When the Main Street IGA closed over a year ago, residents of the Jacobsville neighborhood lost access to fresh food and produce — especially hard on those who had no personal transportation and had difficulty with Evansville bus service.
Jacobsville still does not have a fresh food outlet slose enough for residents to use.
But now a three-month trial program may assist with that.
A new program will employ the little-used TED Trolley, which was acquired to transport revelers during events on West Franklin Street.
The trolley will pick people up at a Jacobsville location, and ferry them to the Ruller Food Store on Diamond Avenue.
There, riders would have one hour to shop for what they needed before the Trolley took them back to their place of embarkaction.
Continuation of the program would depend on ridership.
If it’s sufficient, the Department of Metropolitan Development would ask the city council for a yearly allotment to keep the program rolling.
Meanwhile, an as-yet unnamed entity is negotiating to purchase the old IGA store nbuilding and lot.
Nothing is signed yet, and the developer is being closed-mouthed about his plans.
However, there is a half-million dolla4rs in Jacobsville TIFF money that the city would be willing to invest if this or any other developer would agree to put in a fresh foot store at that location.
After more than a year without a food outlet, local residents will take a careful look at how this episode plays out.
