City working to bring grocery store to East Tampa ‘food desert’
TAMPA, Fla. - A Tampa City Councilman is working to bring a traditional grocery store to East Tampa, which has been deemed a "food desert."
District 7 Councilman Luis Viera said it's been an issue for the community for many years.
"You go through many parts of our city of Tampa, and they have access to a grocery store," he said. "That's something that East Tampa does not have."
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Instead, the tens of thousands of residents in the area rely on corner shops or mini marts.
"...that are often very unhealthy. This is something that is something to me, representative of lack of respect and dignity for a lot of the working families that live out in East Tampa," Viera said.
Some residents choose to take a long trip to the nearest grocery chain.
"Imagine if you're a mom or a dad raising a kid, a senior citizen and to go to a grocery store, you have to take a bus, and it takes you 20, 30, 40 minutes to go to a place," Viera said. "You spend 30-40 minutes getting your groceries, and then you take that 30–40-minute drive back home. That's two hours."
He is working with other city council members and the CRA to bring a major chain to the area through public incentives.
"I want to make sure that what the good people of East Tampa get with this grocery store is a traditional type of grocery store," Viera said. "One that is built on enterprise and economic transactions, etc."
On Monday, he and other officials visited a plot of land on North 29th Street and East Lake Avenue that could serve as the site for one.
"We ought to create a pathway here in the City of Tampa," Viera said.
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