EcoCatLadyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15704811319510740473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-10973985519864171722018-08-22T12:29:00.484-07:002018-08-22T12:29:00.484-07:00Excellent and thought provoking post. I see that ...Excellent and thought provoking post. I see that mindset often and may be guilty have thought it as well, before I read an article from someone living in a food desert. With lack of access to transportation, sometimes you shop at the closest location which is often not the cheapest. And sure Costco is cheap because you're buying in bulk. If you're living hand to mouth, you're not buying 100 rolls of TP and a family sized 4 pack of pasta sauce. You just buy what you need and have the money for. Some like to talk about the free market and Adam Smith's invisible hand, but if they actually read Wealth of Nations, he actually says that some governmental regulation is needed to make things run properly. Don't ask me to cite where as it's been a long time!Andrew@LivingRichCheaplyhttp://www.livingrichcheaply.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-32158160937996816862018-08-22T00:08:45.446-07:002018-08-22T00:08:45.446-07:00Great article and you can tell you've put a lo...Great article and you can tell you've put a lot of time, thought and research into this. I've got a lot of links and read now which look really interesting! <br /><br />"Free market" is such a joke term and should be banned when stuff like this happens all the time. And can't agree more on the whole "no regulation" dogma. <br /><br />In the UK they have to arbitrarily scrap 3 regs for every 1 they introduce (they may have copied this off the US in fact@). Now I have no doubt that there was a lot of low hanging fruit to get rid of at the beginning of when they introduced this practice (on the sale of whale oil and the like) which are totally out of date or just unused today. But surely at some point we will have to start scrapping actually useful regs just to get something also useful in. That is just insane.<br /><br />I agree with scrapping out of date regs or ones that have been proven by data to be ineffective or more harmful than good but the two things should be totally unrelated!<br /><br />Cheers and hope the sleeping routine has improved recently :)theFIREstarter.co.ukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11161550795321520113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-32479972455156298762018-08-21T12:53:33.087-07:002018-08-21T12:53:33.087-07:00The courts have surprisingly enforced these clause...The courts have surprisingly enforced these clauses (according to one of the articles linked above, the FT article, I believe), since they're made by two willing parties as a condition of the contract. <br /><br />It seems the judicial branch is reading the letter of the law here. I think local governments will be the entity needing to change the practice, unfortunately.Done By Fortyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-1553304628289087282018-08-21T08:48:45.535-07:002018-08-21T08:48:45.535-07:00I knew food deserts were a thing, I didn't kno...I knew food deserts were a thing, I didn't know about those non-compete clauses were a thing. I wonder how enforceable they are? Although I'm sure the landlords don't want to risk it.JoeHxhttps://hendrixjoseph.github.io/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-38893102869921290292018-08-20T14:11:35.922-07:002018-08-20T14:11:35.922-07:00I can appreciate that writers have a broad audienc...I can appreciate that writers have a broad audience and you can't write for everyone. But the tone, and acknowledging an issue that impacts 39 million Americans, matter, too. <br /><br />To be fair, I'm sure I've written plenty that has been offensive/insensitive, and isn't as thoughtful re: communities who have it worse off than I do.<br /><br />So re: selling the property, my initial research was finding examples of these clauses primarily in sales agreements. That is, Safeway owned the property themselves, and put the restrictive covenant into the sales agreement: the next owner could not sell groceries or sell to a grocer for 15 years!<br /><br />So it can apply to either a sale or when renting.Done By Fortyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-73299541464231306692018-08-20T14:08:34.782-07:002018-08-20T14:08:34.782-07:00It's hard to really know if it's a restric...It's hard to really know if it's a restrictive covenant at play, or just companies organically deciding an area isn't one they want to invest in. That's why I'm so happy to see the reporting by FT & Marketplace: I'd never have guessed this was an issue without their work.<br /><br />As one of the writers said though, these restrictive covenants are kind of low hanging fruit: getting rid of them at least allows the possibility of another grocer moving in to the same property if they want to. It's a no-brainer for competition & for providing access to food.<br /><br />I read a Washington Post piece when researching that found it was only after a well-off neighborhood started to get impacted by restrictive covenants that you'd start to hear about it. Majority black wards in DC would have 1 or 2 grocers in the district due to these covenants, and you didn't hear a peep. But stick the well-to-do residents with a vacant grocery store, and you can bet that the local politicians start to feel the pressure.Done By Fortyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-58430759131581448882018-08-20T10:09:22.627-07:002018-08-20T10:09:22.627-07:00When we venture into different parts of our cities...When we venture into different parts of our cities, we can really see how different our neighbors have it.<br /><br />LA is unique in that it seems like everything is kind of a drive away, but it's weird because it really is densely packed.Done By Fortyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-9895633157736199942018-08-20T10:08:18.013-07:002018-08-20T10:08:18.013-07:00Thanks, Solitary Diner. It took me three weeks to ...Thanks, Solitary Diner. It took me three weeks to finally publish, but better late than never.<br />Done By Fortyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-91639341301825364962018-08-20T09:04:07.862-07:002018-08-20T09:04:07.862-07:00Unless your target audience is poor people, the ad...Unless your target audience is poor people, the advice will be for the masses. Most people can cook more and eat less fast food. I don't think that's riding a high horse. That's a pretty low bar for most people. <br />I agree that the non compete clause is insane. That'd sink a landlord. What if they sell the property? Can the new landlord sign with a new grocery store? retirebyfortyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02180702594001358403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-58528034169493383712018-08-20T08:28:11.075-07:002018-08-20T08:28:11.075-07:00YES. It's something that I wasn't really a...YES. It's something that I wasn't really aware of growing up because we were poor in a reasonably well off area. Not affluent, there was just one street about three blocks long that belonged to the affluent of the town, but definitely an ok median wealth kind of town. Being poor there wasn't grinding poverty, it just meant cramped space, smaller abodes, and never going out to eat. And we still had access to at least two grocery stores at any given time. We had to drive quite a ways to the Asian market but at least one large supermarket was always in town. <br /><br />I'm glad you dug up that non-compete clause because I never knew about it - we had two large retail spaces in our town that has been a revolving door of businesses, including multiple groceries at different times, but the last decade, there hasn't been any and the groceries have moved from the relatively central part of town toward the more affluent side of town. I couldn't figure out why but I wonder now if it's this non compete nonsense coming into play. Revanchehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07293868300535734672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-26846499860283669132018-08-20T08:06:31.178-07:002018-08-20T08:06:31.178-07:00In more run down places in LA, you see nothing but...In more run down places in LA, you see nothing but fast food restaurants. In the area that I currently live, they are fewer and far between, but have tons of Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and a plethora of other places to get fresh produce. It's very lopsided indeed. Tonyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01618173853004051479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-48038124410188639772018-08-20T06:06:59.817-07:002018-08-20T06:06:59.817-07:00Yes to all of this! Great post.Yes to all of this! Great post.Solitary Diner (Also Known as The Frugalish Physician)https://www.blogger.com/profile/01239189582752445700noreply@blogger.com