Fast Food Ban in Los Angeles?
On the heels of NYC’s attempts to mandate calorie counts on restaurant menus, Los Angeles may legislate more healthful eating by banning fast food restaurants in South Los Angeles. The City Council will consider a proposal by Council woman, Jan Perry, to ban new fast food restaurants in South Los Angeles for 2 years. South Los Angeles has become Fast Food City with the highest concentration of fast food restaurants in LA and one of the lowest concentrations of grocery stores, according to the Los Angeles Times.
This fast food gluttony is making the citizens of south Los Angeles sick:
- 30% of adults in South LA are obese compared with 21% in LA county
- 29% of children in South LA are obese compared with 23% in LA county
- South LA has incidence of diabetes at 12% compared with 8% in the LA county.
Celebrity Diet Doctor Weigh in…
South LA is, not coincidently, one of the poorest areas of LA and these fast food restaurants fill a need for quick and cheap meals. Obviously more needs to be done to create economic incentives to promote healthier food choices for its citizens. Step one would be for the City to help establish grocery stores in this community. Step two would be to clean up the school lunch programs which are a nutritional disaster of pizza, burgers and fries.
While this ban is clearly not the answer for our health care crisis it will hopefully open up debate on some real solutions to this problem.
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I have seen an area of Louisville, KY, having the same problems with fast food outlets and lack of grocery stores. The groceries are located on the outer edges of the city and some residents of the inner city have only a few very small Mom and pop stores that are slowly dying out and prices there are very high. To go to purchase groceries would require a long bus ride and it is just easier and less expensive to have a burger and fries. I see slow changes beginning, but I think education and better choices are the best hope.
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I agree with you both. The city needs to help come up with solutions and not just eliminate one problem and let another arise.
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The citizens of South LA burned their grocery stores to the ground over 15 years ago now in the riots. The businesses never came back. Instead, large corporations slowly purchased available land and put fast-food there.
I don’t want to sound heartless and cruel, but this is what you get when you decide to destroy your own neighborhood with fire and vandalism.
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Point taken..
however the city council has as its responsibility to create economic incentives to get grocery stores back into this neighborhood as a small first step in helping the community. otherwise, this cycle of poverty, poor health and violence will continue.
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jan perry caught some bad press recently facilitating the bull dozing of ’south central farm,’ a community garden unifying a poor area of central los angeles through families growing fruits and vegetables.
she had to do something apparently caring after looking SO BAD running off the gardeners.
for working class people in the area covered, with respect to quality of life, this measure is inconsequential.
chris howard
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