Another say it aint so… According to employee reports, the Food City between 94th and 95th Street and Columbus Avenue is being closed down to make room for a… (drum roll) High Rise!

In tune with the chang(ed)ing neighborhood of the Upper West Side, another fixture for low and middle income families will become all but a memory to long-time residents. I’ve had an itch about this impending news, maybe because with so many other new constructions in this neighborhood, and the fact that Food City sits alone like a Grecian temple on a desirable block, it just seemed, as Agent Smith would say, inevitable. Every time I passed it, it seemed like a last bastion to the fading Mitchell-Lama, rent-stabalized affordable housing neighborhood. I marveled mostly at its structure-the stairs leading up to an open promenade in front of the store, where, as kids, we used to run, roller skate, skateboard and simply enjoy an opening in the city sky. The change (might) also mean one less affordable grocery store for an area that once offered a grocery store every few blocks or so. Not anymore in this fast-food, processed food, eat-out, real-estate-is-commodity culture.

Neighboring Whole Foods take note! Be a good community partner and offer some of the Food City employees a chance to interview for open positions. I’m happy to share the invite with them.

Farewell Food City… You already had a debut in the draft of my upcoming second novel, but this certainly cements it.

-Stephanie