The problem with the LA ban on fast food is this: the areas are so crime-ridden that the main businesses are liquor stores and fast food outlets. Banning fast food is a band-aid solution. It does nothing to teach people about nutrition or make opening sit-down restaurants and other businesses profitable (read: less frightened of being robbed). This is just like when the council decided to change the name of the area from "South-Central Los Angeles" to "South Los Angeles" because 'South-Central' had a bad reputation. Nothing was done to actually address the problems in the neighborhood -- they simply changed the name. Merely a political statement that does zip to un-blight the area.

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I think that fast food has been around much longer than the current "obesity epidemic," and while it certainly is a contributor, I think I will be far more interested to see who/what the next fashionable scapegoat is when the ban doesn't make a dent in the fatness/diabetes numbers.

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I think it is not the government's job to protect people from themselves.

This is dumb.

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This reeks of socialism.

But then again, if we want socialized health care we better put the whole damn country on a diet!

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People who get the bulk of their food from places like McDonalds are not going to go back to the traditional ways of cooking and eating food just because McDonalds isn't there. They are not 1st generation McD eaters. For many of them McD's is the traditional way to eat. Plus, there are very few grocery stores in these areas which is part of the problem. So where is the food going to come from? If the grocery stores do come, what do you think people who traditionally eat a lot of fast food are going to buy? Tyson Chicken Nuggets. Or is LA going to ban them too?

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Thin the herd. Let them eat whatever. It's not government's responsibility.

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Why not just outlaw poor people? Problem solved!

Geez.

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I was with a group in a McDonald's in a poor section of a city we were passing through. No other options were available. As we stood in line, a mother and her two kids were in front of us, and the kids couldn't wait to order. Someone in my group, I'm afraid, had to say, loud enough for her to hear: "Way to feed your kids a healthy lunch, Mom."

I remember this VIVIDLY because instead of being mean and mouthy, she was very articulate and full of calm grace. Mom turned around and looked at him, and said, simply:

"Sometimes when you only have two dollars to feed your kids lunch, you gotta come here. I can buy my babies a burger for 99 cent each. I can't walk to the grocery store and ask for four pieces of bread out of the bag. I can't ask em to open that package of chicken and gimme just one piece. I can't buy just a dollars worth of hamburger and make it myself cuz I can't buy the four slices of bread I need. Here I can buy two hamburgers and they think its a treat to be out. It was until you came along. You enjoy your lunch now."

He blushed red, really deeply, and he should have.

Yes, fast food contributes to obesity, but sometimes when you only have a few dollars, it's more comforting to get a hot hamburger and salty fries, than it is to buy a bag of apples -- and the apples will cost more. Poverty increases obesity just as much as the fat grams.

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P.S. He bought each of the kids a happy meal, and Mom got to eat as well. Which she wouldn't have, otherwise. After they finished eating they came by and said "Thank you, sir." That guy was humbled the rest of the day.

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Restricting businesses from doing business is not the answer - America needs to wake up and Ban High Fructose Corn Syrup

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This is another example of blaming companies for peoples choices. Poor people can eat all the fast food they want, just because they're poor doesn't mean we get to micromanage them. Truthfully, it is cheaper to shop elsewhere though. The problem is that the lack of law enforcement in those area makes it dangerous to do business. Maybe this useless council should do something about crime? These people don't even have cooking equipment, how the hell are they supposed to cook at home?

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A couple facts that keeps getting lost in this is... first, it's a ban on new fast food joints. Existing restaurants aren't being closed and eateries aren't being ticketed for serving the food. 75% of the restaurants in the area are fast food. People will still have plenty of choices for fast, cheap food if that's what they want. Two, this wasn't a bunch of politicians who sat around and dreampt this up out of thin air. Articles on the topic have reported that area residents complained about the proliferation of fast food restaurants during a series of public meetings. Should their elected officials have sat back and said, "Eh, thin the herd. We're not here to make choices for you"?

Believe me when I say I'm the last person who thinks the government should be legislating my, or anybody else's, lifestyle choices. But that's just it... I have choices. I can afford not to feed my daughter fast food. I can take the time to make a healthy dinner for my family and me. Or, like yesterday, I can stop at a Chick-Fil-A and have a sandwich that I almost immediately regretted but still really enjoyed.

Without the options and the education that they can spend wisely and still make a healthy meal, that 30%+ obesity rate is going to keep going up.

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Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Why do we feel the government needs to pass laws like this?

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I'm overweight and I don't eat fast food. I eat too much good food and don't get enough activity. Ban all the fast food restaurants you want, it won't help a lot of us.

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instead of banning fast food, why don't they use that cash to have classes as to how to cook cheaply?

2 words: personal responsibility.

government should butt out.

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The sad thing is ... The LA City Councilman that was pushing the ban is the former chief of the LAPD, William Brattion ... He was NOT successful as the police chief and now he's not an effective city councilman ...

Eating fast food isn't the only cause of obesity ... It's overeating and lack of activity ... When the schools have money issues, the first thing they cut out if Phys Ed which means the kids aren't getting exercise at school and then they go home & sit around and not get exercise there either ...


The LA City Council (as well as other govt agencies) need to realize that this so-called obesity epidemic has come about since the mass production of computers & video games ... How many of these obese people sit at home watching tv, playing video games & sit in front of a computer instead of being out riding a bike, walking, playing sports, etc ??

Where I live, there are a LOT of fat kids ... But, the school districts think that they MUST bus the kids to school because 6 blocks or a mile is too far for them to walk / bike ... When I grew up, my jr & sr high schools were 3 MILES from my house & my elementary school was about 1/2 mile, but we walked / biked every freakin' day (even when it was 105 degrees & there were stage 3 smog alerts) ...

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The part that makes me laugh is the fact that this post says the new fast food restaurant ban will be in the area of LA that has 32% overweigh rates in the population.

Isn't America, as a whole, 66% overweight? If they're only 32%, they're doing pretty damned good...

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You're probably thinking of overweight rates, not obesity rates. The numbers aren't pretty...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_the_United_States

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I don't really see anything wrong with banning MORE of these chains...Aren't there enough already? Obesity issue aside, it seems a little silly to see a McD's, burger king, starbucks, or what have you only to walk 3 blocks and see the same thing over again!
So there's a McD's every 5 blocks instead of every 2...is that really such a big issue?

I agree with those who say people need an education about food and money should really be thrown in THAT direction.
While it's completely understandable that a mother who is poor needs to give her children food..maybe what she might not realize is that they CAN eat better than that just as cheaply, it just takes more effort on everyone's part.
I don't think that it's anyone's FAULT-- if you have the knowledge you can't fathom the people who don't...and if you don't, how do you obtain that knowledge when all your life you've been shown otherwise? You can't obtain knowledge and "take responsibility" when you don't have the tools in place to facilitate that. And THAT is the real plight, in my mind.

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Why is everyone so afraid of socialism in this country? Why is it such a dirty word?

Is it that hard to understand that people's actions, EVEN if they are individually performed, affect others in the end?

Companies capitalize on people's stupidity and ignorance...and guess what...the people who are not ignorant and stupid get affected by the lowering of standards across the board...which are result of whatever (reducing costs, cutting corners, etc).

Sometimes the government can be a good force and can alter people's lives for the better. In this case, I believe this is a positive.

Everyone talks about personal responsibility...which is great and necessary. But personal responsibility cannot, for most, be decoupled from personality, emotions, general thinking, etc.

There are plenty of people willing to commit financial suicide (see the housing market) and cause great pain for people who would like to buy a home but can't now because of all the idiots who overbid and overpaid. So thinking an individual's actions don't affect others is naive.

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