We've all heard the arguments and counter-arguments for lovely, organic, sustainable produce and the amazing community of artisans and food producers represented on 18th Street alone, in our own gourmet ghetto. Between Tartine's amazing bread and pastries and Bi-Rite's local, delicious-but-expensive meat and produce, one could easily spend a significant portion of one's disposable income within those fifty yards and thus come the counter-arguments about how will we ever make this kind of food affordable for many. Mission Local takes up the topic in microcosm today, with a story that asks the important but depressing question, "What do you do if you live on 18th Street but have no disposable income?"
The piece, titled "Living on the Flip Side of 18th Street," profiles Hungarian immigrant Zsuzsanna Legradi and her husband Tom Stolmar who have lived on the block since 1997, locking in a rent-controlled rent that was $1200 at the time, and is now $1400, while similar units in the building now rent for $3500. They have a 12-year-old daughter, and they make about $2,000 a month between them, with Tom, 50, a trained carpenter, having fallen on hard times after 2008 when it came to getting construction jobs. Legradi is a cook-turned-gardner, who picks up work here and there.
You may occasionally see them selling baked goods from a table across the street from Tartine, which also supplements their income. Mission Local also follows Legradi to the food bank where she picks up a very un-Bi-Rite-like selection of canned tomatoes, canned peaches, lemon yogurt, and some slightly stale Acme bread. Alas, after the more well-off San Franciscans descend on the place, Tartine doesn't have any bread left over for the food banks...
