In March of last year, Mayor Bloomberg signed a law establishing 1,000 new permits for Green Carts, which are mobile carts that sell fresh fruits and vegetables in selected New York City neighborhoods. Now the Green Cart vendors are hitting the streets in low-income areas of all five boroughs. According to a recent New York Times article, the program is off to a good start, with customers lining up to buy bananas at 50 cents per pound near Fordham University in the Bronx.
At first glance, it seems like a win-win situation: 1,000 new jobs for vendors, plus affordable and healthy food for residents in neighborhoods where healthy food is often hard to find. However, the new permits weren’t gained without some controversy. The original proposal was actually for 1,500 new permits, but the number was reduced after small business owners objected to the way the program was being implemented. To select the neighborhoods where the Green Carts would be allowed, city officials looked at data on fresh produce consumption, rather than availability. According to the New York Times, “Neighborhoods where more than 15 percent of residents said they had not eaten fruits or vegetables in the last 24 hours made the list, regardless of how many area stores offered fresh produce.” In neighborhoods where store owners make a point of supplying raw fruits and vegetables, the Green Carts could be seen as unfair competition. The produce from the Green Carts tends to be cheaper than in storefronts, since the vendors don’t have the overhead that store owners do.
The really important question is whether this initiative will result in a healthier New York City. Will increased access to cheaper produce increase demand? Will obesity and diabetes rates go down? The data isn’t there yet, but we’ll be keeping an eye out, and hoping this turns into a win-win-win situation.
