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Articles, interviews & projects
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“This may not be the story of Greenville’s ‘revitalization’ that we read in promotional materials, but it is one that is backed up by facts and data. And the one we need to talk about.”
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“But with the term ‘retail inequality,’ Kolb drives home an oft-ignored consideration: Low-income neighborhoods deserve the same food options as wealthy neighborhoods, regardless of whether that leads to healthier diets. ‘It’s not about grocery stores, it’s about racism, poverty, and the legacy of divestment,’ he says.”
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“It turns out that ‘distance to store’ does not determine diets as much as we thought it did, and I propose that we need to rethink how we define success when it comes to improving food access. Increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables is one metric, but it’s not the only metric, and it still can be an aspirational goal. But just because new stores don’t often change the way people eat doesn’t mean those efforts were a failure. They were an investment in those neighborhoods that does a lot of good (even if diets stay the same).”
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“My only contribution to this debate is to try to frame the issue in larger terms. It’s bigger than just food. Think back to the lunch counter sit-ins of the Civil Rights Movement. That wasn’t a battle over food access. It was about justice and equality.
“So whether we want to highlight the preponderance of unhealthy options in some areas (food swamps) or highlight the inaccessibility of high-end expensive options (food mirages), I argue that we should also acknowledge that these problems apply to all types of retail goods and services.”
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Feature story about Retail Inequality in the Post & Courier (Charleston, SC).
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“The infrastructural mistakes of the past made it too easy for the biggest stores to crush neighborhood businesses. The roadmap of the future needs to restore the balance. We should rebuild more livable and walkable communities, what Tulane Geographer Richard Campanella refers to as ‘good urbanism.’ Doing so will increase property values and reverse the decades-long drop in population caused by the legacy of past highway policies.
“The infrastructure of the future should make it easier to make groceries closer to home.”
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“Thus the book became ‘less about food deserts and more about systemic inequalities and the lingering effects of past racist urban public policies,’ says Kolb.”
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Ken Kolb explains how grocery stores are impacted by supply chain backlogs and worker absences.
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Mention of Ken Kolb’s “Talking Points Memo” piece on food insecurity and nutritional assistance programs. Segment starts at 15:00.
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“Remember, the wealthy have poor diets, too. Fast food consumption rises alongside household income in this country. Yet, those with more wealth have better health outcomes. Why? Because they can offset their less-than-stellar diets with adequate housing, education, recreation and health care.
“If policymakers cannot find it in our hearts to give the poor the resources to meet all their basic needs, then they should at least give them enough money to buy enough food to feed their families. Whatever food they want.”
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Ken Kolb quoted in Greenville Journal article published November 11, 2021.
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“People need to know about the structural, institutional, and interpersonal barriers to inclusion and equity in West Greenville during [1960-2000]. If city officials continue to sidestep these critical conversations about race and racism, they will inevitably perpetuate and exacerbate them.”
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"‘The fight over food deserts was about much more than food,’ Kolb said. ‘It was a battle over retail, over what can be bought and sold, just like the civil rights movement was not really about the actual lunch counters and the diners.
“‘We just got a little bit blinded by the healthy-food aspect and grocery stores to realize that this is a much deeper, more entrenched problem that was actually caused by clear city, state and federal policies decades ago.’"
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Podcast interview by Ken Kolb with Mike and Jackie Brown, long-time residents of Southernside in Greenville, SC.
Read Ken Kolb on Substack
