The "new" Washington Post editorial page blows a chance to be innovative | Nudging versus "nannyism" and senior health care

I was gonna end my online subscription to the Washington Post, but some of the articles from years ago I cited in the recently submitted grant application for a playground at Sugar House Park in Salt Lake ("Forget rest stops. Plan your road trip around playgrounds," "Kids getting burned on swings and slides? Here’s how to fix it"), made me realize that despite the destruction of the Metro and Sports sections, the devastation of the Editorial Page and how the range of op ed writings went from lean progressive to "personal freedom and markets," I still get value from a subscription, both for new articles and old (and often better) articles too.

But not from the editorial page.  And the national and international coverage is still holding up, despite many gaps resulting from staff firings.

Nudging is the behavioral economic theory that people who should change their behavior but won't because it requires a change in their routine or to act, will make the right choice given a nudge.

Nudge theory is a behavioral science concept proposing that subtle changes to the environment—known as "choice architecture"—can guide people to make better decisions without restricting their freedom of choice or altering financial incentives

Nannyism is a term popularized by the English Tories who believe that encouraging people to make positive behavioral changes with "nudges" is an overinvolvement by government in people's lives, that they should be allowed the freedom to f* up and impose the costs from doing so onto the State.

According to Wikipedia:

The term was coined by MP Iain Macleod in (1965) to describe a government that over-regulates personal lifestyle choices. 

In the Nanny State Index, the UK consistently ranks among the most heavy-handed countries in Europe for dictating health and consumer regulations.

The concept manifests across several specific areas of public policy:

• Tobacco & Vaping: The UK has pushed heavily toward a "smoke-free generation," alongside severe restrictions and proposed taxes on disposable vapes.
• Diet & Food: Following the implementation of a national sugar tax, England has enforced strict rules including calorie labels on restaurant menus and bans on junk food advertising near checkouts and on TV.
• Alcohol: Measures like minimum unit pricing aim to curb consumption by hiking the cost of cheaper alcohol.

Instead, the Tories would rather pay the high costs resulting from chronic health conditions resulting from poor behaviors and choices.  After all, higher than necessary costs from health care and a static tax base means government has to shrink to pay for people's bad choices, and that's in the Tory interest because they believe government ("we the people") is unnecessary.  

I call it anarcholibertarianism.

A great example of "nudge theory" decades before the theory was coined was how the now famed criminology professor, Ronald V. Clarke, was the creation of a theory called "preventing crime in situations":

Their theory of situational crime prevention used locks, access control and vigilance. Yet the most impressive demonstration of the theory examined the relationship between the lethality of household gas usage and suicide rates in England and Wales. Their research led to decades of innovations in the design of crime prevention measures, largely following their clear theoretical framework.

Prime example: Less lethal oven gas reduced suicides Between 1963 and 1975, there was an unexpected decline in the number of suicides in England and Wales. Clarke and Mayhew then reviewed the evidence to look for any change in the opportunity structure to prevent suicide. In 1988 they published a report showing that the decline was clearly due, at least in part, to a reduction of lethality in the chemical composition of household gas. It simply became more difficult to commit suicide by just turning on the gas and lying down – then waking up alive with a headache. They concluded that the practical feasibility of carrying out a particular act has a major impact on whether or not the act will be committed – and at what rate of occurrence.

Situational crime prevention theory is but a form of "choice architecture."

The Post is all in on being against "nannyism" even with clear economic/cost-benefits.  The editorial, "Seniors are adults: They don’t need the federal government to buy them bath mats.," criticizes Senator Angus King who wants to send everyone on Medicare (that includes me) a bathmat to help reduce the likelihood of falls, because bathroom falls by the aged cost the health care system a lot of money.

Older adults with assistive devices walking on a trail in the Sawtooth National Forest, Ketchum, Idaho.

Medicare doesn't pay for prevention measures like bath mats, grab bars, and shower chairs.  

According to a pre-Trump Administration report which is scrubbed from the HUD website, Overcoming Obstacles to Policies for Preventing Falls by the Elderly Final Report,  by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the annual cost of health care from elderly falls is at least $80 billion per year.

To put that number in perspective, if Jeff Bezos who is one of the globe's wealthiest and owns the Washington Post, was responsible for covering that cost year after year, his fortune would be wiped out in 3 years and 2 months.

Although note that Senior Housing Services programs, which used to be funded by HUD, will make these kinds of fixes, as part of broader renovation assistance aimed at keeping seniors in their homes despite infirmities--keeping people at home as long as feasible costs a lot less than nursing homes, another major health care cost, but for Medicaid.

Housing renovation data by age and economic and physical circumstances.  Years ago I saw a presentation from the Joint Center for Housing Studies.  

Right: house in the Trinidad neighborhood of DC showing severely deteriorated roof conditions.

It contrasted overall housing remodeling statistics with statistics for lower income households.

Most households do one major remodeling project annually, targeting one key element of the house, either repair, maintenance, or the creation of a new feature.  Annually, the average household spends $2,400 on improvements and $700 on repairs.

Their research finds that a disabled household spends 10% less than the average, senior households 20% less, minority households 30% less, households with houses under $100,000 in value 50% less, and households with under $20,000 annual income spend 50% less.

Households with all of these characteristics spend an average of $500 year on repairs and improvements, less than one-sixth of the national average, and a majority of these households spend no money at all.

Nursing homes/social care.  The US is running into a fiscal cliff as society ages and Medicare doesn't provide nursing home care ("New Study Explores the Need for Expanded Long-Term Care Services to Support Aging-in-Place," JHU).  

And what about social security?  Plus the fiscal cliff of Social Security benefits having to be cut because Republicans won't take proactive steps, they'd rather "defund" part of the government by letting it fail naturally ("Waiting To Rescue Social Security Has Weakened Our Options," CRFB)

In England, local government is responsible for providing what they call "social care" for the disabled and aged, and it's driving cities into bankruptcy ("Social care is bankrupting councils. Why aren't we angry?," New Statesman).  Families are sending their relatives needing care to Thailand because it is cheaper ("Families sending relatives with dementia to Thailand for care," Guardian).  Anti-nannyism has real and escalating costs.

Waiting for a ride.

These costs demonsrate the value of changing the policy on assistive devices.

In my comment on the Post editorial, I said that Medicare could make bath mats a "joining premium" like how PBS and NPR give you premiums (gifts) in return for donations.

It's an intellectual and policy failure of great proportions for the Post to not acknowledge the reality of the severe economic cost of falls.

The other thing, while the term "ableist" is in decline these days by Trump mandates against inclusion, you really get insight into the need for universal design--in the old days, the Post published articles about it, such as:

-- "Adapting Your Home To Maximize Mobility," 2006
-- "A Safe Home, Step by Step," 2010
-- "Making the case for cottage homes," 2019
-- "A major renovation yields a multigenerational home on Capitol Hill," 2021

to better deal with the changes in psychomotor prowess that come from illness, disability, and or age.  Instead, the Post's worldview is shaped by its writers being able, not infirm.

At one time too, the Post had an award winning Health section focusing on wellness and behavior change.

Last year they did one of their "Washington Post Live" events on the "Future of health policy in the United States."  Times sure have changed.

My circumstances changed in a flash.

I went from biking to work for 30 years to being a hospital "frequent flyer," but for good reason.

I had colon cancer, presented heart failure in post-op after surgery, and the biopsy found I also had an aggressive rare Lymphoma, so I started chemotherapy within a month of the colon surgery.  Without treatment for the Lymphoma the oncologist said I'd be dead within a year.

Chemotherapy f*s you up.  

I was so weak, but I didn't vomit.  Though once it did take me 3-4 hours to have a bowel movement.  Suzanne said the prednisone made me mean.  It did help my appetite.

I did use chairs in the shower some because my FIL had dementia before he died, and we kept the equipment.  I even used a transporter because for a time I couldn't handle the "long walk" from the entrance of the hospital to my heart doctors or to the radiology/lab testing section. For more than two years, I was pretty damn weak, especially because even more medical things happened:

• I was hospitalized for covid, 
• probably could have died thank god for remdesivir, but it did worsen my heart
• got a heart pacemaker
• then an additional lead
• then a stent, even though less than a year before my angiogram found limited plaques, and 
• serious reduction in appetite as a complication from chemotherapy and the medicine, 
• which led me to a few months of enteral nutrition feeding + regular eating--enteral really sucks, the tubes can clog easily, and emergency rooms aren't set up to deal with feeding tube clogs.

Plus, one of the medicines I took made me cough constantly--it turned out it was from a medicine I didn't really need, fortunately, and once I got off it, and other medication changes my appetite improved.  Although I still only weigh 20ish more pounds than my low of 110.  From a high of about 175.

Today's shower.  

And that was after I went through chemotherapy swimmingly.  I had three treatments, then covid, so treatment stopped.  In preparation for resumption 14 weeks later, testing found I no longer had the Lymphoma (thank you to mRNA maybe).

But it took me until about the past two months when everything finally came together "at once" and I am super better.  (I'm still susceptible to illnesses like norovirus which can wipe me out.)

Yet only two years ago I thought I was a candidate for a heart transplant.  My ejection fraction could be better, but I haven't been tested since my recovery kicked in.

Our shower has a "natural grab bar" the soap dish, and is a pretty tight squeeze so I could lean against the walls.  But I was damn tired, had balance problems etc.  I think I might have had assistance once or twice...

Now I don't.  It helps that last summer I joined the JCC Wagner in Salt Lake first for the pool, and weight lifting really started only this year (not much so far 30-60 pounds depending on the machine or free weights), cycling (I've just started being able to bike a bit "in the wild," after not having done so since September 2023), spa, and pool walking.  The JCC has indoor and outdoor pools, that + the spa have been incredible for me.

Another premium that should be part of Medicare: fitness memberships/a MAHA agenda for aging.  I'm not part of Medicare Advantage, so I pay from my limited social security income the monthly cost of JCC membership.  The local rec center is cheaper especially with a senior discount, but there is no pool.  The County rec centers with pools happen to be much less convenient for me to get to, triple the time.

But Medicare should consider paying for fitness memberships for all enrollees, regardless of the type of plan, because lifting weights and other fitness activities have so many positive benefits (Physical Activity Benefits for Adults 65 or Older, CDC, "Resisting decline: the neuroprotective role of resistance exercise in supporting cerebrovascular function and brain health in aging," Frontiers in Physiology, "How can strength training build healthier bodies as we age?," National Institutes on Aging).

Or a deduction program funding the purchase of bicycles like in England or Ireland ("The Benefits of Biking for Seniors, Including the Mental and Physical Payoffs," Bicycling), but instead of deducting from your payroll check, from your Social Security check.

They could do this in conjunction with County and City Recreation Centers, Senior Centers, and yes, for profits.  Better that fitness centers make money off of Medicare than prescription mills and other fraudulent activity.

If we were really about MAHA, "Make America Healthy Again," ("Dr Oz at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services: a chance to improve food service in hospitals") those are the kind of preventative care measures we should be instituting.  

A FitLot exercise station at the Columbus Center in the City of South Salt Lake.

While RFK has done stupid PR stunts with unhealthy people like Kid Rock ("RFK Jr.'s erotic workout video with Kid Rock sure is weird," USA Today), imagine if the FitLot exercise equipment station piloted by AARP on its 50th anniversary--they funded one, but just one, in every state--were rolled out to playgrounds and parks across the country.  

(I am working to install one at Sugar House Park.)  Especially because it turns out they aren't just used by the elderly, but by people wanting to maintain and improve their fitness.

My energy level has rebounded significantly.  The past week, although I developed a cold as a result, I worked 10 hour days for about 9 days on the grant application, doing some 8-15 discrete tasks each day.  Before the last  two months, I maybe could have done 3-4, took naps many days of the week, etc.  Now I am waking up before 7am which is what I used to do naturally, before I was sick.  I'm not taking naps.

(Oh, and I am drinking alcohol some again, and coffee.)

What about the people who are in a permanent state of debilitation?  But most people who are debilitated remain debilitated, no Lazarus Effect for them.  They need compassion and assistance.  The Post really fell down by not considering this issue more broadly than the opportunity that they saw to shoot an arrow at "government waste" and overinvolvement of government in our lives rather than "personal freedom" to be really sick and unhealthy.

Fuck you Washington Post editorial page, until your writers have similar kinds of experiences and develop some empathy.

Just based on my response, the Post clearly missed an opportunity to move better policy choices forward.

========

These are articles I wrote suggesting DC could develop a wellness oriented program in association with building a new hospital in Southeast DC, where suffering from chronic conditions is high.  Of course, DC took the least innovative path.

-- "Health equity devolves to cities and states as the federal government cuts taxes for the wealthy," (2025)

-- "Ordinary versus Extraordinary Planning around the rebuilding of the United Medical Center in Southeast Washington DC | Part One: Rearticulating the system of health and wellness care East of the River" (2018)
-- "Revisiting East of the River medical care: United Medical Center" (2018)
-- "Update on DC's plans to build a new United Medical Center" (2018)
-- "A glaring illustration of the need for comprehensive health and wellness planning in DC: Providence Hospital" (2018)

-- "Community Health Improvement Planning" (2019)

-- "Hospitals as urban anchors/revitalization levers, not usually, but with great potential to serve communities in important ways: Examples are two forthcoming projects by Intermountain Health and University of Utah Health" (2023)

-- "Big omission in blog series on advance hospital/health and wellness planning, public health planning: addiction services" (2024)

-- "Costly failures in the mental health system" (2025)

A treeless expanse of 1700 South on Salt Lake City's west side | We need "Safe Routes to Parks" and "Nice Routes to Parks" initiatives

For her first term, Mayor Mendenhall ran on a platform including planting lots of trees, especially on the West Side of the city where the population is a preponderance of people of color, and there is the belief that the area was systematically disinvested (I happen to think it's more complicated than that, but that's another conversation-blog entry).  

The city aims to address this disparity by making the area preferred for new public investments in infrastructure.

The unexpected agenda imposed by real time and ever changing conditions like a massive windstorm, earthquake, and covid pushed that aside.  

But a street like this shows the need is still present.

The street is now the main route to a new regional park in West Side's Glendale neighborhood.

We don't plan for this because all government agencies tend to plan only for elements that it controls directly and the roads outside of a park are a transportation department's responsibility.  But as I said when I worked for a County, if we don't tell other agencies what we want, think, or have learned wrt intergovernmental matters, they won't ever know what we want.

Being out and about a couple weeks ago I realized a particular street is a main route in and out of Sugar House Park, especially for bicycles, but without a "Safe Routes to Parks" and a "Nice Routes to Parks" program we don't think about it enough.  And Departments of Transportation rarely think about it--although in Salt Lake the City has built nice enhanced bike lanes next to two parks.   But.... they don't think much about further enhancing decent enough crosswalks.

900 South next to Liberty Park.

900 East next to Fairmont Park.

Crosswalk on 900 West connecting to Three Creeks Confluence Parks.

Enhanced crosswalk for bicyclists and pedestrians on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail.

WRT Sugar House Park I do have plans to try to recapture elements of the eastbound side of 2100 South with a similar lane to Liberty Park, but with big additions of median plantings, plant-themed bus shelters, and a public art treatment of the main intersection into the Park.  

Top:  Median and main intersection into Sugar House Park

Middle:  Median plantings near Red Butte Gardens, Salt Lake

Bottom: Crosswalk in San Isidro, Lima (Perú) 2018 by Carlos Cruz-Diez, Venezuelan artist

It would be complemented by a new entry into the Park with dynamic signage.

1700 South to and from the new Glendale Regional Park deserves a similar treatment.

ESPECIALLY, because it abuts the Jordan River Parkway, which is the trail alongside the River (Blueprint Jordan River Action Plan).  

It's a multicounty trail that goes from Provo in Utah County, through Salt Lake County, and ending in Davis County for a total of 48 miles.  But it connects to the Legacy Trail which then connects to the Denver and Rio Grade Trail ("Denver and Rio Grande Rail Trail in Davis County, Utah: a great foundation, full of (missed) opportunity"), adding an additional 35 miles.  How cool is it that you can move over 80 miles from Provo to Ogden mostly on protected trails!.

Right now there is no integration between the two parks, but that seems to be slated for a later phase. I still have to read the Glendale Regional Park Master Plan ("Pool? Pickleball? Skating? Basketball? Here’s what SLC’s big new park will have," Salt Lake Tribune).  

There is the Exchange Club Marina for launching canoes and kayaks but it seems decrepit and unused.  It could be replaced and enhanced with equipment for rent, even paddle boats.

And there could be a nature center of some sort like the one by Tracy Aviary at 3900 South and the River in the City of South Salt Lake (Vision).

I guess there are plans to revive the decrepit marina, offer kayak rentals and such.  At that point, the River is wide enough.

On Saturday I took this photo there, on the Jordan River section.  

There was also a feral but cute black cat on the west bank, but I wasn't fast enough to photograph it before it snuck away through the plantings.

Market on the Green nonprofit supermarket from ProMedica Health System, Toledo

Market on the Green is located in the ProMedica Ebeid Institute building, which is in a low income neighborhood, separate from but near some of the system's hospitals.

I was re-reading a past blog entry on hospital planning in the Salt Lake City area ("Hospitals as urban anchors/revitalization levers, not usually, but with great potential to serve communities in important ways: Examples are two forthcoming projects by Intermountain Health and University of Utah Health") and among the best practices it mentioned for activating the first and second floors beyond traditional medical series, I listed the "Market on the Green" supermarket in Toledo.  

I must have found out about it from this Wall Street Journal article, "Take Two Aspirin—and a Serving of Kale." 

Given that supermarkets run by cities--proposals in Chicago, New York City, and DC--are all the rage it's important to look at what works and what doesn't.  This piece discusses the failure of urban markets ("Grocery stores in cities: the failure of the "15 minute grocery store"").  Also the opportunity of food cooperatives as an alternative model ("Revisiting Takoma Junction and the Takoma Co-op development issue | A chance to start over").

Yard sign announcing a household's support for the Wasatch Community Food Co-op.

Food coops do need initial capital and that can be hard to raise.  

The Wasatch Community Food Co-op finally opens this month--they've spent 15+ years organizing, raising capital, and finding and building out a space.

And there is the public market model ("Eastern Market DC's 150th anniversary last weekend | And my unrealized master plan for the market").  

In distressed areas I think that model is adaptable and adoptable as a way forward because you divide the various functions into departments, called "market stands," and from an entrepreneurial standpoint they can be run by individuals rather than "the city," and with fewer capital requirements compared to running a grocery store as a single operator.

City-run supermarkets.  I am skeptical about city-run markets because the profit margins are so low--I tried to get a creative donation from the supermarket business cooperative in the Intermountain States, along with some of their local affiliates, and they lamented their extremely low margins of 1.5% or less, and that was before the effect of tariffs and now the War with Iran which impacts both transportation costs and consumer spending even more.

And because cities aren't known for innovative management in governmental matters.  Running a retail business is a stretch beyond that, although it can be addressed by hiring people with industry experience.  But letting people with a retail background act like retailers is still a tough decision for a city government.

Public markets are a truly rare form of public-nonprofit management.  Most public markets are owned  by the city but operate with independent management.  For those that don't, half are probably successful and dynamic, like Reading Terminal Market and Lancaster Central Market, and the others, and I would include Eastern Market DC where I served on the board for 13 years, static--even though Eastern Market seems to always be rated highly in consumer voting contests ("Shop, savor, and stroll these 10 must-visit public markets," USA Today).

Managerially, one of my favorite examples is the Milwaukee Public Market.  

It was built by the city and run by a nonprofit, but the nonprofit was overwhelmed and management shifted to the Milwaukee Downtown Business Improvement District, and it gets high ratings ("Milwaukee Public Market gets back to business," "From one market to another: Milwaukee Public Market’s advice for Brookfield," Milwaukee Business Journal).

Reading the second article, archive.ph version for those without access, you can tell they really get it.

"I think taking this as a model and plopping it anywhere, it's not always going to work in every setting, every environment, every city," Schwartz said. "These are not always easy operations."

We've had the benefit of time, reputation and experience. We've also developed this into not just a place where people can get food, but we can host regular events and cooking classes. We embrace an outdoor element for experiences, whether it's the Palapa at St. Paul Fish Co. or a beer truck outside. So, I think you have to be multi-dimensional.

At Eastern Market in DC there is zilch innovative design associated with the individual stands.  

Not so for St. Paul Fish Company at Milwaukee Public Market.  

Brand promise is communicated and strengthened by a strategic choice of seafood creature sculptures.

Turnover and new tenants is not always a bad thing. It's sometimes a mutual, "Hey, I'm gonna do this for a few years, experience it, and then I'm gonna concentrate on another brick-and-mortar." There's a level of rotation that adds freshness and newness. It can be beneficial. Probably 34% of our tenants are originals. We always try to find a mix of not only the right food products, but also ownership, representation and businesses that will help add something from the neighborhood, not just the market.

If you are a true destination for residents and people from out of town, I think you need to embody as many types of experiences as possible and cast a wide net, whether it's for families who are coming in from out of town or somebody who lives in a condo that's popping over here to have a glass of wine, grab a steak and make it at home.

One of the problems with ratings is the tension between selling prepared food, more typical of what are called food halls, and fresh food to prepare at home, and maybe with some prepared food vendors.  A lot of the other markets do fresh food better, and most that specialize in it, like Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia or Grand Central Market in Los Angeles, do way better.  And Pike Place Market in Seattle didn't even make the top 10!

Why has Market on the Green been successful, when similar ventures fail?  

Compared to many nonprofit grocery initiatives, it's still standing after years, when many have failed long before that kind of tenure.  

It's not a grim space.  It has positive design qualities.  While it's one tenth the size of a for profit supermarket, it offers the same array of goods, even beer and wine.

It was funded by a donation from the lead philanthropist supporting the ProMedica System.  It's located in the Uptown neighborhood which is defined by USDA as a "food desert" and where they started their community development program ("Seaway standing strong," Toledo Blade). 

Originally the market didn't have a more traditional (and hopefully outdoor sign.  Now they do.

The building is owned by the health system, and the second floor has a teaching kitchen, other community services, and workforce training (two more floors for other stuff).  

They support local vendors and stock and market their products ("Farmers First Coffee release party at Market on the Green" and "Beer Sampling at Market on the Green," Toledo City Paper)--the beer sampling up in the teaching kitchen with better access controls.  

And they're innovative, unlike a lot of public markets, they offer online ordering and delivery ("Market on the Green offers online shopping and delivery," Toledo City Paper).  

I tried to have that done at Eastern Market and you wouldn't believe the pushback--"Eastern Market is all about the face-to-face experience" they said.  For some it is, for others it isn't.  Maximizing your ability to reach multiple market segments in the face of ever increasing competition is key.

The store has been open for 11 years, which is a great run so far.--and it's still going.

But it may have taxed managerial resources, because in 2023 outsourced management to a local grocery store operator ("ProMedica grocery store in UpTown Toledo gets new local management," Toledo Blade).  

As a whole the hospital system has run some  deficits and this saves them not just money, but "managerial burden," involved in running the store ("ProMedica scraps new Monroe hospital as losses mount," Toledo Blade).  Since they've cut back on plans for new buildings, sold off their nursing home division, and ended event and venue sponsorships.

Success factors for Market on the Green.  I think the key elements are (1) philanthropic donation to provide capital, (2) and to buy the building, (3) which means they can be patient, (4) because they have "patient capital" to support the business, (5) without interest fees (6) and probably no rent, (7) so, as long as it doesn't lose money on operations, (8) because of the high degree of management and board commitment separately (9) and as a key element of their place-based community development initiative, Ebeid Neighborhood Promise.

Initiatives at other hospitals include food stands within the hospital's first floor, food pantries offering free food to people in need ("Micro-markets inside health centers could be just what the doctor ordered," Grocery Dive), community gardens, and farmers markets held on campus.  St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ypsilanti, Michigan goes even further, allotting 25 acres on its campus to a local produce farmer, using some of the food in their food service program, donating to food banks, etc.

Social determinants of health.  The justification is what are called "social determinants of health," how lifestyle and other factors like place contribute to people's health/problems and providing food access reduces income hindrances that can make it hard to buy healthier and fresh foods.

According to Next City ("Why Health-Care Systems Are Funding (Or Building) Grocery Stores") such stores funded by, supported by, or run by hospital systems support both personal and community health, so it may help them when preparing their Community Health Assessment Plans required as one element of Obama Care.  From the article:

There’s been a lot of talk and research about the importance of access to healthy food as a social determinant of health. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease — all are linked to diet. So putting a full-service grocery store in the heart of low-income, under-resourced neighborhoods, where health disparities are high and persistent, seems like a sensible thing.

City incentive programs.  Rather than open and operate stores, many cities like DC and even states, like Pennsylvania (although it's not much money, especially when you consider how big the state is) have tax incentives and other programs to subsidize the cost of putting stores in less economically well off areas. This Reddit entry is great, listing the five incentive programs in DC.

There are also programs to expand the array of healthy foods available in corner stores and bodegas, who might not normally carry such products because of spoilage and other concerns, and familiarity as they mostly sold non-fresh foods.  

In NYC Shop Healthy NYC, formerly the Healthy Bodegas Initiative, is a city program.  In Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey programs are coordinated by the nonprofit Food Trust.  In a study of bodegas in New York City:

Most consumers shopped at the bodega because it was close to their home (52%). The majority (68%) reported shopping at the bodega at least once per day. The five most commonly purchased items were sugary beverages, (29.27%), sugary snacks (22.34%), coffee, (13.99%), sandwiches, (13.09%) and non-baked potato chips (12.2%). Nearly 60% of bodega customers reported their purchase to be healthy.

It would have been even cooler, but more expensive if the outdoor sign rendered the more detailed logo, in neon.

Conclusion.  While I think these initiatives are great, as the Milwaukee Public Market director said:

"I think taking this as a model and plopping it anywhere, it's not always going to work in every setting, every environment, every city," Schwartz said. "These are not always easy operations."

pertains here too.  The reason(s) for success of Market on the Green rather than failure is because the factors that are key to their success are usually opposite the conditions faced of other ventures, for example:

• patient capital versus impatient capital
• no interest on financing versus interest on financing
• no rent versus paying rent
• knowledge and skill in operations versus good intentions
• organizational commitment versus bottom line focus

are all key factors.  Government can be a source of patient capital, but they definitely lack operational expertise.  And government grant programs come with lots of strings and reporting requirements, and usually have more demand than funds.

ProMedica has tapped Summit Foods and owner Ed Beczynski to manage its Market on the Green grocery store in UpTown.  Mr. Beczynski is a local restaurateur whose family has run Summit Foods for 25 years.  Toledo Blade photo.

Because people have to eat, whether or not a store is immediately close by, even in food store deprived areas, people have developed ways to provide access and a means to travel to existing supermarkets (Lack of access doesn't deter shoppers from visiting large grocery stores," FoodDive,  "The Influence of Foodstore Access on Grocery Shopping and Food Spending," Economic Research Service, USDA).

Retail trade areas.  Plus people's complaints of lack of immediately accessible food stores runs into the retail trade area issue--an RTA radius for a supermarket in a city is up to 5 miles, even more for specialty stores.

Granted it presumes use of a car.  But an RTA of say 3 mile radius is still an area of 28 square miles.  That's almost half the size of Washington, DC.

A three mile radius or retail trade area, drawn with 6500 Piney Branch Road NW as the central point.

During our unsuccessful fight against Walmart entering DC ("Walmart closing one of its three DC stores," with links to 11 other blog entries, and my op-ed in the Washington Business Journal, "Temper Walmart Glee With Planning") the then planning director talked about the areas they wanted to locate being food deserts.  

They weren't except in SE DC, and they ended up not even opening that store even though they "promised."  

At that time, within the radius of the store for Georgia Avenue, there were at least four Giants, three Safeways, multiple ethnic markets (I used to cycle to them at University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue to the great Latino market), a Save-a-Lot (since closed), at least two Shoppers Food Warehouse stores, two Aldis, a Price Rite (the cheap brand for Shoprite), and one Whole Foods.  Plus others on the west side of Georgia Avenue, and on the east further into Prince George's County.

There are even more options now, including an Aldi at Fort Totten, Lidl in Columbia Heights, a Whole Foods at Walter Reed, Wegman's on Wisconsin Avenue NW.

15 Minute City.  The reason the "15 Minute [Walking] City" concept bugs me isn't the aspiration--that most everything you want is within 3/4 mile walking distance which for able bodied people is about 15 minutes--it's because the provision of retail and services don't work, at least if you want them to be cost competitive at such distances.

Note that a "15 Minute Bicycling City" makes way more sense.  That's a 2.5 mile area radius riding at 12mph and an area of 19 square miles.  Pushing it out just a bit further, our Manor Park house is accessible to so many places, not just in DC, but across the border in Maryland like Silver Spring, University Boulevard, and the University of Maryland College Park, and 5 or so miles to Downtown DC, Union Station, etc.

About food stores on the nonprofit side, there are at least five motivations, a lack of stores (without regard to retail trade area), campaign promises, ideology, good intentions, and market reality.

Balancing amongst them, and creating a store that remains successful in the long term is tricky.

Triplex, 472 East Granite Avenue, City of South Salt Lake, with a painting propped up against the house

When I took the photo I didn't notice the painting propped against the facade.

I've been collecting photos of small multunit "single family" properties that are embedded within Salt Lake City, but also neighboring communities and other cities in the Salt Lake Valley.

Often a duplex will be on a corner, with entrances on each side of the street.  Or on an arterial.  Or a few next to each other.

There may be triplexes or even larger properties.

First I started trying to photograph these buildings because to me, compared to "everywhere else" this kind of property sensitively located within a neighborhood extends the range of housing types available to people representing a wider range of needs and incomes.  Not every house in a neighborhood should be a big single family detached house, especially as more households nationally are as small as one person.

Arlington County Board Chair Katie Cristol hears from citizens holding signs demanding more affordable housing at a county board meeting in Arlington, Virginia, on Nov. 12, 2022. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

Second, I think it's a better way to visually express how a change in the zoning of traditionally single family residences to up to fourplexes can be done without wrecking community character.  

My photo album, Duplexes, Triplexes, Quads etc., demonstrates this.  Plenty of the buildings date to the 1930s and before, while others are more contemporary--to me less attractive but still illustrative.

Duplex, English Tudor style, 1601-1605 700 East, Salt Lake City.

I love the great variety of brick used in the Prairie style era of homebuilding in Salt Lake.  Unlike DC, which is dominated by red brick, red brick is rare here but there are so many other colors.  This isn't Prairie style but it's around the same time.

I plan on putting together a few pages of a brick color pattern book, partly as a way to guide architectural style decision making in the Sugar House area.

This is important because of the trend nationally to do this kind of rezoning in places like Minneapolis, Arlington County, Virginia, etc. ("Single-family Zoning: Can History be Reversed?," Joint Center for Housing Studies).

And the opposition to it, not just in Arlington County.  Although Brookings says that's because of bad messaging, "‘End single-family zoning’ is bad political messaging."

The funny thing is Salt Lake City is "considering" changing single family zoning, and many people are against, while there are all kinds of positive examples within the city already.  It's just that it's so subtle people may not realize it.

What gets measured gets done: Annual Report on the Conditions of Children | County initiatives on poverty, from Orange County to Salt Lake County

In college I thought I was gonna end up in the business world.  One of the books big back then was In Search of Excellence (published in 1982), about high performing organizations.  

It turns out I was more interested in organizations per se and how they operate than whether or not they were for or non profit.  And in high and continued performance.

One of the key points in the book is "What gets measured gets done," making the point that "making the numbers" is the focus when you're asking for measurable results.

Separately, I opine that everyone says kids are important, but too often money nor solid programs fails to follow the concern.  That being said childhood poverty has dropped significantly over the past 30 years due to a broader safety net ("Expanded Safety Net Drives Sharp Drop in Child Poverty," "How Poverty Programs Aided Children From One Generation to the Next," New York Times).

I expect that there is serious backsliding starting this year given cuts to Medicaid, food security programs, and schools more generally.

So the fact that Orange County California publishes a report, Annual Report on the Conditions of Children, to focus in on interdicting poverty at the county level is pretty interesting ("Win some, lose some: It’s not always easy being a kid in the O.C.," Orange County Register).  

Childhood is measured by poverty, health outcomes, academic achievement in annual snapshot

... There are several positive signs. More than 90% of all pregnancies include prenatal care; vaccination rates are high; kids have more access to emotional support; lower income students are doing better in math and language; foster kids are getting more timely permanent placements, and local kids are less likely than their peers around the state to get arrested, with fewer local cases leading to serious legal outcomes.

The negative signs, though, are blinking red. Child poverty is rising, as seen by increases in food assistance and free lunch programs. A higher percentage of local kids face “insecure housing” (read: homelessness). There are more preterm births and low birth weight babies. Teen pregnancies and dropout rates are both rising. There are, among children and teens, more “accidental deaths” — which include drug overdoses. More kids born drug-exposed and more are reporting that they suffer from depression. And child abuse, locally, remains a serious concern, with the county posting a higher rate of abuse than the state average.

Measurement is the first step.  Action planning, implementation, review and continuous improvement is the second, and its hard.  Especially in the face of too often limited funds.

In my writings on equity planning and social urbanism, I've never gotten into the weeds, recommending metrics and specific programs and initiatives for addressing it.  

-- "An outline for integrated equity planning: concepts and programs," 2017
-- "Equity planning: an update," 2020
-- "Social urbanism and equity planning as a way to address crime, violence, and persistent poverty: (not in) DC," 2021 
-- "Black community, economic and social capital: the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago/Chicago," 2021

That's a necessary step for making public officials accountable for improvements in their communities.

Counties and areas of extreme poverty.  A number of cities like Richmond, Chicago (Invest SouthWest) and Dallas (Grow South) have developed anti-poverty revitalization initiatives.  I think some have gone by the wayside as administrations turned over.  

In Toronto, rather than provide financial support to all kinds of organization, the United Way focuses its efforts on a set number of impoverished neighborhoods.

I am not so familiar with county initiatives specific to poverty, although I mention all the time the Hennepin County Works program, which focused on reinvesting in Minneapolis to stop population leakage and rebuild ("A COUNTY AND ITS CITIES: THE IMPACT OF HENNEPIN COMMUNITY WORKS," Journal of Urban Affairs), because the County feared it was at risk from property tax declines.  It wasn't so much an anti-poverty measure as much as it was about being pro-center city.

Many school systems have related initiatives ("Schools #2: Successful school programs in low income communities and the failure of DC to respond similarly," 2019).  

Dayton, Ohio has is a major initiative focusing on "neighborhood schools" and adding human services functions, ("50-plus ways you can help 6 Dayton schools, thousands of students," Dayton Daily News, "Dayton's neighborhood school centers," New Directions in Youth Development).  

Roy Utah has boosted high school graduation by better linking elementary and middle school outcomes to high school, with mentors and other services ("How Roy High boosted graduation rates from 70% to 92%," KSL-TV).

Pontiac/Oakland County, Michigan.  But I think the Hennepin County model is extendable, an apt model for more places, especially as a way to address poverty.  I wrote about this in terms of Pontiac,  ("Pontiac Michigan: a lagging African American city in one of the nation's wealthiest counties") where I admitted I was embarrassed for not thinking this long before when I was a resident of wealthy Oakland County in middle and high school and a couple summers once I started college.  For a time I even went to Pontiac Schools in 6th and 7th Grades.

East County/Montgomery County, Maryland.  For Montgomery County Maryland too ("East County, Montgomery County, Maryland: Council redistricting spurs ideas for revitalization").  I just wrote about Long Branch ("Long Branch, Montgomery County: Main Street manager job | Purple Line").

Separately, Montgomery County Public Schools puts more money towards Title I schools serving impoverished areas ("When Unequal is Fair Treatment," Education Week) although outcomes continue to lag ("Educational Inequality in Montgomery County Public Schools," Montgomery County Sentinel).

Equity planning/social urbanism.  Another way to think about such programs is through the concepts of equity planning and social urbanism.  The programs above have influenced my thinking about this definitely.

-- "An outline for integrated equity planning: concepts and programs," 2017
-- "Equity planning: an update," 2020
-- "Social urbanism and equity planning as a way to address crime, violence, and persistent poverty: (not in) DC," 2021 
-- "Black community, economic and social capital: the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago/Chicago," 2021

Salt Lake City.  There are tons of reports about economic disparities between the East and West sides of Salt Lake.  The west side is more Hispanic, more people of color, more poverty (series: "Roads to Understanding: Salt Lake City’s west side," KSL-TV. "s," Salt Lake Tribune).  

The west side is where the city's industrial district lies, including the state's five oil refineries, so air quality is a particular concern ("West-siders, at last, may have the proof they need to fix air pollution," Salt Lake Tribune).

Meanwhile the east side pretty much thrives as it's closer to and abuts the Wasatch Front mountain range so people haven't been inclined to move "west" as is more typical in most metropolitan regions, as they grow, they grow west.  

Even so there is population shrinkage or at least shrinkage of households and fewer children so schools on the east side of the county marked by closing schools in the adjacent Granite School District ("Granite Schools is looking to close 3 more elementary schools," KUER/NPR).

Salt Lake has closed west side schools because of low enrollments, while Salt Lake's stay open because the east side still has a preponderance of large Mormon families ("School closure and consolidation planning needs to focus on integration planning at the outset as a separate process," "Equity/"Equity" versus efficiency and the school closure debate").

The school system does have a number of Title I initiatives and a couple of schools more like the Dayton model, with community health clinics and community centers as part of the school grounds.

The physical divide between East and West is created by railroad tracks and a massive train yard as well as I-15, which follows the route of the railroads ("Will Salt Lake Heal its Historic East-West Divide, or Exacerbate it?," Building Salt Lake, "Utah and SLC wanted to punch a hole through I-15. West-siders fought back," Salt Lake Tribune).

So the city has plenty of initiatives promoting growth on the west side, prioritizing funding projects there over the East Side.  

To me, the biggest problem of development on the west side is lack of town centers, but I've grappled with how to write about it and haven't yet ("A new 9th and 9th? Salt Lake City’s Marmalade neighborhood becoming a ‘destination.’," "Why there are no bars in Rose Park or Fairpark — and why that could finally change," SLT).

It makes it hard to develop commercial districts and small businesses ("A coffee truck, known on Salt Lake City’s west side and at farmers markets, opens a brick-and-mortar cafe," "Mestizo Coffeehouse, part of a ‘beautiful community’ on SLC’s west side, is closing," Salt Lake Tribune).  (There is a redeveloping district along North Temple, but in terms of the east-west divide, it's more of an extension of the Central Business District.)  

There is also a citizen-initiated proposal, the Rio Grande Plan, which would revive the Rio Grande Station for long distance and commuter railroad sand light rail service, which may also involve undergrounding railroad tracks outside of the rail yard, making it easier to get between the east and west sides ("Study highlights Salt Lake City's east-west struggles. What will be done about it?," KSL-TV).  (I was the first person at the public launch of the proposal to say publicly that the RGP should be implemented in association with the coming of the 2034 Winter Olympics.)

The University of Utah runs an interesting community program there called University Neighborhood Partners ("University of Utah University Neighborhood Partners program and community revitalization in West side Salt Lake City/County," "How University Neighborhood Partners helps west side leaders," Salt Lake Tribune) and is investing in a small version of its hospital in West Valley City ("Hospitals as urban anchors/revitalization levers, not usually, but with great potential to serve communities in important ways: Examples are two forthcoming projects by Intermountain Health and University of Utah Health") which abuts Salt Lake, and is even more Hispanic demographically. 

A new restaurant opens in the 9th and 9th district.

By contrast, East Side has thriving residential-commercial districts like 9th and 9th ("In Salt Lake City, a dynamic neighborhood with small businesses and room to stroll in," Washington Post, 2013), Sugar House, and 15th and 15th ("Thinking about the opportunities for success with neighborhood commercial districts: comparing Manor Park in DC to 15th and 15th in Salt Lake").

Salt Lake County.  Salt Lake County has its issues.  The County is mostly economically successful, but the west side and certain other pockets of the county lag the wealthier areas.  

While the County is majority Democrat, the way County Council districts are organized, the County Council currently is majority Republican.  Some of the members are seriously conservative and focused on "reducing the size of government" even though as a growing place, demands for infrastructure and other programs are greater, not reduced.

The County faces budget issues because of that growth.  It voted to raise the property tax, not much all in all, but there is opposition ("There’s a new referendum push underway. This one targets Salt Lake County taxes," Salt Lake Tribune).  

The County is cutting back investment in many areas--I know this because I am on the Board of Sugar House Park which is half owned by the County, and we just got a big push back on our capital planning efforts because of this--pushing back some projects as much as 6 years.

Salt Lake Deseret News photo.

The Republican majority voted to close some day care centers ("Families brace for challenges as Salt Lake County child care centers are set to close," KSL-TV) and a senior center to reduce costs.  

Even when offered money by a prominent foundation to keep the day care centers open, leading Councilmembers said no ("A famous Utah family’s foundation offered to pay for S.L. County day cares, public records reveal," Salt Lake Tribune).

To be fair, I don't think the County's wanting to close day care centers is necessarily "bad."  It does have to measure spending and outcomes, and how many people programs serve.  And they argued spending $2 million on 247 people (children) wasn't the best use of funds.

But instead of just voting to summarily cut the program, it could have looked at alternatives that were cheaper, such as supporting "seats" at other for profit and nonprofit centers.

I'm hardly an expert on all the programs in the county and nonprofit and philanthropic initiatives that focus on ameliorating poverty.  

I do know that Granite School District has a number of Title I initiatives (Educational Achievement and Workforce Development: A Review of Community Based Approaches, Gardner Institute, University of Utah).  

(Chris Detrick | Tribune file photo) Promise South Salt Lake Site Coordinator Susie Estrada shows children pictures of the staff members at the Hser Ner Moo Community Center in South Salt Lake City Tuesday, July 18, 2017. 

South Salt Lake ("How “Promise South Salt Lake” is creating safe spaces for youth and families," ABC4, "South Salt Lake Promise program helps youths thrive in community centers," KSL-TV) and Millcreek have created "Promise" initiatives which function comparably to the University Neighborhood Partners, bringing a variety of resources together to help people who can use the boost.  The Promise Partnership Utah organization supports such groups across the state. 

(Ironically, in the area, they call South Salt Lake "sketchy," urban and impoverished.  People here have little experience with true urban poverty! "Areas to Avoid: Salt Lake City’s Danger Zones," RLG, "South Salt Lake is turning 85. What is it known for?," SLT)

Conclusion: Why not a Salt Lake County Community Works Program, focused on poverty reduction? But mostly my response is that like Oakland and Montgomery Counties, very wealthy counties, Salt Lake County has a lot of wealth too, and rather than offer programs in a piecemeal basis or none at all, could a "Hennepin Community Works" program be developed to address the county's economic lagging areas in a more systematic way.

Could the Promise Programs and the University Neighborhood Partners initiative become the foundation of a more focused, overarching and branded County program serving impoverished areas in more systematic ways than the county is doing presently?