By Dr. Jay Adlersberg
(New York-WABC, June 1, 2004) � She is a businesswoman dedicated to helping her community. Majora Carter is being honored for helping fight the obesity epidemic. Seven's On Call with Dr. Jay Adlersberg.
Around 6:00 a.m. at the Hunt's Point market, restaurants and grocers from all over the city turn up to buy their fresh produce for the day. But down on Hunt's Point Avenue, those choice fruits and vegetables don't seem to make it to the neighborhood bodegas or even the larger markets.
Resident: "Nine out of ten times whenever you buy fruits and vegetables, they are not that fresh. Whenever you do find them, they look like they've been beat up."
Resident: "There's a pizza place, a liquor place, a hamburger joint, but fresh fruits...no."
The plaza outside the Hunt's Point subway station will change all that as it bustles to life next Spring. Vendors will be buying produce from the Hunt's Point Market, and selling it right here.
Its the brainchild of Majora Carter and her organization, "Sustainable South Bronx." It will give entrepreneurial vendors a small business, and bring healthier food choices to people in the neighborhood.
Majora Carter, Sustainable South Bronx: "We want to make sure that the produce that leaves here for other parts of the city actually stays here and provides some benefits for us."
All this is slated for spring 2005. Another big change: East along Hunt's Point Avenue and on miles of other area streets, bike trails and running tracks will sprout. They're part of Majora's program to bring a means of exercise to the area and they'll be called the South Bronx Greenway.
Part of the Greenway: A running path and bike path that end at a "pocket park." From there, you can gaze out and see people in their canoes and rowboats out on the Bronx River. It's a little slice of greenery and water to improve the lives and the health of South Bronx residents.