TITLE
Recommendation to approve the use of Sixth Council District Fiscal Year 2015 one-time infrastructure funds in the amount of $10,000 to fund community improvement, healthy eating, and community engagement activities in the Sixth Council District for a two-year period.
DISCUSSION
The Sixth Council District is the proud home of approximately so.ooo residents and is host to many outstanding institutions and public facilities including long Beach Poly High School, long Beach City College/Pacific Coast Campus, MacArthur Park, Martin luther King, Jr. Park, McBride Park, Chittick Field, and the Mark Twain library. The District is also rich in culture, due in large part to its ethnic diversity. While there is much to celebrate, there are continuing challenges such as healthy eating choices and access to healthy food.
The midtown neighborhoods frequently lack full-service grocery stores and farmers' markets where residents can buy a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products. Instead, residents - especially those without reliable transportation - may be limited to shopping at small neighborhood convenience and corner stores, where fresh produce and low-fat items are limited, if available at all. One of the most comprehensive reviews of U.S. studies examining neighborhood disparities in food access found that neighborhood residents with better access to supermarkets and limited access to convenience stores tend to have healthier diets and reduced risk for obesity.
Currently, the available resources are not sufficient to move the community beyond the current status quo. For this reason, I would like to use a portion of the District's FY 15 onetime infrastructure funds, working through the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Marine (PRM), to provide a much needed community farmers market that provides healthy choices for the Midtown area, as well as, healthy activities that encourage residents to excerise. PRM will work with the opera...
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