BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The term 'food desert' has been thrown out a lot when referring to East Buffalo.
The team here at WKBW has done stories surrounding that same topic for years. It's a tough conversation to have, and there hasn't been a lot of change. You never think something like the Tops shooting would ever happen to your community until it happens. So, conversations are had about a food desert, but it's hard to visualize the area without any options until they're taken away.
May 14, 2022, that only option for East Buffalo residents was taken away when a racist attack killed 10 of our neighbors. A hateful, disgusting act of terror purely based off the appearance of others.
The immediate impacts were large for the East Buffalo community. In the middle of grieving as a whole city, the grocery store that many in East Buffalo refer to as more than a grocery store closed down for two months.
Shantelle Patton lives right down the street from that Tops on Jefferson Avenue, and would send her daughter there all the time. Watching her from her front porch, as she walks into the front doors of the Tops, greeted by what the Patton's know as extended family.
"My preference was always to send her to Tops instead of the corner store. Security is there and the people know her as my daughter," Patton said.
A place that was always walkable for Patton and her family was taken away. Patton now had to turn to the bus for the nearest choices, which weren't close.
Aldi on Broadway.. That was where she would go the most for her grocery shopping, but that was 2.2 miles from home.
During the closure of the Jefferson Ave. store, Tops Communications & Public Relations Director, Kathy Sautter said in a statement that the company did their best to get people from point A to point B for their grocery needs.
"Knowing the importance of this location and serving families on the east side of the city, we took immediate steps to ensure our neighbors were able to meet their grocery and pharmacy needs by providing free bus shuttle service. (The schedule was Monday from 10am – 7pm daily from Jefferson Ave & Riley St. to the nearby Tops on Elmwood Ave.)," Sautter said.
Patton said regardless of how she got to the store, those trips took a long time.
"It's a ride. A few hours. The whole trip took up a half a day and it's really tiring," Patton said.
And sometimes, it caused Patton and her neighbors to make some difficult choices as to what they could bring home from the store.
"On this ride, you're determining what you can carry home. What do we really need," Patton said.
Ultimately, 'food desert' and East Buffalo have been synonymous with one another for decades. As of right now, the community is hopeful that change is on the horizon. Governor Hochul said that $50 Million plan toward East Buffalo will be kicking into affect, but this isn't going away with just that.
This is years and years of hard work and education. Teaching our youth the history of the city, and the beauty of family in the East Buffalo community. The people here truly personify what it means to live in the city of good neighbors. Integrating in it, surrounding yourself in it, shopping in that Tops. These are all things Patton said could change the face of not only the East Buffalo community, but the city as a whole for generations to come.
"Let's be proactive instead of reactive. It's rallying around the people who are affected. Nobody knows how to solve a problem they're not experiencing," Patton said.
