[For sake of "public health" a major city has decided to attempt controlling the diet of a million people. I expect this will become commonplace in a few years. McDonald's day's are numbered. Folk's simply cannot be trusted to make proper choices regarding food. We told you smoking was just the tip of the iceberg and remember it's all for the children!]


L.A.: No new fast-food outlets in poor area
City Council votes to block new fast-food restaurants from poor area for a year ...
Officials hope restaurants with healthier food will open during moratorium
Officials cite high rates of obesity in impoverished part of city


"LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- City officials are putting South Los Angeles on a diet.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to place a moratorium on new fast food restaurants in an impoverished swath of the city with a proliferation of such eateries and above-average rates of obesity.

The yearlong moratorium -- which the mayor still must sign into law -- is intended to give the city time to attract restaurants that serve healthier food. The action is believed to be the first of its kind by a major city to protect public health.

"Our communities have an extreme shortage of quality foods," City Councilman Bernard Parks said.

Representatives of fast-food chains said they support the goal of better diets but believe they are being unfairly targeted. They say they offer healthier food items on their menus.

"It's not where you eat, it's what you eat," said Andrew Pudzer, president and chief executive of CKE Restaurants, parent company of Carl's Jr. "We were willing to work with the city on that, but they obviously weren't interested."

The California Restaurant Association and its members will consider a legal challenge to the ordinance, spokesman Andrew Casana said.

Fast facts on fats: What to eat, what to avoid
Thirty percent of adults in South Los Angeles are obese, compared to 19.1 percent for the metropolitan area and 14.1 percent for the affluent Westside, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

Research has shown that people will change eating habits when different foods are offered, but cost is a key factor in poor communities, said Kelly D. Brownell, director of Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.

"Cheap, unhealthy food and lack of access to healthy food is a recipe for obesity," Brownell said. "Diets improve when healthy food establishments enter these neighborhoods."

A report by the Community Health Councils found 73 percent of South Los Angeles restaurants were fast food, compared to 42 percent in West Los Angeles.

South Los Angeles resident Curtis English acknowledged that fast food is loaded with calories and cholesterol. But since he's unemployed and does not have a car, it serves as a cheap, convenient staple for him.

On Monday, he ate breakfast and lunch -- a sausage burrito and double cheeseburger, respectively -- at a McDonald's a few blocks from home for just $2.39.

"I don't think there's too many fast food places," he said. "People like it."

Others welcomed an opportunity to get different kinds of food into their neighborhood.

"They should open more healthy places," Dorothy Meighan said outside a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet. "There's too much fried stuff."

Councilwoman Jan Perry said that view repeatedly surfaced at the five community meetings she held during the past two years. Residents are tired of fast food, and many don't have cars to drive to places with other choices, she said.

Los Angeles' ban comes at a time when governments of all levels are increasingly viewing menus as a matter of public health. On Friday, California became the first state in the nation to bar trans fats, which lower levels of good cholesterol and increase bad cholesterol.

The moratorium, which can be extended up to a year, only affects standalone restaurants, not eateries located in malls or strip shopping centers. It defines fast-food restaurants as those that do not offer table service and provide a limited menu of pre-prepared or quickly heated food in disposable wrapping.

The definition exempts "fast-food casual" restaurants such as El Pollo Loco, Subway and Pastagina, which do not have drive-through windows or heat lamps and prepare fresh food to order.

The ordinance also makes it harder for existing fast-food restaurants to expand or remodel.

Rebeca Torres, a South Los Angeles mother of four, said she would welcome more dining choices, even if she had to pay a little more.

"They should have better things for children," she said. "This fast food really fattens them up."

CNN.com

What was the name of the guy here who didn't know how to make a sandwich? There must be a lot of them in Los Angeles if the only way they know how to feed their kids is by going to McDonald's. They don't have an obesity problem. They have an intelligence problem.

And when these dimwitted parents see that a sitdown restaurant (now the model for health???) burger costs more than McDonald's, do these politician's really think they won't go back to McDonald's?

If this is the less affluent part of LA it should also contain a high percentage of smokers who are not interested in sitting down to eat anything in a place that does not allow smoking.

Regardless, who can afford fast food anymore anyway?

I currently live an a depressed area and local stores charge an arm and a leg for fresh produce, if you can call it that. If you don't eat it within 24 hours it isn't eatable.

How many kids want to eat what is good for them anyway? How many parents want to deal with feeding the family between shifts at their multiple jobs?

Isn't it marvelous how the well to do have time to exercise, eat proper food, and lecture the rest of us on to live our lives?

How many of these people have ever visited this part of town without an armed escort?

quote:

What was the name of the guy here who didn't know how to make a sandwich? There must be a lot of them in Los Angeles if the only way they know how to feed their kids is by going to McDonald's. They don't have an obesity problem.

They have an intelligence problem.

...............
Amen to that!!

Macoroni and cheese and a hot dog do not take much to prepare, neither do beans and franks and these are easy to reheat when fixed earlier and work well as left-overs.

Then when the kids are older they can fix these meals for themselves.

This worked for us, veggies were eaten raw or Mom and Dad prepared them before hand.

Besides you will find mac and cheese on the kids' menu at most restaurants anyway!

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a glass of milk is a fine meal and kids love to make them.

The list could go on for quite a while!!

quote:

How many of these people have ever visited this part of town without an armed escort?

Good question, and I'd hazard a guess that number would be zero.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 383rr,

quote:

Originally posted by Bruce:
Regardless, who can afford fast food anymore anyway?

That's so true. I think a Whopper is $2.99 where I live. I can make a spaghetti dinner with meatballs for my entire family for almost that price alone.

And sitdown restaurants are even more expensive...plus tip.

Those politicians aren't any brighter than the people who voted them in.

I tried the new STEAKBURGER at Burger King last week, just ordered it figuring it'd be about a buck and a half to two fifty. It was OVER FOUR FIFTY!!! Tasted ok, but screw that. It's basically just a cube steak sandwich.

quote:

Originally posted by dave clark:
ordered it figuring it'd be about a buck and a half to two fifty. It was OVER FOUR FIFTY!!!

LOL

I know the feeling. I flew out for my brother's wedding in Rhode Island. (You could still smoke on planes back then)

The night before the wedding a bunch of us were in a bar/restaurant and I asked who wanted to try a shot of root beer schnapps. I had a $20 bill in my hand and figured that was more than enough to cover 5 shots, plus tip, plus money back in my pocket. The bartender handed back a quarter.

I can't remember anymore how much shots were back home, but they were probably more like a dollar. LOL

I heard about this the other day on NPR and how Subway restaurants would still be allowed even though their meatball sub has more calories/fat than a quarter pounder. Somehow though, thats OK probably because of the symbolism of McDonald's and Subway had that Jared guy going for them. Whatever the case, this is all about how the elitists are controlling our lives, witness Bloombitch and Bill Gates pooling $500 million for tobacco control in developing countries where most people don't even live to an age where they can get a "smoking related" disease. Come to think of it, I don't want to grow old in a world where I can't decide what I can eat or smoke either.