The next board meeting will be on Monday, August 23rd, at the location below. If you’d like to be on the agenda, please contact the store ASAP. We’ll have expansion updates and committee reports (Did you know that there are two active committees right now? By-laws and board candidate training! Stay tuned for the community service committee!). We will plan our yearly Board retreat and the annual meeting. We have a full Board right now, with many enthusiastic folks contributing their knowledge and experience to the governance of your coop.
The meeting starts at 7 pm. Here is the Centro System Map if you’d like to take the bus. It’s a nice walk from downtown, too!
Read about this year’s challenge at the A Better World By Design conference. It is to solve the problems of food deserts in Providence, RI, in a way that is replicable in other places. Our proposed location on East Genesee has the potential to help out folks on the north side of that road, some of whom are elderly and have to cross Erie Boulevard on foot to get to Aldi’s (according to our friend at Meals on Wheels). Not everyone has a car! And in our future of quickly depleting oil reserves, even fewer of us will.
Filed under: Expansion project
As you may recall, the property at 2200 E. Genesee Street is not zoned for our type of business, so the coop is applying for a zoning variance. We’ve had three presentations with the Zoning Board. The ZB will vote on our variance application at its August 19th meeting. We appreciate all the letters our owners sent to the ZB in support of our application! However, the ZB has closed the file and is not accepting any further letters. We’re crossing our fingers and visualizing whirled peas on the new shelves of the Genesee Street location! No matter what happens, we’ve learned a lot… we’re in a better position financially and operationally… It’s all good!
Filed under: Expansion project
Board member Vanessa Marquez passes along this article on bulk water. We’ll have bulk water in our new store, too!
WENA voted to support the coop in its pursuit of a zoning variance for our new location. Thanks, WENA! We also found out that Bread and Roses Collective has started a big ol’ garden in the yard of a house they purchased on Westcott St, the one that is dreamsicle- and pink-colored. Congrats, B&R!
One of the joys of hotel stays is the free copy of USA Today (“NO. 1 IN THE USA”… probably because they give it away free in bajillions of hotels!). I like how Laurie Anderson calls it “the happy paper.” But I digress. One of Friday’s cover stories is Diversity grows as majority dwindles. Everyone should read this, please.
What does this have to do with our coop? Well, take a look around; who do you see? Are the faces you see reflective of our community? Fortunately, our new location will give us the opportunity to serve (and employ) the community as it actually is.
Filed under: Expansion project
Tonite, the Eastside TNT voted to support the coop in its application for a zoning variance for the new location! Thanks, TNT!
Read about them here. Also check out the responses from a brainstorming session we had with our owners who were able to attend the spring meeting! We want ya’ll to be as happy with the new location as you are with the old (or possibly happier; could that be?) so we asked you to tell us your needs and desires for the new location.
There are links to two recent coop expansions in Buffalo, NY and Ames, Iowa, two markets that are very similar to our own in size, population, and the lack of major competitors such as Whole Foods Market or Trader Joe’s.
PS: My carless friend who lives north of East Genesee and my wheelchaired friend who likes to eat healthy are BOTH thrilled about the new joint!
In a recession, it’s a good problem for a store to have: Not enough space and not enough selection, coupled with a loyal customer base that wants more of both.
Read the rest of the Syracuse Post-Standard article here.
Yes, we’re finally going to reveal the new location! Don’t think we haven’t wanted to tell you! The meeting is at Grace Church, 819 Madison Street, Syracuse, at 7 pm. You can use the following bus routes: East Genessee, Westcott, Drumlins. Hope to see you there!
