Posted on 08/13/2008 3:36:22 PM PDT by mojito
A NEW weapon in the battle against obesity was rolled out last month when the Los Angeles City Council decided to stop new fast food restaurants from opening in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods.
Even in a country where a third of the schoolchildren are overweight or obese, the yearlong moratorium raises questions about when eating one style of food stops being a personal choice and becomes a public health concern.
The Sisyphean struggle against poor diets has included booting soda from schools, banning trans fat and, more recently, sending New Yorkers into dietary sticker shock with a law that requires calorie counts be posted on menus, right next to the prices.
But this appears to be the first time a government has prohibited a specific style of restaurant for health, rather than aesthetic, reasons....
The moratorium’s definition of a fast food business is any stand-alone restaurant that dispenses food, to stay or to go, and that has “a limited menu, items prepared in advance or prepared or heated quickly, no table orders, and food served in disposable wrapping or containers.” It is up to the city’s director of planning to decide which places fit that definition....
The councilwoman behind the moratorium, Jan Perry, says its intent is not to crush food choices, but to encourage variety and give residents more nutritious options. Making healthy decisions about food is difficult when people have small incomes, the grocery store is five miles away and a $1 cheeseburger is right around the corner, she and supporters of the ban say.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
They should ban the sale of forks and spoons. ;-)
/s ??
Since Aug 5, 2008
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Awwwwwwwwwww.
Welcome to Free Republic!
It’s not that the City Council knows what’s good for citizen’s to eat - it’s that they know what’s better for black & brown people to eat. What chutzpah! If it wasn’t based on race they would have made it city-wide policy.
Oh well, socialism at it's best.
Is this action going to bring the grocery store closer. Are the residents going to quit getting their $1 cheeseburgers?
I don’t see how this action has a plus or minus effect on the diet of the people who live there. Not allowing more Fast Food locations should cut back a job opportunity or two.
Typical Gummit thinking.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
If the market is over-saturated wouldn’t that in itself stop any more from opening?
The LA city council is trying to outdo San Francisco’s in stupidity.
Predictions based on the ‘invisible hand’ economic theory first deliniated by Adam Smith in “the Wealth of Nations” in 1776.
1. Scarcity, especially artificial scarcity mandated by government fiat, will cause the price of a franchise in these poorer sections of the city to go up. New York cab permits are rationed by NYC and the cost of a cab permit is astronomically high.
2. Prices of food will go up in the remaining franchises as there will be less competition and owners will have to amortize the cost of franchises.
3. Black market bistros, sidewalk sellers, and underground food establishments will pop up, completely without health and safety regulation. Mamas ain’t got to wash her hands in her own kitchen.
Anyone got any more ideas?
I think your analysis of the unintended consequences is about right.
The only thing I would add is that any and all unintended consequences resulting from this decision—lost jobs, higher prices at inner-city fast food franchises, etc.—will be blamed on “racism.”
More cars on the road driving to the next city to get a burger.
Sure does raise the value of an existing franchise, though! Hmmm, time to take a another look at the pol’s disclosure statements.
What’s your point? That doesn’t answer my question.
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