Columbia election notes: Candidates debate capital city food insecurity issues

Food insecurity has been a persistent issue in parts of Columbia, particularly portions of north Columbia where access to major grocery stores and a selection of fresh foods has been difficult.

Last week, FoodShare SC, the Food Chain Workers Alliance and other nonprofit organizations hosted Columbia City Council and mayoral candidate forums on issues dealing with food access and insecurity in the capital city.

Among the participants were District 1 city council candidates Tina Herbert and Christa Williams. District 1 is in the northern part of the city and includes areas where nearby access to major grocery stores can be scarce.

Williams said she thinks it is key to start a movement toward healthy eating and said it will be critical to increase opportunities for people to engage with various programs, like FoodShare and others, that help provide access to fresh foods.

Williams said she’d work to connect the community “with programs and members of these organizations who can bridge that gap to healthy access to food” and with organizations that teach people how to prepare healthy meals.

Herbert said she thinks the idea of a food co-op is worth exploring in north Columbia.

“It is really an opportunity for the community to choose what they want in their grocery stores, and the community and individuals own the grocery stores,” Herbert said of a co-op setup. “They actually purchase stock. So, in order to do (a co-op), you need about 2,000 people to do it. But here’s the best thing about it: If you have 2,000 people invested, at least you know people are going to be patronizing and supporting that grocery store when it comes.”

To watch both of the food insecurity forums, click here and here.

District 4 councilman and mayoral hopeful Daniel Rickenmann is pushing for the city to hire an outside attorney to renegotiate the city’s expiring franchise agreement with Dominion Energy.

“By retaining an outside attorney with significant experience in these agreements, this ensures Columbia families do not get taken advantage of and we will see a return on our investment,” Rickenmann said in a campaign Facebook post. “This is the city’s opportunity to address important issues such as putting power lines underground, proper tree trimming, and even requiring companies to use washable utility pavement markings.

City Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine got support for her mayoral campaign from a longtime city political force: former 20-year City Councilwoman Anne Sinclair.

“Tameika is a person who listens and she’s also a person who acts,” Sinclair said in a Twitter video. “She works with other people, she brings people together to solve problems in our city. I appreciate that leadership trait about her. Tameika is very interested in improving the quality of life, not just for our neighborhoods, but for our businesses both large and small.”

Mayoral hopeful Sam Johnson formally rolled out a plan to curb gun violence during an Aug. 28 news conference in front of Columbia Police Department headquarters.

Among the items in the plan is to push to hire more officers to address staffing shortages at the police department; 10-year contracts for police officers, with step pay increases and retention bonuses at the three-, five-, and eight-year intervals; a push for bond reform; and take-home patrol cars for all officers, among other initiatives.

“As we look at the pandemic and the other crises we are faced with, public safety is a non-negotiable,” Johnson said.

One Columbia for Arts and Culture is set to host a city council candidate forum at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 2, at the Koger Center. The State is partnering with One Columbia on the forum, which will focus specifically on arts and culture issues.

Candidates for the at-large and District 1 city council races are participating in the Sept. 2 forum. There will be a separate One Columbia forum for mayoral candidates at 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Koger Center.

The State will live stream the Sept. 2 city council candidate forum on its Facebook and YouTube pages.

“This forum offers the opportunity for Columbia City Council candidates to communicate their arts-specific platforms, and provide residents, artists, and arts organizations the chance to hear directly from the candidates before the election,” One Columbia said in a release. “(Because) arts are a vital part of the city’s success, it is important that discussions are made possible to highlight the issues directly related to arts and creative practitioners.”

This story was originally published September 1, 2021 at 2:07 PM.

Chris Trainor

The State

Chris Trainor is a retail reporter for The State and has been working for newspapers in South Carolina for more than 21 years, including previous stops at the (Greenwood) Index-Journal and the (Columbia) Free Times. He is the winner of a host of South Carolina Press Association awards, including honors in column writing, government beat reporting, profile writing, food writing, business beat reporting, election coverage, social media and more.