Th Politics of Groceries: Gateway closed today 7/29/2014

[davideinstein]

"Paging Jack Henderson, Paging Jack Henderson...”

Until north Tulsa will elect someone with a different paradigm than “South Tulsa is holding us down” they are going to be stuck with limited vision for their district.  Somebody younger with a more dynamic view of what can be instead of how they are being shafted is what District 1 needs.  Sorry, I’m just not a Henderson fan.

I was thinking about this issue last night and what kind of unconventional ideas would get a source of good staple food products to the area of Pine & Peoria.  Some ideas were farmers markets several days per week(granted the prices lot of producers charge for the produce at Cherry St. and other places would put a strain on budgets).  I also thought about a food pantry or neighborhood grocery subsidized and run by some of the larger churches in the area as an outreach mission or even as a cooperative effort with the Community Food Bank which is only about five or six blocks away from the former Gateway Market.  See if the landlord would split up the existing space to make it much more manageable and the rent more realistic for a venture like this.

I believe it was First Presbyterian which tried this concept on a small scale near the projects between Jackson and SW Blvd.  Not sure if it’s still there or not.  IIRC, they were also presenting cooking and nutrition classes to show how easy it is to work with whole ingredients instead of relying on boxed goods for people’s diets.

There has to be a way for the community to come together and make this a reality.  All it takes is an idea and the right people to make it happen.  Any other thoughts?

A food co-op could work in North Tulsa for sure. I'd pitch in and support it.

[davideinstein]

I can't be part of this conversation as it has progressed. Some good ideas and motivations, but too many erroneous assumptions and will take too much precious time to address.

My feeling is that Tulsa, all four of its geographical segments, will never face its sex, class, age and race biases. They are historical, political and institutionalized. Therefore, we will always be a second city without much of a clue. That is why we have such slow growth as Artist has pointed out.

I'm sure you guys will figure it out!

I think there is a generation right now that is giving the big middle finger to that. Bike riding is more popular than ever and a good chunk of the population wants to be around a more urbanized environment or are intrigued by that. It's why I live by Hillcrest. Sure, it's a little seedy in the area, but I have access to Cherry Street, Downtown, Brady, Pearl and to an extent Brookside. By bike, foot or a very short car drive. That matters to me, even at the expense of a higher crime rate.

[Conan71]

I think there is a generation right now that is giving the big middle finger to that. Bike riding is more popular than ever and a good chunk of the population wants to be around a more urbanized environment or are intrigued by that. It's why I live by Hillcrest. Sure, it's a little seedy in the area, but I have access to Cherry Street, Downtown, Brady, Pearl and to an extent Brookside. By bike, foot or a very short car drive. That matters to me, even at the expense of a higher crime rate.

All it takes is for more people like you moving into the area to eventually push out the seedier elements.  A very good friend of mine moved to Brady Heights about 1990 when that was one of the last places you wanted to live.  He moved there because it was cheap and he’d just relocated from California.  Bill has probably had something to do with the gentrification of the area as he would pester the mayor’s action line constantly to get dead cars removed other nuisances abated.

[TulsaRufnex]

That's what I'm asking you. Give us a number.

Why don't you give us a number?
Since you flippantly brought it up... I worked one as recently as six months ago.

[Red Arrow]

Why don't you give us a number?
Since you flippantly brought it up... I worked one as recently as six months ago.

If you read back a bit you will find I was responding to one of your posts and I was not being flippant.  You and I have established long ago that we don't agree on politics.  You can find your number a lot more quickly than I can.  Please re-post it.

[AquaMan]

How is it a false assumption? The business growth goes where the profit is. Unless someone has an emotional attachment to a certain area, it comes down to the bottom line.

Go to business college, take some history courses, read up, then get back to me.

[Townsend]

Gateway Market Reopens

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/gateway-market-reopens

1/5th of its original size, the Gateway Market in north Tulsa has reopened. The store closed in July because the owner said he was not making enough money to keep it open.

The store was originally 60,000 square feet when it was an Albertson's store. Its new footprint is 12,000 square feet. The owner feels it will be more cost efficient to operate it as a smaller store.

The store is the only supermarket in the immediate area. The new store features meat and dairy as well as four rows of dry goods.

[TheArtist]

Gateway Market Reopens

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/gateway-market-reopens

The story says it has dry gods, not goods?

Anywhoo, sounds like a much smarter move to have smaller stores in that kind of area.  Will also be nice if several other businesses can go into that center.