Kent Mayor Dana Ralph released the following statement Aug. 19 about Kroger’s announcement that the Fred Meyer store on the East Hill will permanently close in October:
“I would like to address the news we received yesterday (Aug. 18) about the East Hill Fred Meyer closing in October.
The restructuring of Kroger is at the heart of this closure along with 60 other locations across the country. Like any for-profit company, profit, and efficiency drives their decisions.
The interim CEO said, “We are making meaningful changes to the business to create a culture, that benefits our customers and our associates, while improving the long-term shareholder value.” This is a business decision being made in the interest of profitability and shareholders.
That is not something any city can change.
At the individual level, this impact goes beyond efficiencies – it’s about the local store where we buy our groceries, school supplies for our kids, diapers and baby food, and where we fill up our tanks and get our prescriptions filled. It’s about the local store that’s within walking distance of thousands of homes and on major bus lines. The place many of us grew up shopping.
In the press release Kroger cited operational reasons and crime as major factors in this decision. The latter is something I and our entire city council take very seriously.
Over the last four years, I have been standing up very publicly and speaking out about the impact of crime on our city, our neighborhoods. Whether it be relating to police pursuits, drug laws, or accountability for offenders. I have been consistent in calling out the impacts of the decisions being made at the county and state level and the significant impacts on our residents.
Kent has been loud and forceful, and shifting our state Legislature to a public safety-first agenda.
Kent has been showing up, sounding alarm bells and advocating for our residents. Over the past few legislative sessions, Fred Meyer has come to testify on our behalf about the need for additional resources for public safety. They called out the unique situation Kent is in as a result of prior legislative action which has shifted sales tax from Kent to wealthier cities. We have highlighted that without state support, we are unable to provide the level of public safety our community deserves and that we would be susceptible to decisions like the closing of the East Hill store.
While recent action by the Legislature provides some assistance, it is proving to be too little, too late.
Organizations like Kroger, are not fortunetellers, they are historians.
The decision to close this location, as well as others, is based on historical crime data. Not current trends.
Frustrating as that is because we are seeing improvement in crime trends. Calls for service at the Fred Meyer location have declined.
In the absence of statewide support, Kent took proactive steps, within our authority and resources, to address crime issues. The good news is it has been working, and we are seeing a decrease in crime across our city.
Here are a few highlights – Kent was at the forefront of reestablishing drug laws when the Legislature did not act – we know drug activity is often a primary factor in retail theft. In fact, the Legislature patterned current laws after the one our City Council passed. We advocated for change in pursuit laws as we saw an increase in retail theft when officers were no longer able to pursue suspects.
We established a SODA (Stay Out of Drug Areas) ordinance which allows those convicted of a crime related to drug activity to be trespassed from specific areas – the area around Fred Meyer is a part of that ordinance. We were one of the first cities in the state to fully staff our police department to budget.
The issue still exists that we need 35–40 additional officers, but we did what we could within our available resources.
As a city, we understand the impact of closures like the Fred Meyer on our city, our families. To be honest, I am angry, frustrated and sad. All of that only reinforces my commitment to advocating for Kent, keeping public safety as our number one priority and continued requests for strategic and impactful investment from both King County and Washington state.
Looking forward, we will continue to ensure that Kent is positioned to attract investment that will benefit all of us.”
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