Important Takeaways:

• Chicago’s Dem Mayor Brandon Johnson now wants to create city-run grocery stores to promote ‘equitable’ access to food after Walmart and Whole Foods close stores
• Chicago’s Democrat mayor wants to create city-run grocery stores to promote ‘equitable’ access to food after half of the city’s Walmart and Whole Foods stores closed.
• Mayor Brandon Johnson announced a partnership with the Economic Security Project to open municipally-owned grocery stores in Chicago in a bid to tackle many of the city’s so-called ‘food deserts.’
• Johnson’s new moves are set to help ‘repair past harms that have contributed to purposeful disinvestment and exclusion and lack of food access’ in historically underserved communities.
• ‘My administration is committed to advancing innovative, whole-of-government approaches to address these inequities.
• The city did not give a timeline for when the initiative would come forward – and the grant money which will help invest could come from state and federal tax dollars, not just local taxes, reports CBS.
• There was mixed reaction to the scheme.
• One person wrote on social media: ‘Let’s see… major, successful retailers and grocery store operators have pulled out of certain zip codes due to chronic crime, but the city of Chicago is going to install and manage tax-payer-subsidized stores. What could possibly go wrong?’
• Another added: ‘People need to learn not to steal and the grocery stores won’t have to close.’
• And another person on social media said: ‘I don’t believe the city of Chicago could run an ice-cream stand in the summer time, let alone a grocery store.’

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