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Riverdale residents are losing their patience with Save A Lot operator Yellow Banana and what they say is the city’s slow push to improve food access in the neighborhood.

The latest show of discontent was at a community meeting last month, where residents and local leaders said it was time to move on from Save A Lot and look for other options to fill the grocery store void.

Yellow Banana announced in February 2022 that it would open a Riverdale location near E. 130th Street and S. Eberhart Avenue, and it was awarded $5 million from a community development grant toward the project. The company has promised a handful of new and improved Save A Lot stores in Chicago and was awarded over $18 million in funds from the city.

“We know what the problem is. So why is it being pushed?” said Adella Bass-Lawson, health equity organizer at People for Community Recovery. “We’re having meetings after meetings discussing what everybody knows — Riverdale and Altgeld Gardens doesn’t have anything. Point blank, period.”

Grant awardees like Yellow Banana are expected to sign redevelopment agreements within six months of a conditional award letter, said Peter Strazzabosco, deputy commissioner of the Chicago Department of Planning and Development.

“Two six-month extensions are allowed,” Strazzabosco said. “If an RDA is not executed within this period, the city may rescind a project’s award.”

Yellow Banana’s conditional letter was given in April 2023 so the Ohio-based company has until April to enter into an agreement.

Until then, Strazzabosco says, the project is in “pre-development as (Yellow Banana) addresses the requirements to execute an RDA.” The company does not receive any funds from the development grants until the project is completed.

Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), whose ward includes the new Save A Lot, did not respond to a request for comment.

A WBEZ-Chicago Sun-Times analysis last year found low food access in Chicago jumped by 63% in the last decade, with Riverdale showing no major grocer within its border. The nearest stores are either The Warehouse Food Market in West Pullman or Walmart Supercenter in Pullman.

Feeling left behind

Ena Jones, owner of Roots & Vine Produce and Cafe, was hoping to open her first location in Riverdale but said her plan “fell through the cracks.”

She applied for several city grants but was denied each time. Jones said her recent application for a community development grant was denied last month.

“It’s really disheartening that I just got a letter after I waited seven months, and they denied me a grant,” she said. “They didn’t even tell me why. No explanation … I know my plan is rock solid.”

She expressed frustration that Save A Lot has still not opened in Riverdale, despite its owner being awarded a $5 million grant.

“What’s really bothersome to me is … we’re not getting support,” Jones said. “I am more than ready with food and everything.”

Jones has a network of about 35 farmers throughout the country that provide produce. She is now focused on opening a location in Englewood.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

She said last month’s meeting didn’t offer explanations regarding Yellow Banana’s potential store. 

“Everybody made their point about how they feel about the situation,” she said. “But nobody said, ‘Well, this is what we’re going to do.’” 

Community members did discuss a potential pop-up grocery store, which would need funding. Pop-up grocery stores have filled the void in other South Side neighborhoods such as one in West Garfield Park.

Bass-Lawson said ultimately residents “want what was promised to us.”

“People lacking healthy accessible food should be everyone’s problem, including the new administration,” she said. “We are hoping that we can shift the focus to a different plan, and also create a temporary plan which includes a possible pop-up grocery store. I don’t understand how this isn’t an emergency.”