WASHINGTON – Amid concerns about access to fresh, healthy food on Buffalo's East Side in the wake of the Tops Markets shooting, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Tuesday asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture for help.
In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Schumer – who lobbied for the opening of the Jefferson Avenue Tops in 2003 – noted that the store has been closed since the May 14 racist attack that claimed 10 lives there. That being the case, Schumer, a New York Democrat, urged Vilsack to help make sure that neighborhood residents can access good food.
"All communities deserve to have access to affordable, fresh, healthy food, and through increased investment in programs like the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, USDA is well-positioned to help local leaders in Buffalo with efforts to expand healthy food access in the short and long-term and make use of federal investment tools to help address the unacceptable concentration of low-access food areas in far too many communities of color," Schumer said.
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