Mayor Woodfin tells City Council he'll submit healthy food ordinance

Mayor Randall Woodfin told the Birmingham City Council on Tuesday, Feb. 19, that his administration will soon present them with a new ordinance designed to improve access to healthy food in the city.

Addressing “food deserts” in Birmingham — as designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture — has been “a major priority” for his administration, Woodfin said.

The ordinance will, among other steps, limit the new development of dollar stores in the city, forcing them to locate at least one mile from any existing store.

The ordinance will also be designed to encourage more grocers to locate in the city, according to the mayor.

City staff members are currently working on the ordinance and will have it ready to submit it to the council within a few weeks, Woodfin said.

“Out of 212,000 residents, 146,000 — hovering around 70 percent of people — live in districts that are considered food deserts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” Woodfin said.

Dollar stores are partly to blame, according to the mayor, who said that those discount retailers “not only target but cause food deserts.”

Woodfin said the retailers “divert customers and revenue away from grocery stores and healthy food, and many grocery stores are forced to close.”

Between 2005-2015, Jefferson County lost more grocery stores than all but two other counties in the state, Woodfin said.

“The goal here is to set ourselves up to be as competitive as possible to recruit grocery stores,” said Josh Carpenter, the city’s director of economic development.

“We hear from far too many people that the dollar stores in their neighborhood do not supply them with the healthy food that they need,” he said.

The team working on the ordinance has actively engaged with grocery companies “to see what they need from us,” Carpenter said,

The city will explore allowing community gardens in the city to sell their produce on site as well.

The ordinance will also allow farmers in public markets “to operate for longer throughout the year,” Woodfin said.

The dollar stores are somewhat analogous to check-cashing establishments, according to Woodfin.

“We can't have certain organizations that prey on poor people in our city,” he said. “At some point — either through existing laws or laws we create — we are going to have to protect our people.”

PROJECT UPDATE

Woodfin also gave the council members a brief update regarding the status of some capital projects in the city, including street paving.

The mayor said that the paving of about 102,000 linear feet of streets will likely begin in mid- to late summer.

The cost is about $5.1 million, with $2.8 million coming from the city’s Neighborhood Revitalization Fund and $2.2 million coming from ALDOT, according to Woodfin.

Woodfin told members that his staff was supplying them with a spreadsheet will detailed updates on the status of 255 planned or ongoing capital projects in all nine council districts.

The city also demolished 368 condemned structures in the city from Jan. 1 and Feb. 15, according to Woodfin.