South Los Angeles is one of the poorest parts of LA. It's characterized by few job opportunities, tremendous crime rates, and sky-high poverty. As one might expect, the health fo the community isn't that great, either: About 30 percent of the residents qualify as obese. As you can imagine, relatively few of them are insured. So the health burden falls on public budgets is immense, which means investing in bettering the community is far out of reach.South Los Angeles is also a fast food mecca. The residents can't afford more nutritious meals, and even if they could, better restaurants and grocers don't want to come into the famously violent area. So the city council has placed a yearlong moratorium on the construction of new fast food restaurants "to give the city time to try to attract restaurants that serve healthier food." The policy actually sounds stranger than it is: Cities frequently bar the construction of new bars, nightclubs, music joints, and so forth. Zoning based on lifestyle concerns is fairly common. But it's rare -- and possibly unheard of -- to discriminate against a certain kind of restaurant based on health concerns. The fast food industry, for their part, makes a fair point. They're not keeping anyone out. "Sit-down restaurants don't want to go in," said their spokesperson. "If they did, they'd be there. This moratorium isn't going to help them relocate." But possibly the city can offer incentives that will change the calculus a bit. We'll see. Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Scott Ableman. BARRING FAST FOOD.
South Los Angeles is one of the poorest parts of LA. It's characterized by few job opportunities, tremendous crime rates, and sky-high poverty. As one might expect, the health fo the community isn't that great, either: About 30 percent of the residents qualify as obese. As you can imagine, relatively few of them are insured. So the health burden falls on public budgets is immense, which means investing in bettering the community is far out of reach.South Los Angeles is also a fast food mecca. The residents can't afford more nutritious meals, and even if they could, better restaurants and grocers don't want to come into the famously violent area. So the city council has placed a yearlong moratorium on the construction of new fast food restaurants "to give the city time to try to attract restaurants that serve healthier food." The policy actually sounds stranger than it is: Cities frequently bar the construction of new bars, nightclubs, music joints, and so forth. Zoning based on lifestyle concerns is fairly common. But it's rare -- and possibly unheard of -- to discriminate against a certain kind of restaurant based on health concerns. The fast food industry, for their part, makes a fair point. They're not keeping anyone out. "Sit-down restaurants don't want to go in," said their spokesperson. "If they did, they'd be there. This moratorium isn't going to help them relocate." But possibly the city can offer incentives that will change the calculus a bit. We'll see. Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Scott Ableman. 
