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Gov. Pritzker says mask mandate to end Feb. 28
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FREE Vol. 36 No. 7
February 16, 2022
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Also serving Garfield Park
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West Side d activist to run for board prez, page 2
West Garfield Park Save A Lot temporarily closed The only grocery store left in West Garfield Park gets license revoked Feb. 8 after food inspectors discover rodent infestation By PASCAL SABINO Block Club Chicago
The only grocery store left in West Garfield Park has been temporarily closed by city health inspectors. The Save A Lot at 420 S. Pulaski Road had its license revoked Feb. 8 after food inspectors responding to customer complaints found the grocery store was infested with rodents, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. The grocery store will remain closed until the Save A Lot passes a re-inspection “that meets the health code and prevents the spread of food-borne disease,” a health department spokesperson said in a statement. The temporary closure worsens an already desperate scarcity of places for West Side residents to buy food. Until late 2021, many West Garfield Park residents shopped at the Aldi at 3835 W. Madison St. But when the Aldi abruptly closed in October, the Save A Lot remained as the last supermarket in the area. Residents shouldn’t have to travel outside of their neighborhood to get fresh fruits and vegeSee SAVE A LOT on page 8
PHOTO BY JORDAN BESTER
Venders sell prepared food at the Soul City Community Market.
Black-owned grocery store coming to West Side wins $2.5M Forty Acres Fresh Market will break ground this year on a Chicago Avenue store, meanwhile the business is holding weekly markets By PASCAL SABINO Block Club Chicago
The city is backing the development of a Black-owned supermarket along Austin’s Soul City Corridor with a $2.5 million grant, funded under the Chicago Recovery Plan. Forty Acres Fresh Market has worked
toward opening a brick-and-mortar location for years, running pop-ups, farmers markets and a grocery delivery service in the meantime. The grocery store partnered with Westside Health Authority to secure a storefront at 5713 W. Chicago Ave. in late 2020. It will be rehabbed with assistance from the grant. Owner Elizabeth Abunaw also launched
a weekly indoor pop-up series at the building, the Soul City Community Market. It will run 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays until construction on the store begins later this year. The indoor community market will give residents a place to buy produce, prepared See FORTY ACRES on page 8