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| Women stroll by a slew of fast-food outlets in Los Angeles. Francis Specker/Special to The Christian Science Monitor |
Diet-conscious Los Angeles eyes moratorium on fast-food outlets.
The city council is set to vote on a measure next week that would put a two-year moratorium on new outlets in South L.A. amid concern about high obesity rates there.
By Daniel B. Wood | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the September 14, 2007 edition
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Los Angeles - Pointing south from the corner of Figueroa and Adams in South Central L.A., Tanisha Jackson says when it comes to fast food, her community "has it all."
"If you want it cheap and quick – McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken – we've got it," says the mother of two.
Some city officials see the myriad fast-food outlets as a health problem and are seeking change. "Fast food is primarily the only option for those who live and work here," says City Councilwoman Jan Perry. "It's become a public-health issue that residents be given healthier choices."
She has introduced a two-year moratorium on new fast-food outlets in this part of the city, where small, single-family homes dominate and gangs thrive in a rough urban landscape.
Many national food and health experts say the measure – which is slated for a vote on Sept. 18 – may be the first example of a health-zoning law in the United States. In 2006, New York City health committee chairman Joel Rivera lobbied against uncontrolled growth of fast-food chains, but did not introduce legislation. These observers are applauding the idea as a way to raise awareness about America's obesity epidemic, which hits poorer neighborhoods disproportionately.
"Limiting fast food could be a practical solution if it starts to address the imbalance of too many outlets with food that is not nutritious," says Mark Vallianatos, director of the Center for Food and Justice at Occidental College in Los Angeles.
Others say it is a well-meaning but misguided attempt by government to control social behavior, doomed to failure, like prohibition in the 1920s. "You can't regulate the supply side of a behavioral problem and expect results," says Dennis Lombardi, executive vice president of Foodservice Strategies, a consulting firm for the restaurant industry.
Perry says she introduced the legislation because statistics show that residents here have higher incidence of diseases that doctors link to obesity than the rest of the city and the county. "The side effect of a constant diet of fast food is that society pays in the long run in medical costs," she says.
The ordinance would affect about 700,000 residents of South Central, where a recent Los Angeles Times survey found that 46 percent of restaurants are fast-food chains, compared with 12 percent on the west side of Los Angeles.
Perry and her supporters acknowledge that health zoning raises some questions: Will other healthier restaurants move into the region if new fast-food outlets are prohibited? Can the city government aid that transition? Will residents frequent restaurants with healthier options?
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