Food desert-busting is one of the cross-over opportunities between planning and public health, but it's unclear how effective bringing healthy foods to underserved neighborhoods has been.
Mac McCann writes an op-ed in response to a story from earlier in July about a $3 million program designed to attract grocery stores to Southern Dallas.
The problem, according to McCann's argument, is a lack of evidence that the program will work. "The government has tried over and over again to address the problems of food deserts — without much to show for it," explains McCann. In fact ""Food store access, particularly as measured by proximity, has a limited impact on food choices," according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture study published in May 2016.
On another line of argument, McCann notes that the city of Dallas "approved a $3 million grant for Costco — which made $2.38 billion in profit in 2015 — to build a store in northern Dallas." To McCann, the results of these investments don't justify their expense—especially when the city has so many other pressing issues to address.
Read the full story: Subsidizing grocery stores won't make Dallas healthier
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