Our Solution
Solution Number 1:
The first solution would be to add street food carts on certain blocks. Since store space is limited, and store owners choose not to carry fresh produce, the city should provide food carts that sell fresh produce such as fruits and vegetables similar to ones that are found in Manhattan. At first the government can provide the actual food stands and that would be the only expense that the city would have to pay for. Also, just for regulation purposes, in order to own and operate one of these stands, one must have a food vendor license just like all other street vendors. After, as an incentive to get people to take over the stands and to take full responsibility for them, these produce stands can be fully untaxed or the owners could receive tax deductions, and besides the cost of the actual products themselves, all other income would be one-hundred percent profit. By adding these fresh produce stands, the residents of the community would have direct access to healthy fruits and vegetables, and both the producers and consumers would each greatly benefit from this solution. This can either be a permanent solution, or a quick fix until supermarkets begin opening in the neighborhood, or until bodegas and corner stores begin carrying a variety of ‘fresh’ produce.
Solution Number 2:
As one walks through Corona, they cannot help but observe bodega after bodega, and the vast amounts of unhealthy foods. With so many food stores, one would think that the perfect solution would be to try and convince the store owners (bodega owners) to just carry fresh produce. But, how does one do this? As a group, we came up with a pretty creative solution. Since Corona attracts many immigrants, the population of the community is constantly on the rise. With that being said, buildings are running out of space to provide apartments for the rising population. Usually, when things like this occur, landlords expand their buildings and either build upwards ontop of their buildings, or expand outwards. In order to do this though, they need to have zoning rights that allow them to build, and they need to get approved by the building department. So, a solution we thought of would be to give landlords zoning rights, if they designate a certain amount of square footage to fresh produce in their stores that are located on the ground floor. The landlords could then offer the storeowners (or bodega owners) a decrease in the rent they pay if they agree to designate a certain amount of square footage to fresh produce. If the landlords don’t have the money to build up on their buildings, zoning rights increase the value of the property regardless, or the building owners could even decided to sell their zoning rights to other landlords or property owners.
Solution Number 3:
Recently, we came across a Ted Talk by Jamie Oliver called Teach Every Child About Food. Jamie Oliver talks about how unhealthy America has become due to the food the people eat. He is a 40-year-old chef who is originally from Essex, England, and for many years of his life, he has been trying to save peoples lives by raising awareness and by informing people about what kind of food they eat. After watching his video, his mission fit perfectly with the situation that we came across in Corona. Jamie Oliver wants schools to teach the people around them and students how to cook meals at home, and to learn about what foods are healthy and what foods are unhealthy. What we realized was that not everyone knows what foods they should eat, and many children have no idea what certain fruits and vegetables even are. So, if they never know about these certain foods, and never see their parents cooking with them, they will end up never eating these foods. In school, children should be taught about fruits and vegetables, and how to cook healthy meals, this way as they get older they can begin eating healthy. Also, they can try to convince their parents to get out and go to the supermarket to buy certain foods in order to make healthy meals at home. At the end of the day, once children are knowledgeable about healthy foods, they will realize that their communities are deprived of these resources, and as they get older, they will take initiative and try and make improvements in their communities on their own.
