SeaTac lawmakers ended up March 10 endorsing ‘healthy living” policies such as encouraging neighborhood grocery stores to stock more fresh fruit and produce but the vote was close.

The City Council voted 4-3 to endorse the “Corner Store” policies and regulations. Mayor Tony Anderson, Deputy Mayor Mia Gregerson, Councilman Barry Ladenburg and Councilman Dave Bush voted in favor of the endorsement. Council members Terry Anderson, Rick Forschler and Pam Fernald voted against.

The policies are part of a healthily living grant from Public Health-Seattle, King County. Besides working with local stores, the policies would encourage such activities as mobile farmers markets and community gardens on public land. The policies could be incorporated into SeaTac comprehensive plan at a later date.

Fernald said she didn’t believe the city should become involved in what products are sold in the city. She said she opposes “bribing” stores to stock foods they would not normally carry. That could lead to stores throwing away lots of food they can’t sell, she added.

Fernald suggested churches, nonprofits and schools raise gardens, apartment dwellers grow food in container boxes on their balconies and the community center offer classes in chicken raising and container gardening.

Forschler said the regulations would make it more difficult for groceries and fast food restaurants to succeed.
“We need to cater to what the market will bear,” Forschler declared. “It’s the free market that supplies goods and determines what makes sense.”

Forschler also voiced skepticism about community gardens. He said the economy works best when people do specialized tasks and goods are bought from those capable of producing mass quantities.

He said instead of farming, low-income people should go after jobs doing what they do best at a living wage. Forschler added he didn’t object to gardening as a hobby.

Terry Anderson said it is up to parents to encourage healthy eating for their children, not the city.

Gregerson said SeaTac has received national press coverage as an unhealthy city. She said the discussion could open up zoning and other creative ideas to help residents become healthier.

Bush urged listeners to imagine a single mother taking a bus to the supermarket to buy fresh produce and having to carry the heavy bags back to her third-floor apartment because neighborhood stores do not stock those healthy items.