We all know that obesity in our community is an ever-increasing epidemic. Well the Los Angeles City Council decided to take drastic action and have banned the opening of any fast food restaurants in South Los Angeles for the next year. This comes after governments have given sodas the heave-ho in the schools as well as the whole trans fat thing. Anyway, its almost like they’re trying to force the people in the ‘hoods to eat better.
I have my doubts about this because folks who want junk are going to eat junk. (I’m sure kids are sneaking soda into school too along with penny candy). And just because they aren’t building any new restaurants doesn’t mean they are closing down the ones that are already there. One of the reasons that those restaurants will continue to draw a crowd is economical—those .99 cent meals are like manna from heaven for people on a budget. And there is no big initiative to bring healthier, affordable food to these same neighborhoods. If the Los Angeles City Council is really serious they’d have to make it safer to actually go out walking. So far that’s still risky for many people.
Of course conspiracy theories abound that the government is trying to ‘control’ us but let’s just say that for arguments sake this initiative works. I wonder whether liquor stores would be next. Can you imagine what many of our neighborhoods would look like if liquor stores and fast food outlets were suddenly in the minority and replaced with a healthy alternative? Actually, it’s not a bad dream.
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August 14th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
I think it is a step in the right direction. My concern is that the fast food restaurants are not being replaced my healthier options.
August 17th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Why shouldn’t government regulate? If Medicaid (government health insurance) is the primary health insurer in the community then government has every right to regulate to produce a healthier outcome. If government has to pay, it’s cost effective to pay for prevention then treatment. It’s cheaper for government, but also increases the life span and quality of life for the people involved. Yes, “folks who want junk food are going to eat junk food”, but they will have to exert themselves more so, just to get the junk food which is not a bad thing. Our convenient lifestyle plus a lack of healthy food choices is what’s making us fat.
Also you talked about freedom of choices, but freedom is based on the choices you are given. By government being quiet it allowed business to take over. Businesses never cared about the people but cared about money, as evident by the choices they gave. These buisness only gave unhealthy choices to the people, so people were allowed to make the choices I guess, but from what????? Like what is the difference between McDonald’s and Burger King, but just a little salt here and there. So government is saying you cannot soley offer unhealthy choices. Though supply and demand and competition, the cost of the healthier food options should go down. Competition between fast food chains is what brought down their prices, the same can and probably will occur with stores and chains that offer healthier food.
Lastly, this just may work, in that food is not like other commodities. You simply cannot go without food. A decrease in unhealthy food options will not make people to stop eating all together. It’ll make them reconsider the type of food they eat by exposing them to other healthier type of foods. You mentioned the safety of the neighborhood, but people were still getting food albeit unhealthy food despite the relative violence within the neighborhood. Though it is a problem, why should safety have to be the perquisite.
August 17th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Wow, although it seems drastic I actually think it is a good idea. One of the main reason why our people are overweight is because of what we can afford to buy. The better solution would be to take away the unhealthy options and replace them with healthy ones, we’ll have no choice but to eat it. I think that we’ve been preached to about changing our diets and clearly it’s just going in one ear and out the other, so why not take it up another level and try something new. I guess we’ll see in due time if it helps or hurts.