Aldermen Approve City's Proposal To Negotiate Purchase Of Shuttered West Side Aldi In Effort To Eliminate Food Desert
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The City Council on Wednesday gave City Hall the go-ahead to negotiate the purchase of a recently shuttered Aldi store in West Garfield Park, as Mayor Lori Lightfoot seeks to have another grocery store take its place and eliminate a food desert from the city's West Side.
The ordinance approved by the City Council would give the Lightfoot administration leverage to buy the shuttered Aldi store n the 3800 block of West Madison Street if the company can't sell the site to another grocer.
If the city were to purchase the site, the Department of Planning and Development would then be tasked with launching its own effort to potentially find a developer who could build another grocery store, perhaps as part of a larger development.
At a City Council Housing Committee meeting earlier this month, Planning Department officials said they're already working with Aldi and the company's broker to find a new grocer for the site. Aldi has listed the site for $700,000.
The West Garfield Park Aldi closed abruptly in October, amid declining sales.
If Aldi can't attract another grocer to the site, the city would be poised to swoop in to buy the property to make sure an acceptable replacement can be found, to make sure the neighborhood isn't left without a grocery store. The only other grocery in the neighborhood, a Save-A-Lot at 420 S. Pulaski Road, had its license temporarily revoked earlier this month over a rodent infestation and remains closed.
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), a frequent critic of the mayor, was the only alderman to vote against the plan to authorize the city to negotiate a purchase of the vacant Aldi, saying the Lightfoot administration should first establish a clear citywide policy for such situations.
"We have an unequal, unequitable application of an unknown policy being activated for this purchase," he said.
Lopez acknowledged "it is horrible" when neighborhoods are left without sufficient options for grocery stores, but said authorizing the city to purchase the vacant Aldi in West Garfield Park without having another grocer lined up to take over the property "is a dangerous gambit."
"We are playing with taxpayers' money, because as any of you know, trying particularly to get a grocery store has become exponentially more difficult in the city of Chicago, and indeed the country," he said.
However, Lightfoot said "the notion that we are willy-nilly exercising this unusual authority is just not so."
"This is a dire circumstance. We have concern, working with Ald. [Jason] Ervin about the condition of that property, making sure that it is maintained in a way that is attractive for a new grocery store to come in, while we continue to actively pursue leads," she said.
The mayor said city officials already have several leads on potential replacement grocery stores.
Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), whose ward includes the vacant Aldi, said it's a matter of "utmost urgency and necessity" to find a grocer to replace Aldi, and it's necessary for the city to get more directly involved in making sure that happens.
"The community of Garfield Park currently lacks any – and I say any – full-service grocery options in its community with the loss of Save-A-Lot recently. This is the right type of step that's needed in the Madison Corridor to bring back the vitality of the business district that once was considered the Michigan Avenue of the West Side of Chicago," he said.
Lightfoot said she also believes Aldi needs to be held accountable for shutting down the store without giving any notice to the store's employees.
The city's move gives the community hope a new grocer will eventually replace Aldi.
"We definitely need the product, but we also need good stakeholders," Cristyn Freemon said earlier this week.
Freemon is one of many people who are pushing the city to find a long-term, dependable replacement, because it's a true matter of life and death.
Ayesha Jaco with organization West Side United estimates life expectancy on the west side is 14 years shorter than residents downtown.
"We started to activate community conversations to make sure there would be a fit, and that this would be a true choice led by community voice," Jaco said.
