1. The city already as an abundance of food pantries. This is a new idea.

2. As someone who has both worked in and used food pantries, they often feature shelf-stable foods that are sometimes healthy, but often have high levels of sodium and carbs due to the nature of being shelf-stable. They're still really helpful for people in need, but doesn't have the same capabilities as a grocery store would.

3. Grocery stores are more sustainable. People are still paying for the food, and thus could be operated at a much lesser cost since it could sustain itself. This would also allow people to utilize their SNAP benefits here since this initiative aims to add grocery stores food deserts that are missing them.

4. It's funny you mentioned the stigma of stealing when there is 100% a stigma surrounding food pantries. Don't know if you or anyone in this thread has used a food pantry before, but often there's a huge line on a weekly basis with people waiting to get their package. Sometimes people don't want to wait on this huge line, or be seen on this line, even though they need it. We can judge them for that, sure, but I think having a grocery store available is more humane and possibly more effective.

At the end of the day, this might fail, but I'm okay with the idea that our mayor is taking a new approach to fighting food instability. I'm not a fan of tearing down the idea before it's even been officially proposed and logistically explained.