A brighter grocery picture
Residents of northeast Oklahoma City got good news this week when regional grocery chain Homeland announced it is planning to build a 30,000-squarefoot grocery store at NE 36 and Lincoln Boulevard.
The news comes just a few weeks after the sudden closing of a Smart Saver store at NE 23 and Martin Luther King left the area without a grocer.
Homeland's headquarters aren't far from where the new store will be constructed. “We know the area well,” CEO Marc Jones told The Oklahoman's Steve Lackmeyer. “… And you can't live in Oklahoma City and not be aware of the lack of grocery choices on the east side of town.”
The Smart Saver closing left the nearest full grocery store about 4 miles away.
Jones said Homeland will seek feedback from area residents to help tailor the store to local needs, but it otherwise will be “a full grocery store with a bakery, deli, meat cutters and everything we would put into a normal Homeland.”
And before too long, the northeast side could have two grocery stores. Businessman Charles Shadid announced recently that he had signed a lease with the owners of Buy For Less to open a store at Northeast Town Center, NE 36 and Kelly, where a former Save-A-Lot once operated.
These are promising developments, and much needed. Here's hoping they come to fruition as planned.
Former councilman no fan of MAPS 4
Former Ward 2 City Councilman Ed Shadid returned to council chambers this week to rail against the MAPS 4 proposal that will go to voters in December. If approved, the plan would extend the existing 1-cent MAPS sales tax for eight years and raise an estimated $978 million. Shadid said the ballot language was a “fraud” and that he may sue to block the planned Dec. 10 election. He said providing voters with 16 projects in a “resolution of intent” doesn't square with a single-subject requirement in city ordinances, and argued that the city must allow a vote on each project separately. Shadid's attorney later told reporters MAPS 4 was “a billion-dollar slush fund,” suggesting the revenue raised wouldn't be closely overseen. All the MAPS projects have been heavily scrutinized by citizen advisory boards; the same is planned this time. Shadid was the council's most contrarian member during his eight years in office. Nothing has changed, clearly.
Bernie holds true to form with climate plan
Bernie Sanders is the most extreme of the Democratic candidates running for president, and his climate plan drives home the point. The price tag is an astronomical $16.3 trillion. Among the “highlights” of Sanders' plan: run U.S. electricity and transportation on 100% renewables by 2030 (that's a mere 11 years from now); ban hydraulic fracturing; ban the importing and exporting of fossil fuels, and phase out nuclear energy. Energy prices won't jump, Sanders promises, because the federal government “is going to weatherize homes, electrify heating, and keep electricity prices stable.” Most in the Democratic field have placed addressing climate change high on their to-do list as president, but Sanders' zealotry makes the rest look like amateurs.
Word games continue on the West Coast
We wrote not long ago about the linguistic gymnastics performed by the city council in Berkley, California, which voted to eliminate all genderspecific pronouns in the city code and do away with terms like “manhole” and “manpower.” Not far away in San Francisco, city officials recently approved a similar exercise in silliness. The Board of Supervisors adopted “person first” language guidelines that are intended to change how the public views people who have broken the law. This means that instead of using terms such as offender, convict or convicted felon, those individuals will be called a “justice-involved person.” A criminal will be referred to as “a formerly incarcerated person” or “a returning resident.” We're supportive of justice reform efforts, but actions such as this one are a bridge too far.