Ralph Nader and the Urban Grocery

It always amazes me how quickly people can turn when their need for instant gratification isn't met.

A Zogby pole conducted in late August found that over the preceding six weeks, support for Barack Obama fell a whopping 18 percent among liberal voters aged 18 to 29 years. This is when it was being suggested that Obama may not find it possible to abandon the Afghan war right away and may entertain a compromise in order to pass healthcare reform legislation. Lower support will translate to fewer of these voters turning out for crucial mid-term elections, or to their votes shifting to fringe left candidates who don't have a real chance of getting elected.

One consequence of this last phenomenon was evident in the presidential election of 2000, when Ralph Nader's candidacy drew votes away from Al Gore and effectively put George W. Bush in the White House. How many well-meaning but short-sighted liberals ended up saying "oops" after that?

There's more than a little of this short-sightedness surrounding some Phoenix residents' reception of the Urban Grocery and Wine Bar.

If you're one of the privileged few, you will have read here about the wonderful fact that Phoenix now has a store right in the middle of downtown where we can get farm-fresh produce five days a week during regular hours. The store also serves food and wine that patrons can enjoy on-site or back at home. It's not perfect. For one thing, it's small and therefore its assortment is limited. It's run by a not-for-profit entity, and at the moment can't afford to stay open seven days.

Just the same, isn't this a step up? Won't downtown dwellers who have been clamoring for this for decades bend over backward to show their support? Isn't it better than nothing? Doesn't the fact that it DOES have farm-fresh produce, fresh bread, pasta, and candy mean that it gets at least 3 out of 5 stars for merely existing?

Not according to some people on social networking sites such as Yelp.com. "Glen D." of Phoenix writes that he's "been waiting for a grocery store downtown for almost 5 years." You might think he'd be really happy to have his five-year dream come true, but you'd be wrong. "...I do my grocery shopping on Sunday...but they are closed. Try and go back Monday...they are closed. At this point, I really need those items and I'm just going to buy them from a normal store." Great job showing your support, Glen D.!

His tag line says, "I act real shallow when I'm in too deep." Boy oh boy, Glen D. of Phoenix must be in really REALLY deep. I can't emphasize enough how "in deep" I think Glen D. of Phoenix is. So deep, in fact, that instead of reading the store hours on the door, he just keeps coming back day after day. D'oh! That's deep, Homer - I mean Glen D of Phoenix.

I won't go too far into the fact that his wife writes a second two-star review on top of his. Don't know what that's about, unless her father is Mr. Safeway or something. Please get a different hobby, guys. Remember that episode of Extreme Makeover you Tivo'd last week? It's calling you.

So...The reason for the tiresome paragraph on politics at the beginning was to underscore how sometimes we humans unwittingly do ourselves in by not seeing the big picture. I don't want supporters of a downtown farm-to-table grocery to end up saying "oops" because they fail to support the Urban Grocery and Wine Bar and thereby lose the only chance Phoenix has had in decades of making a permanent farmers' market a reality.

This is a sprout, if you will, that needs to be sheltered and nourished if it's ever going to flourish. It has City backing and an entity with full non-profit 501c-3 status running it. This is our best shot, Phoenix. It will grow or die based upon its viability as a business, for sure; but for us to doom it because it isn't perfect would be...that's right...voting for Nader.

Eat THIS!

Nothing poetic this time, but I have great news for anyone living or working around downtown Phoenix. If you like to cook with farm-fresh, locally grown produce, you no longer have to wait for a weekly market. In case you haven't heard, the Urban Grocery and Wine Bar is open for business at Central Avenue and Pierce St. It bridges the gap between the convenience of Safeway and the direct-from-the-Earth purity of Phoenix Public Market.

The grocery occupies a building adjacent to the parking lot where the normal Wednesday and Saturday markets continue to be held. Sharing the space is Royal at the Market coffee bar, which roasts their own coffee and offers a variety of homemade baked items.

Local farmers, four of whom I profiled in my piece for JAVA Magazine, keep the grocery supplied with fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. The current inventory also includes locally made pasta, bread, chocolates, sauces and artisan cheese. Don't feel like cooking? Order a sandwich or soup from the lunch counter and choose a glass of Arizona wine to get that glow going. A handful of tables just inside the sunny front window make this a great place to pass the time with a friend (Or the remainder of the bottle of wine. Or both.)

The Urban Grocery and Wine Bar is all part of a master plan developed by Community Food Connections to bring a thriving and much larger permanent market to the heart of the city. According to Cindy Gentry, Director of CFC, this stage of the plan has so far gone well. "I think it's exceeded our expectations. We did a lot of careful planning because there's not a lot of room for mistakes...but we're right on target."

By next week, the Urban Grocery shelves should be completely full, after the arrival of staple items that Gentry feels are absolutely vital to the success of the shop.

"People need to be able to do a lot of their shopping here and not just their produce. Rice, flour, baby food...we're not very big, but we need to have some of the everyday items." That gives people less reason to make a trip to one of the huge, traditional stores, where convenience will likely tempt them into buying their produce as well.

"The next step is to grow the capacity of these vendors and increase the size of the store...A typical public market is about 25 to 40 thousand square feet. We have about 17 hundred here now." Whether that means purchasing adjacent lots or moving elsewhere in downtown, only time will tell. First Community Food Connections needs to prove that the community at large will support Urban Grocery by giving it some of their regular shopping time and money.

Urban Grocery and Wine Bar is located at 14 E. Pierce St., and is an easy walk from the lightrail and bus hub at Central/1^st Ave and Van Buren St. Hours are 11am to 8pm, Tuesday through Saturday. Royal at the Market coffee bar is open 7am to 8pm, and can be entered through a door around the side when the grocery is closed.