Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor is calling for more government involvement as “Southside” communities face additional challenges to access fresh foods after the closure of grocery stores and as potential cuts to SNAP threaten to worsen it, according to community leaders.
Southside leaders say the area mainly houses dollar stores and a Piggly Wiggly. Tallahassee Urban League President Curtis Taylor says a potential $186 billion cut to SNAP benefits could make matters worse for residents. Watch the video to see what options could be on the table ahead of Leon County Commission’s meeting on Sept. 15.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
We had about 14 grocery stores here. All those have been basically replaced with Dollar General storeswe don’t have grocery stores where people can buy healthy food, Tallahassee Urban League President Curtis Taylor said.
Its an everyday reality for neighbors on the Southside after the closing of the Woodville grocery store and flea market.
To be left with merely Piggly Wiggly in the interior-urban core of the Southside is really all that we’re leaning on right now, Leon County District 1 Commissioner Bill Proctor said.
Thats why Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor is calling for more government involvement.
Compared to the Northside, the Southside is a food desert, Proctor said.
By USDA standards, a food desert is a high-poverty community where a third of residents live more than one mile from a grocery store.
Leon County reported poverty rates of more than 40% in some 32304 zip codes in 2022.
Theyre not making enough to pay all their bills, and so they’re living from paycheck to paycheck, Taylor said.
Tallahassee Urban League President Curtis Taylor says potential cuts to SNAP could make matters worse.
President Donald Trumps Big Beautiful Bill could cut $186 billion from the program.
According to the USDA, about 2.9 million households in Florida relied on food stamps in 2024.
This is going to have a tremendous problem as it relates to our people with food stamps, he said.
The City of Tallahassee has approved $1.3 million to build a grocery store in Griffin Heights, and Tallahassee Urban League opened a temporary flea market.
But Proctor says its time for the county to step in, too.
We’re reaching out, conversations have been occurring, including Florida A&M, including private chains and other voices for a farmer’s market, for a grocery store approach, he said.
Commissioner Proctor tells ABC 27s Brieanna Smith that Leon County Commissioners plan to discuss more of these issues at their next meeting on Sept. 15.
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