As the former co-CEO and leader of the Whole Foods Market team in Englewood, I would like to offer a different perspective than the one shared by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s planning chief, Maurice Cox, in the Jan. 16 story “Lightfoot’s planning chief vows to ‘finish the job’ started with Englewood Whole Foods . . .”
Cox said our store was, “one piece of a puzzle that has not been completed” by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and that the community itself lacks a more comprehensive strategy to move forward. I believe that the community has worked for years to develop such a strategy, and that our store was, in part, an answer to residents’ collective desire for more healthy food options.
Our store was born out of a deep collaboration with the community, including conversations with the not-for-profit Teamwork Englewood and its Englewood Rising quality of life campaign. It isn’t a single shiny object, but is part of a community shopping center that includes national and local tenants.
This center has helped to create small business opportunities for entrepreneurs of color, and a safe and positive corner at 63rd and Halsted streets. This, in turn, has led to active commercial and residential development being pursued from 59th to 67th streets and from Halsted Street to Racine Avenue.
Credit is due to Emanuel for tracking us down and welcoming us to this part of the South Side. He understood the power of public-private partnerships and of working directly with the community. He was our partner each step of the way.
The Englewood Whole Foods continues to partner with the community by supporting local suppliers, hosting programs and events, providing small grants to residents, and this past November opened a community learning kitchen, housed in the Englewood Primo center, to offer healthy eating classes. Phase 2 development of the shopping center is being actively studied, and a new brewery will open this spring across the street, financed in part by the owner’s winnings in the first annual pitch contest held in conjunction with Teamwork Englewood.
It’s part of the larger vision for Englewood that’s taking shape. The inaugural class of the new Englewood STEM high school is in place and a relocated city fleet facility representing 250-plus jobs is up and running. There’s also a newly renovated track at Ogden Park.
So this is a story of momentum, bringing an existing plan to life and the continuing effort of the community to move itself forward — according to the vision of the community members themselves.
One specific example identified in Englewood Rising is the need for more home ownership, and more housing in general. The success and growth of the shopping center put the spotlight again on this need. A working group has already identified a number of city lots that could be used for housing and started the work of putting together a community owned development corporation.
I understand that any administration must find a way to distinguish itself from the previous one, but picking apart all the good work already done in Englewood disrespects the community and its residents. The better way to honor community in word, and more importantly in deed, is to get to work so that down-the-line promises show up as real change.
Cox is out of touch. Let’s instead shine a light of what has already been accomplished, and focus on concrete steps to make the community’s vision a reality.
Walter Robb served as co-CEO of Whole Foods Market between 2010 and 2017. He is now principal of Stonewall Robb Advisors and also works part-time as an executive-in-resident at S2G Ventures in the West Loop.
