The woman on the right came from Washington, D.C., to the produce section of the Whalley Avenue Shaw’s to declare New Haven an “Urban Market Pathfinder.”
Her name is Alyssa Lee. She works for the Brookings Institution.
In that capacity, she gives out “Urban Pathfinder” awards to seven cities that — as a city press release put it — “for their investments in communities and ability to successfully fuel economic development in an urban setting.”
In other words, put, say, a supermarket in a low-income neighborhood that didn’t have one.
A place like Shaw’s.
The city worked with groups like LISC (the Local Initiatives Support Corporation) and what would become the Greater Dwight Development Corporation to lure Shaw’s to a new shopping plaza off Whalley. And the store has stuck around. That makes a big difference for people who used to have to drive to the suburbs to shop.
Since then, a second, smaller supermarket has opened nearby, a C‑Town on Dixwell Avenue.
“Urban makes sense,” Lee declared at a press conference at Shaw’s Monday afternoon. “Not only does urban make sense. Urban makes money.”
She gave a plaque to Mayor DeStefano, who made sure to recognize the neighborhood groups that played a crucial part in the Shaw’s project. Neighborhood activists Curlena MacDonald, Linda Townsend and Sheila Masterson were on hand, too. So was Shaw’s store manager Mike Sidelarz.