Also: A look at the DC mayor’s NFL invite, and more.
City of Chicago Eyes Grocery Store Purchase
The closing of an Aldi on Chicago’s West Side has prompted city officials to consider using eminent domain to buy the store, WBEZ Chicago reports.
Aldus. Jason Ervin of the 28th Precinct says the idea is to fight a food desert. TJ Crawford, executive director of the Garfield Park Rite to Wellness Collaborative, organized a petition to the city, urging officials to buy the building and sell it to a new grocer. Crawford told WBEZ, “We want to make sure that the grocer who enters this space is committed to the community and has a much more integrated cooperative relationship with the community than Aldi’s.”
“By telling us [are] will acquire it, [it] kind of puts a damper on anyone wanting to acquire it for other purposes,” Ervin said, adding that the city’s intervention would be “an investment in the future of the community and an investment in the health of the residents. from the community. ”
The Community Development Commission and the City Plan Commission approved the purchase. A board committee will vote on Feb. 15.
DC Mayor invites an NFL Washington Commanders Arena
Mayor Muriel Bowser called on the Washington Commanders football team to return to DC during a press event last Thursday, DCist reports. The NFL team currently plays at FedEx Field in Maryland, and their lease is set to expire in 2027.
Several elected officials are seeking to entice commanders, with Gov. Glenn Youngkin saying he is open to creating a stadium authority in Virginia; economist Michael Farren told WTOP News that the new authority would place an increased burden on taxpayers.
Bowser’s proposal could see the city split in two for the development of the project. But some board members appear to be reluctant to invest taxpayer dollars in luring COs, citing sexual harassment allegations linked to team owner Dan Snyder. Council member Charles Allen’s opposition is rooted in a distrust of “stadium welfare”. Arena subsidies for team owners rarely provide much benefit to residents. “We can do so much better for housing, jobs, parks and the Anacostia River,” Allen said, in a Tweeter.
New report looks at ‘occupational segregation’
“Occupational segregation” subjected workers of color to the highest level of economic hardship early in the pandemic, according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
Workers who provided in-person services, an industry with an extremely large share of workers of color, were more likely to lose their jobs. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that while white employment fell 7.5% during the pandemic, employment in Asia fell 10.6%; Latin employment decreased by 11.4%.
The employment rate for workers of color increased in 2021. But while Asian workers returned to pre-pandemic employment levels in the summer of 2021, employment rates for Blacks and Latinos remained below average at the end of last year.
The report authors write, “As policymakers seek to address the persistent racial inequalities in our labor market, as well as the disproportionate economic damage suffered by workers of color during the pandemic, it is important to better understand how the two phenomena are related. Occupational segregation is an important element of this relationship.
Next City reported on the people and organizations that are creating the tools for a just pandemic recovery – and will continue to do so. Read our “Elements of a Fair Recovery” series here.
Solcyre (Sol) Burga was an Emma Bowen Foundation Fellow with Next City for the summer of 2021. Burga is completing her degree in political science and journalism at Rutgers University, intending to graduate in May 2022. As a Newark native and immigrant, she hopes to elevate the voices of underrepresented communities in her work.
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