L.A. Councilwoman to South Central: No Fruit and Walnut Salad for You!

Posted by Baylen on Jul. 14, 2008

skitched-20080714-081627.jpgAn L.A. councilwoman is making good on her longtime “health zoning” threat to ban new fast-food joints from her South Central neighborhood, the WaPo reports:

Citing alarming rates of childhood obesity and a poverty of healthful eating choices, a city councilwoman is pushing for a moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in South-Central Los Angeles.

“Some people will say, ‘Well, people just don’t have to eat it,’ ” said Jan Perry, the Democrat who represents the city’s overwhelmingly African American and Latino District 9. “But the fact of the matter is, what if you have no other choices?”

I don’t know South Central, but I do know that its things like this, from the LAT last year, that tend to limit choices:

[British grocer] Tesco has said it will put stores in low-income neighborhoods, including one that’s planned for Los Angeles at East Adams Boulevard and South Central Avenue.

[...]

A coalition of 25 community organizations in Southern California is set to call on Tesco today to sign a “community benefits agreement” that would bind the British retailer to its previous promises to pay its Southern California workers well above the minimum wage, offer health benefits and to be environmentally responsible when it launches its Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market chain of small grocery stores this fall.

Right. Way to encourage choices. As the excellent Katherine Mangu-Ward writes in the latest issue of Reason, “Few sins are less forgivable in polite society than offering poor people products they actively seek.”

Note the evil McDonald’s “fruit and walnut salad” in the WaPo’s story photo, btw.

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  • Taking Perry's statement to its logical conclusion, if people have "no other choice" then banning the one option they have leaves them without any food at all.
  • Florida
    Finally some politicians are stepping up to these big companies and saying enough is enough. I can't sit to watch tv for my kids without seen 20 of their commercials targeting kids who don't really know that this isn't food, it's trash. Good job Jan.
  • Tedd
    This is the exact opposite of what we need. This is cheap food at good portions which some poor families need. it isn't the food's fault people get fat, it is because we are lazy and don't exercise. instead of passing laws forcing our economy even further down the shitter, pass some laws that require kids to take more physical education. Who cares about their emotional pain, no one did for my grade and we had only ONE fat kid out of 400.

    MORE GYM, LESS BULLSHIT!!!!!
  • BadKarma
    The Veganist Jihad's ultimate goal is to starve the human race into extinction (except themselves, of course). If you look at it in context, ensuring low-income people in large cities have no place to eat makes perfect sense, from a genocide standpoint.
  • Florida
    It isn't the foods fault people get fat? Tiger Woods could get fat eating that trash as often as alot of people eat it. There are plenty of healthy foods at low prices.. genocide? That would be the day..thousands die, because McDonalds closes. Funny. These companies offer the worst of the worst quality.. raise your standards or don't come to my city..that's the option all cities should give them.
  • LorenE
    Hey Florida,
    "Tiger Woods could get fat eating that trash as often as alot of people eat it." Once again proponents of the "nanny state" miss the point. Tiger could get fat...but he wouldn't because he stays fit. His livelihood depends on it. Unfortunately, most of the rest of us have jobs that don't require rock hard abs and 12% body fat. No food, good or bad, ever forced its way into someone's mouth. If you're not mature or strong enough to regulate your own eating (and exercise) habits and keep your kids away from ads that you don't like, that YOUR problem. Don't pretend its okay to solve your problems by limiting my choices.
  • Florida
    If people were educated to make smart choices none of these places would exist, they would all go bankrupt. Unfortunately if you look into it, most of the funding of health education in the public system comes from the meat and dairy industries. Just because I am mature enough to regulate my eating does not mean that I will support food that has our kids and our whole populations overweight, with diseases related to their diet. These are problems that could be avoided just by eating right. You are against these companies raising their standards of food? You rather them make an extra dollar, than your son, wife, parent have a healthier meal? Unless you are an owner of a McDonaldsor the CEO, I don't see the logic. Look at their website, go to the nutrition facts of each meal. Some of their meals... just one serving has 740 calories..42 grams of fat(65% of the daily value)1380mg of sodium... if you want your fellow human beings consuming that, go for it, but I am against any company that makes their profit from destroying their consumers...wether it's the alcohol industry, tobacco, it doesn't matter. My money doesn't and never will support them. As consumers we have the power to demand better from them and shamefully we don't just because we don't know any better.
  • Florida
    By the way, Tiger would get fat if he only ate McDonalds. I don't think Tiger would eat at a place like that anyway. Maybe do a couple of commercials for a couple of millions with a burger to fool people, because thats these companies specialty...fooling people.
  • Amanda
    Quote:"Posted by: Florida - 07/15/2008

    Finally some politicians are stepping up to these big companies and saying enough is enough. I can’t sit to watch tv for my kids without seen(??) 20 of their commercials targeting kids who don’t really know that this isn’t food, it’s trash. Good job Jan."

    I'm sorry, but isn't your job, as the parent to talk to your kids and make them understand? Anything taken to the extreme is dangerous, it is all about education and moderation. How about learning to live your own life and quit expecting someone else to to do it for you?
  • Florida
    My kids would never step foot in a McDonalds, it is my job as a caring person to educate those that don't know any better, other than that nice commercial that told them to go to the fast food joint where they can get a tasty dish for .99 . Thats the problem in this country, people just worry about themselves. We have to care about each other and help each other out in whichever way possibble. It's sad that people care more about these companies profits then the well being of our general population.
  • Me
    Posted by: Tedd.....This is cheap food at good portions which some poor families need.
    PLEASE you call that food. Go to the supermarket and buy something. Good portion? Cheap? To be full you have to buy a combo that cost almost 7$$$
    Go cook people, that's the problem now days no one wants to cook.

    Keep poison your body, I'm going to fight for a healthly world
  • Steffie
    Bottom line: this country operates under the free enterprise system. Find a need and meet the demand for it. As consumers, we have a choice of the products and services that we buy. (Other than the fact that almost everything is made in China these days, but that's another issue.)
    Whether or not I choose to eat at a certain restaurant, order a certain menu item, or cook for my self is my own business; not yours, or hers, or his.
    If you don't like the food that is served, then don't eat there. Sure, educate your children about nutrition. Then when they grow up, let them make their own choices.
    Having already grown up myself, I don't need a nanny government telling me what to do.
  • Amanda
    Thanks for caring, Florida, but no thanks. We have the freedom of choice, remember? And if I choose to chow down on a QP w/C every once in a while, i thank the men and women who have risked thier lives to make sure you and I have the freedom to make that choice. The fact is that I rarely visit the fast food joints and I take my kid there even more rarely. But I do or I don't by my own free will, and I don't need these kinds of busybodies making my choice for me. If we as consumers got together and used the free enterprise system as it is meant to be used, we could exact change. Why don't the fast food places offer healthier choices for kids? Sure, they are now offering fruit as a kid's meal option, but you still have to take it with the burger or fried chicken nuggets. Why don't they offer grilled chicken for the kids? If "big fast food" had enough of a demand for these kinds of options we would see the change. That is how it is meant to work. So get out of my pantry, and worry a little more about your own business.
  • Florida
    As much as you guys love these fast food places, these are all soon going to be a thing of the past. I would say one hundred more years tops. The earth is running out of good land for all this cattle, so we have gone to other countries to use their land...destroying it little by little. Like it says in McDonalds website, they get alot of their meat from Australia and New Zealand. People just read Consumerfreedoms.com lies and websites like this one, fall for it and never know the truth. Read "Mad Cowboy", written by a 4th generation cattle rancher and the owner of the second largest dairy farm in Iowa in the 90's and you will see how it all works. Once you get a clear understanding, then I gurantee you...100% that you will travel over there to South-Central Los Angeles and support Jan. I visit all these websites... it wouldn't be fair to just look at my side, now I challenge you to do the same, read this book or visit any site on the meat industry... how it contributes to world hunger, how it damages our environment, how it is the cause of our #2 killers in the USA (Heart Disease and Cancer).. and the list goes on and once you have both sides of the story make your choice. A choice made based on one side has a big chance of been a bad choice.
  • Florida
    By the way I am enjoying a double cheese burger, with lots of bacon... no cholesterol....1/4 the fat of the ones you guys are defending and very healthy, read the book to find out how ; ).
  • Florida
    I bet you McDonalds knows, but of course they are not going to spend 10-15 extra cents to do it. Crap is cheaper... profit bigger, you know the rest.
  • Sad that zealots can't actually articulate what they are trying to say. The reality is that you have NO RIGHT to infringe on my freedoms but I don't think you get it. In other words, let me make my choices based on what I think and feel and I'll give you the freedom to do the same.
  • Florida
    Will anybody here answer my question? Why are the three or four of you so against asking these companies to offer better quality products? They can keep the same menu, but just use better products, taking out all these bad fats and preservatives alone would make this a healthier meal. All of this would mean better taste of course and happier customers. Why settle for the worst? Would anybody settle for Ford company making your cars completely out of plastic? or buy a house made out of cardboard? Of course not, but when it comes to food these companies have used the worst of the worst and when smart consumers ask for better quality and improvements, they tell their customers " you have the freedom of buying this crap or not, nobody should tell you what choice to make and everybody buys it.....please. Will anybody answer my questions instead of copying and pasting the same thing ; "I want my freedom to make any choice I want". I agree 100 percent with that, but like with all other products we should demand the best quality available and not settle for less, especially with what goes into our body. I had their food when I was a kid and I remember that taste, I also remember having the same exact dishes from my mom and tasting the difference, and knowing the difference between good quality and bad quality. If these companies would offer better quality in the first place, nobody would fight so hard to keep them out of their towns. Basic customer service... treat your customers right and they will come back and stick by you. I want my freedom to make any GOOD CHOICE I want and just like with all the other products in my life, I demand the best top notch product or my money goes elsewhere till you step it up and reach the good competition.
  • Amanda
    Noone is against "asking" companies to offer better choices, in fact I beleive I made that argument in a previous post. What we are against is the goverment stepping in and forcing companies to do so. And what these politicians are attempting to do is just that. And they are taking it a step further by banning the foods deemed unhealthy. If people truely want to eat healthier, the fast foods will, and do offer healthier choices. That is what free enterprise is all about.
  • Amanda
    And by the way, freedom of choice means the freedom to make good choices as well as bad choices.
  • Florida
    I think it is the governments duty, just like they make a lot of substances and chemicals illegal, because of the health problems they cause, they should worry about people and not their financial gain. Unfortunately these companies put millions and millions of dollars into these politicians campaigns and pockets for them to dare step up to them.
  • Chicago refugee
    "What we are against is the goverment stepping in and forcing companies to do so. And what these politicians are attempting to do is just that. And they are taking it a step further by banning the foods deemed unhealthy. If people truely want to eat healthier, the fast foods will, and do offer healthier choices. That is what free enterprise is all about."

    So, free enterprise trumps public health? OK, I suggest you start selling lead-paint coated candy, but first test it out on your own children for about a month.

    And please do cite an occasion when the government stepped in and forced a restaurant TO SELL SOMETHING. The ban on trans-fats doesn't count.
  • paydayloanadvocate
    Brave New World is a classic novel that was first published in 1932. The author, Aldous Huxley, expressed the possibilities that can take place if the government took complete control of our daily lives. During the continuation of programs to end the war, conflicts and suffering, he based his novel on his own surroundings and his vision of what his hometown of London may look in the year 2540. In other words, it describes living life without the ability to utilize their voice or live the way people today want to live. Many people opposed the possible occurrence and criticized his vision. In the present time, here in America, many of the same seeds have been planted and have now flourished into something threatening to our people and economy. The socialist and the communist movements have been around for many generations in our country, though it hasn’t taken much prevalence until this one, thanks to the politicians who are trying to obtain full control of everything around us. In parts of Los Angeles, for example, inequitable elected officials have passed tremendous restrictions on where fast food restaurants can set up new shops. That’s right; you can’t have a hamburger in certain places in South Los Angeles and you’re going to like it- says the “man”. This is only one of the legs that come from a large menacing operation. In other parts of this operation, state and national politicians are trying to take away your access to fast and easy payday loans. To recapitulate, this is one of their tools to round up enough votes for office so they can further their own interest. We certainly need to fight the government’s ever-tightening restraint that would prevent us from living our lives to the fullest.

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