Two California bills on grocery access await the governor’s decision after lawmakers passed them. In Vallejo, Safeway’s 15-year covenant barred rival grocers; in Tahoe City, Albertsons asked a prospective buyer to accept a similar restriction.
These covenants can be written into property deeds or leases to prevent a later owner from renting a site to another grocer; the article says retail covenants are often not publicly accessible in California. The Food Empowerment Project’s Shame on Safeway campaign challenged the Vallejo restriction and said Albertsons gave no substantive response beyond saying the practice is “sometimes necessary.”
Prospective buyer David Renkert ultimately did not buy the Tahoe City building after Albertsons asked him to accept the restriction; he said it would reduce the value of a property equipped for grocery use. He later organized Friends of Tahoe City, saying the remaining Safeway often ran out of fresh food and residents sometimes drove an hour for groceries. AB 1857 would prohibit restrictions that create food deserts, while AB 1776, the Compete Act, would cover single firms engaging in manipulative, anti-competitive conduct.
