CLINTON HILL — A recent town hall meeting about the possible closing of a popular grocery store sparked debate about race and gentrification in Clinton Hill — with one politician reportedly saying "white people don't eat the way we do."
An emergency town hall meeting was called Monday night after plans were filed to demolish the Lafayette Avenue Key Food and build an eight-story condo, with 114 residential units, in its place.
Many blamed the closing of the market on the changing demographics of the neighborhood, according to The Brooklyn Paper.
Even local politicians talked in racialized terms about the closing.
State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery told the owner of 325 Lafayette Ave., Richard Grobman, that she hoped the new grocery store, if it is built, would be accessible to communities of color.
“Supermarkets are an important part of the community. It’s an important amenity, especially for black and brown communities,” The Brooklyn Paper reported she said. “When you’re talking about a white community, it can be a little boutique, because white people don’t eat the way we do.”
She later apologized for the comment.
“It was an unfortunate statement and I didn’t mean to offend anyone,” she told WCBS.
Montgomery could not immediately be reached for comment.
The meeting, hosted by Assemblyman Walter Mosley along with Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Montgomery and Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo, was held in the nearby Ryerson Towers Community Room.
The Ryerson Towers house many seniors who frequent the grocery store and the meeting drew a crowd of about 100 people, according to The Brooklyn Paper.
Slate Property Group, the developers, told DNAinfo New York that they might reserve space for Key Food in the new structure.
But the move made some residents and politicians anxious because it leaves few options for food shopping during construction.
"For many older residents in the neighborhood, this supermarket is the only place that is close enough for them to safely walk and buy groceries," Public Advocate Letitia James, who lives in the neighborhood, said in a statement. "It's an unfortunate abuse of power that this landlord is taking that away."
She called the store's possible closure an "example of a larger problem of displacement in our neighborhoods that affects residents in our city."
Local Joe Gonzalez told DNAinfo that if Key Food closes there would only be one large-scale supermarket — C-Town Supermarket at Taaffe Place and DeKalb Avenue — left in the area.
There are also smaller Key Foods at Fulton Street and St. James Place and Lafayette and Waverly avenues.
"I don't think here would be enough price competition nor supply for everyone in the neighborhood if we have to rely on one store," Gonzalez said.
