BY SAM SPOKONY | Lower East Side community leaders are optimistic about the progress of a survey aimed at helping the Two Bridges neighborhood strengthen its local food economy, following the Dec. 22 closing of a Pathmark supermarket that had for nearly three decades been a lifeline for the neighborhood’s elderly and low-income residents.
In an interview last Friday, Victor Papa, president of the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council, expressed his confidence about the project — which also aims to produce a local grocery-shopping guide — and said that results of the community food survey will play an important role in his upcoming meeting with A&P C.E.O. Sam Martin, which will take place in Two Bridges on Jan. 7.
A&P, which owns Pathmark, sold the supermarket’s 227 Cherry St. lot earlier this year to an unnamed buyer that is widely believed to be Extell Development Company, which is led by Gary Barnett, one of the city’s top luxury residential developers.
Barnett continues to decline comment.
Since the sale was announced in September, Papa has represented thousands of Two Bridges residents in their call for a Pathmark supermarket and pharmacy to remain on Cherry St., regardless of how the lot is developed. Many of those residents have said that Pathmark was their only local, affordable option for purchasing fresh groceries.
But now that the supermarket is officially closed — the pharmacy was shuttered in late October — the Two Bridges leader has had to adjust the requests toward more practical and realistic ends.
Papa explained that, at this point, he has two primary ideas to introduce at the Jan. 7 meeting, both of which focus on maintaining at least some Pathmark presence in an area that includes several large public housing developments and senior homes.
His first recommendation will be for Martin and A&P to place a scaled-down, temporary supermarket in the small, adjacent Cherry St. lot that had been occupied by the pharmacy. Papa had already mentioned that idea several weeks ago, but on Friday he seemed more set on the possibility.
Papa’s other idea would call for a central Pathmark drop-off location in Two Bridges, to which the chain’s other local supermarkets — such as those in Harlem or Gowanus — could deliver food to be purchased by residents. This grew out of an earlier idea for bussing Two Bridges residents to those other supermarkets.
“The delivery idea might be a little farfetched,” Papa said, “but we just want to make sure [Pathmark] stays connected, no matter how that connection is manifested.”
He also said he believes that the results of the Two Bridges Community Food Assessment, a residential survey that ran from late November to Dec. 14, will supply Martin with some “interest” in retaining a Lower East Side presence.
James Johnson-Piett, principal and C.E.O. of Urbane Development, the food and local economy consultant group hired to assist on the survey and other post-Pathmark projects, said that while actual results are still being compiled, he’s pleased with what’s taken place so far.
The survey received responses from 326 residents, Johnson-Piett noted, far exceeding the 250 he had originally sought. He added that the responses were a “good mix,” meaning that they came via both paper and electronic surveys, as well as from a variety of demographics.
The assessment will likely show that the vast majority of Two Bridges residents — many of whom are elderly or low-income — relied on Pathmark as their primary food source. But it was also designed to highlight smaller local grocery stores, or larger stores located slightly farther away, that may become more frequent options in the absence of Pathmark.
Now that the community survey is complete, Urbane staff members, in association with Two Bridges Neighborhood Council, have already begun the initiative’s second phase — surveying those other local stores.
Johnson-Piett said that at least 15 area stores had already been surveyed over the course of a few days. He plans to include data from around 150 additional stores during the first half of January, while also conducting more in-depth interviews with some store owners by month’s end.
“So far, I’ve really been surprised and impressed by the business owners’ willingness to get involved in what we’re doing,” Johnson-Piett said. About 70 to 80 percent of the Two Bridges stores have cooperated in the survey, he explained, compared to an average of around 10 percent in similar past projects he’s completed in other cities.
The Urbane C.E.O. also said that the forthcoming Two Bridges neighborhood grocery shopping guide — which will use survey and interview data to provide residents with the best options for various types of affordable food — should be available in print by March.
Several weeks ago, Johnson-Piett had estimated that guide would be completed by February, but he said last week that a bigger-than-expected databank and other variables would extend the process.
Papa said that even if the guide is not completely ready until March, his council will likely release smaller portions of information as they become available.
“I’d like to think that this could also be a way to help promote small businesses,” he added, echoing a sentiment Johnson-Piett has mentioned frequently.
Papa, a lifelong area resident who has been on the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council staff since 1996 and has served on its board since the early ’80s, acknowledged that he’s putting plenty of trust in Johnson-Piett’s judgment.
“If we were to create some kind of campaign for local small businesses as a result of this, it would be a new concept for me,” Papa said. “But perhaps this is where urban neighborhoods are going.”
