Reviving the original Producers and Consumers cooperative supermarket concept, at least at the Hancock Street P&C, is certainly a viable notion. The biggest oblstacles are 1) the unwilllingness of consumers to forego the glitz provided by the Wegmans experience; and 2) sprawl. I am distinguishing between a workers' cooperative taking over the store and a community cooperative. In the latter the workers would be unfairly burdened with the enormouse risk of organizing and successfully running a supermoarket. A community-based cooperative would spread the risks. Since the development the Greenbelt, Maryland new town by the federal government under Franklin Roosevelt, that community has been served by the Greenbelt Co-op Supermarket. (located by the way in the nation's first downtown pedestrian mall) That store has physically grown since 1937 to the point that today it's larger than the Hancock Street P&C. The Greenbelt Co-op can compete with the Wegmans of the world because Greenbelt was designed as a compact city with an extensive network of dedicated pedestrian paths that connect homes directly with the downtown. Because of the compact character of the city, and the fact that the pedestrian links are an integral part of its transportation system, most residents of the original city are within a 15-20 minute walk of the supermarket. The downtown shopping center at Greenbelt was one of the inspirations for Community Corners in Cayuga Heights. At one point Community Corners even had a supermarket. But Cayuga Heights lacks both the population density and the pedestrian linkages. That shopping area continues to struggle as a neigborhood retail center. As is the case throughout Ithaca and Tompkins County, once people are in their car it's no big deal to drive past Community Corners and head a mile or two down the road to the bigger stores in Lansing with the in-house bakery, fast food and lattes. It's in fact no big deal to drive all the way down to Wegmans on Meadow Street. In several of the older colonial era cities in southeastern PA the municipally owner public markets continue to prosper. The success of the Central Market in Lancaster is evident by the fact that Lancaster, with a population approximately that the Ithaca urban area, has only two large chain supermarkets versus five for Ithaca. Moreover there are few offices in the downtown core that do not have one or two full-size refrigerators where employees can stash their fresh produce, etc. on Tuesday and Friday market days. Of course Lancaster and its sister cities such as Philadelphia and York are very compactly built,with population densities probably 2-3 times that of Fall Creek here in Ithaca. That puts 2-3 times the number of potential customers within easy walking distance and gives the public markets a competitive edge not possible here in Ithaca. Unfortunately absent a dramatic change in attitudes here in Ithaca, and subsequently dramatic changes in land use policies, creating the density necessary to sustain a local, independent cooperative supermarket in Ithaca is an extremely remote possibilty. George Frantz _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/
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