L.A.: Closing the door on fast food
Will a moratorium make poor neighborhoods healthier?
The food nannies are at it again, said the Chicago Tribune in an editorial. The Los Angeles City Council last week unanimously approved an ordinance banning new fast food restaurants that serve poor people. But reducing dining choices is a “ridiculously paternalistic” way to attack the obesity epidemic and other health problems.
Local governments can’t just proclaim that the poor will henceforth “eat upscale, healthy food,” said the Victorville, Calif., Daily Press. That kind of “arrogance” will only chase away grocery stores and restaurants, depriving depressed areas of jobs, and make it harder for healthier fast-food chains, such as Subway, to offer the choices people need.
The moratorium will actually encourage businesses offering healthier fare to move in, said the Los Angeles Spanish-language daily La Opinion in an editorial. Besides, it won’t come close to depriving residents of the area in question, South L.A., of cheeseburgers, as it only bans new outlets for a year and the area has too many fast-food joints already.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
There are other ways to make eating right easier, said Harold Goldstein and Eric Schlosser in the Los Angeles Times. New York, for example, is demanding that restaurants put calorie counts on their menus. Restaurant chains complain this restricts their freedom to do business, but so do health inspections, so customers have a right to know “what we're putting into our bodies.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
How Zohran Mamdani's NYC mayoral run will change the Democratic Party
Talking Points The candidate poses a challenge to the party's 'dinosaur wing'
-
Book reviews: '1861: The Lost Peace' and 'Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers'
Feature How America tried to avoid the Civil War and the link between lead pollution and serial killers
-
Brian Wilson: the troubled genius who powered the Beach Boys
Feature The musical giant passed away at 82