Laurels & lances: Food & fear

Laurel: To more on the menu. Western Pennsylvania shoppers will have more grocery options with Wegmans and Meijer coming in.

Despite the ubiquitous presence of Giant Eagle plus Walmart, Shop ’n Save and Aldi locations, the area has “one of the most acute shortages of supermarket chains anywhere in the continental United States,” according to Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director of New York City-based Strategic Resource Group.

That makes the prospect of two new major multi-state chains targeting the area an interesting proposition.

Competition is how customers get lower prices and better selection. With high food prices, that’s exactly what the region needs, and announcements about Wegmans and Meijer aren’t the only examples.

Aldi is growing. Giant Eagle has promised to slash prices. Walmart might have only 8% of grocery stores in Allegheny County and 17% of those in Westmoreland County, but the size of those locations and the national footprint make up for that.

But lower prices are only half the story. Increased options could mean vital access for neighborhoods that have gone without. Many communities — from the Mon Valley to parts of Pittsburgh’s East End — are grocery deserts with few opportunities. New players could close those gaps.

The grocery business in Western Pennsylvania may be entering a new era of competition that can only benefit customers.

Lance: To a sign of the times. Something ugly is being scrawled across a Westmoreland County community.

The swastikas spray-painted across Mt. Pleasant recently are more than vandalism. They are symbols of hate that can cause fear and intimidation.

To see them on street and business signs in small-town Western Pennsylvania is shocking, but it reflects a larger truth. Political divisions and rising extremism are not distant problems. They are here.

Mayor Diane Bailey called the graffiti a reflection of today’s volatile “temperature.” She’s right. Symbols matter — especially symbols like these. They carry a heavy weight of history, and they eat away at the sense of security every resident deserves and every community should foster.

Cleaning the paint will remove the marks, but it will not erase the climate that allowed them. That will take more than a scrub brush. It will take a firm stand against bigotry in every form.