Alhambrans vote for Trader Joe's to replace Super A
When the news that broke that Super A Foods closed on Feb. 3 in Alhambra, residents had a lot to say. A reader poll of which supermarket should replace Super A resulted in Trader Joe's — the natural specialty store — winning almost 50 percent of the 276 votes, followed closely by votes to keep Super A in Alhambra. More than 100 people commented on Facebook and Twitter, expressing surprise, frustration, and nostalgia after losing one of the city's staple supermarkets. Some argued that Super A was the only place in Alhambra to buy affordable Latino food and ingredients. And many began suggesting new stores to fill in the empty spot.
“The future of the city’s success rests on sustainable development that will accommodate both new and existing residents”
You are right in theory but not in practice. Power has shifted and what you’re finding is that America is a CAPITALIST country. It just so happens that people who aren’t really American (aka Mainland Chinese) have all the capital now. It’s an unexpected turning of the tide that falls very much in line with our purported paragon of a system.
Glad to see the Ghetto Grocer gone. Maybe we can find a more upscale place where people aren’t beating their kids or drunks loiter outside — and I don’t have to drive to SoPas for groceries.
Alhambra is fast becoming as congested as it’s city website. Perhaps some people’s vision of Alhambra is of an overcrowded and congested city like Shanghai.
From my observation the new construction in this city is almost always cheap and poorly planned. Mixed-used buildings so badly designed that they have little green space
and parking structures that do not accommodate tenants, visitors and residents.
The ratios of green space to population and area are among the lowest of any city in the San Gabriel valley. A lack of green space distinguishes a rich neighborhood from a poor one.
Greenery is an important part of any urban environment. Besides being visually appealing, landscaping performs important ecological functions such as food and habitats for some
creatures and cooling effects for the urban ecosystem.
I’m not a fan of the Alhambra Gateway or Alhambra Regency Plaza condo projects. These projects have not produced a more walkable community. The proposed construction
of Casita de Zen is yet another example of a hideous box planned to uglify Main Street. I am not looking forward to the congestion that will be caused by more towering
cheek-by-jowl condominiums supplanting whole blocks.
Maybe some have the aesthetic sense that piling homes, one on top of another, is somehow attractive because someone has figured out how to market this as some sort of
faux loft living, a supposed luxurious lifestyle alternative to more permanent and traditional single family dwellings. When in fact, walking into the inner courtyard of one of these
condo complexes (Gateway Walk on E Commonwealth) is more reminiscent of a prison courtyard, all concrete with no green space. Further, good architectural design does
not consist of throwing brightly colored paint on building facades nor sparsely dispersing a few ceramic planters throughout the city.
I think the city is at the tipping point of overdevelopment, that is development without improvements to streets, traffic, the school system, public access to healthy food choices
and emergency services. A livable walkable neighborhood should accommodate multi-modal transportation (i.e. pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers). But what I mostly see
happening on Alhambra streets is increased traffic congestion. This is not characteristic of being a destination city but a transitory artery.
The future of the city’s success rests on sustainable development that will accommodate both new and existing residents, not supplant one over the other because of
purported market conditions and a change in demographics.
Al H –
Very well said. Unfortunately, our City “Planners” have historically turned a deaf ear to Alhambra’s citizens for decades. As I’ve always said, “Developers Rule” our city. I mean, look at the backgrounds of current and former council members-—nearly all are/were in real estate and development or whose political campaigns were financed or dependent on.
Mr. Al H,
I LIVE at the Gateway Walk. I don’t feel like living in a prison. All those things you say are merely your opinions and you don’t speak for the rest of us!
It’s nice there’s an online poll. However, it is not a scientific sampling of Alhambra’s overall population. If the entire population of the city of Alhambra were polled, I believe the results would skew heavily toward an “ethnic” (councilwoman Messina’s word) market, such as a Chinese supermarket.
It’s amazing how people are so bent out of shape about the word ETHNIC! Come on, I remember the days when there were words far more worse than “ethnic”.
Every year the political sensitivities here seem to be getting worse.
Trader Joe`s would be super!
www.we-love-alhambra.com