Shay over at BookerRising reminded me of a story I wanted to comment on, but frankly the issue is so absurd, I can see why I forgot about it in the first place.
Some bonehead “LA official” is proposing a food ban on the amount of fast food joints in South Central citing that more “healthy” choices are found in more affluent areas in town while po’ folks are limited in their immediate choices.
LA official wants fast-food spots off the menu
By Karl Vick
Washington PostLOS ANGELES – Citing alarming rates of childhood obesity and a poverty of healthful eating choices, a city councilor is pushing for a moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in South-Central Los Angeles.
[...]
It is supported by nutritionists, frustrated residents, and community activists who call restrictive zoning an appropriate response to “food apartheid.” (more…)
[Note the article doesn't mention how many "frustrated residents" support this proposal]
Anybody with any level of on the ground familiarity with the South LA area will immediately discover that there is one main “bad” ingredient missing from this proposal:
Mexican owned and operated restaurants.
Drive in just about any area in Los Angeles and you will have no trouble finding Mexican restaurants on just about every corner serving up staples like tacos, burritos, quesadillas, flautas, nachos topped with things like cheese, chili, sour cream, etc. on a daily basis (man, I could name more items here, but it is making me hungry). Let’s not forget the flood of Mexican street vendors that sell these same staples by truck or cart (not too long ago I did a post on these Mexican food trucks: “Just recently there was a movement in LA to place more restrictions on lunch trucks. According to this article, there are roughly 14,000 lunch trucks [locally referred to as taco trucks] in LA county alone that are properly registered. But there are roughly 28,000 more that operate illegally in the same county”–more).Now don’t get me wrong here, I love Mexican food, but let’s face it, it is not know for its healthy benefits. You can apply the same thing to just about any other ethnic staple restaurant.
These publicly funded bonehead politicians would do much better explaining the $80 billion dollars the city has spent in the past 25 years to fight gangs–gangs that have wreaked more havoc on the health and safety of ordinary citizens of LA than your typical Big Mac.
