By AMBER ELLIOTT
SPECIAL TO HARTFORD COURANT
MAY 05, 2019 | 6:00 AM

As a person who lives in Clay Arsenal, works in the Northeast neighborhood and has a young child who recently was accepted to Capital Prep Magnet School, it’s clear to me that North Hartford needs a full-service grocery store, and the location behind Keney Clock Tower is ideal.

North Hartford needs access to healthy, high-quality, affordable food. Residents’ health and life expectancy is suffering directly because of the foods that are (or are not) accessible.

According to CT Health Foundation, those of us living in the North Hartford Promise Zone live nearly 16 years less than people in West Hartford, just three miles away. Recent studies also show that we experience far higher rates of diabetes, hypertension and obesity. In order to combat these diet-related diseases that are killing residents, we need access to healthy, high-quality foods at prices we can afford.