Food Costs Rise: Seniors Hurt

The NY Daily News is reporting today on how rising food prices are really hurting Brooklyn seniors: "For many Brooklyn seniors, 2008 has so far been anything but a golden year. The cost of food, along with just about everything else - except the seniors' fixed incomes - has gone up." As we have been saying, these rises, when coupled with disappearing supermarkets, has created a real crisis in the city.

For the poor, as well as the elderly, the lack of mobility really makes the neighborhood supermarket a necessity-otherwise they're left with the higher-priced local grocery stores and bodegas. Listening to the senior is truly heartbreaking: "Mary Hood, 89, is angry. The former dancer is now in a wheelchair, but that's not what has her upset. "I used to be proud to say I was an American. Now I'm ashamed of what the government has done. We voted them in. Why can't we vote them out?" she asked, adding that she liked none of the candidates currently seeking the presidency."

Clearly, this is going to be a hot political issue, in this election cycle, as well as in next year's mayoral race. And the disappearance of our local markets will be seen as apiece with the high cost of bread and other staples.