The time has come! LA is banishing fast-food! Well trying to. Recently we posted a video about the overwhelming obesity rate of this country and our city. Los Angeles is supposed to be the home of anorexics and yet over 30% of our population is obese. All the diets in the world won’t help when the fastest, easiest, and more addictive way to eat is at almost every single corner. Fast-food chains pack their food full of trans fat, sugars, starch, and sodium. After eating them it sends your body into shock making you feel like you need more just to balance itself out. The truth is you can get all the yummy tasting food from other places without all the harmful ingredients. Children are being raised to think that they can have Burger King for breakfast, Taco Bell for lunch, and MacDonald’s for dinner and not pay the price.
I understand that people are on the run and don’t have much money to spend. But it’s still cheaper to buy food and keep it at home. Packing a lunch, picking up protein bars (although you should watch out for some of those), or hell, would it kill you to stop for 30 minutes and actually eat something, digest, and enjoy your food? There are ways to eat healthy that are fast and cheap. We need more places that promote this. With less fast-food blocking out streets (and arteries) it will make way for healthier options
A law that would bar fast-food restaurants from opening in South Los Angeles for at least a year sailed through the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday.
Councilwoman Jan Perry, who has pushed for a moratorium for six years, said the initiative would give the city time to craft measures to lure sit-down restaurants serving healthier food to a part of the city that desperately wants more of them.
“I believe this is a victory for the people of South and southeast Los Angeles, for them to have greater food options,” she said.
The law defines fast-food restaurants as “any establishment which dispenses food for consumption on or off the premises, and which has the following characteristics: a limited menu, items prepared in advance or prepared or heated quickly, no table orders and food served in disposable wrapping or containers.”
The percentage of fast-food options is just amazing. Check out the map below from the LATimes which shows how many food food restaurants their are compared to all other restaurants in the city.
The ban will cover a 32-square-mile area for one year, with two possible six-month extensions. The area contains about 500,000 residents, including those who live in West Adams, Baldwin Hills and Leimert Park. It has been shown that areas such as South LA where there are the most fast-food chains have the highest level of obesisty in Los Angeles.
The answer is healthier and more affordable options.
Fast-food chains, obviously are not happy about this. They say that they already proved healthy options.
“McDonald’s believes in healthy choices,” said Don Bailey, who has owned and operated the company’s restaurants in South Los Angeles for 22 years.
Another foe of the measure was Madelyn Alfano, whose company, Maria’s Italian Kitchen, has restaurants in Sherman Oaks, Brentwood and other parts of the city. Alfano said the law would create new red tape and force restaurateurs to spend thousands more to start businesses.
“The intent of this bill, and this proposal, is a very good one. There is an obesity problem,” said Alfano, whose company recently opened an express version of the restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. But “I don’t think the restaurant industry is to blame.”
Moratoriums frequently last as long as two years at City Hall, to give planning officials enough time to craft new zoning rules. Perry said businesses can apply for a “hardship exemption” if they are intent on opening a fast-food restaurant.
The councilwoman also said she expected city officials to come up with financial assistance for some restaurants
Photo by nexus_icon
Quotes from the LA Times
Subscribe to our RSS Feed And checkout our coffee competition to win a $30 gift voucher to your favourite coffee shop : click here
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
1 response so far ↓
1 Lindsey // Jul 31, 2008 at 4:46 pm
I agree. Sitting and enjoying a meal has become so yesteryear, it seems. I think the biggest problem used to be portion size, but at fast food places, while the portion may be small, the nutritional value can still be godawful. That’s where people think they might be having that healthier choice, when really they’re not.
Leave a Comment