Supermarket stink

From the Times Newsweekly:

Ridgewood homeowners are outraged by a new produce market which recently opened shop on their corner, which they call a “health hazard that could destroy the beauty of their block.”

The store has reportedly been leaving bags and boxes filled with rotting fruits and vegetables and other garbage piled in their garage, which spills out onto the sidewalk. Residents have noted seeing roaches and swarms of flies in both the garage and the store.

Since the store’s opening, residents have become incensed over the piles of rotting, stinking produce that have been allegedly stored in a garage located in the rear of the store. Large containers of delivered fruit and vegetables also stored along both sides of the sidewalk have made it difficult for pedestrians, and especially hazardous for senior citizens, to walk safely.

One Woodbine Street resident stated, “During the heat wave over the July 4th weekend, the stench from the rotting fruits and vegetables in the garage made me sick, and I saw roaches and swarms of fruitflies and gnats. Last week, when they were loading down into the basement, I can’t begin to describe the mess I saw when I peeked down the conveyor belt. Whoever the owner is of this place, apparently he or she does not care at all about the residents on the block.”

In response to the complaints voiced by Woodbine Street residents, the publisher of the Times Newsweekly/Ridgewood Times, Maureen Walthers, has refused to accept advertising and returned a check for payment from Rachel’s Garden management “due to the extreme disrespect” allegedly demonstrated by the store “to the community.”

Walthers made two attempts to reach out to Rachel’s Garden in regards to the condition soon after the establishment opened, personally stopping into the store to speak to management.

She was told the situation would be addressed within the week. But the photos shown on these pages, taken over the last two weeks, seemingly indicate that little has been done.

Enforcement officers from various city agencies have visited Rachel’s Garden and have issued numerous summonses to the proprietors for various violations of sanitation and fire codes.

And speaking of supermarkets, Grace Meng prefers American food at the site of a defunct food shop in Flushing.