Moratorium On Fat?

by Thurman Thatcher (Anonymous Staff Writer).

In response to a growing obesity epidemic, Los Angeles officials are proposing to limit the number of fast food restaurants in LA. The City Council will be asked to consider a moratorium that could last as long as two years on any new restaurants in designated parts of the city. Most of the LA’s 8,200 McDonalds, Burger Kings and others are centered in South-Central Los Angeles which leads people to believe that this is a socio-economic issue. However, I believe it is as much or more a political problem. Posing moratoriums such as this forbidding of non-governmentally owned businesses to open in certain areas is border-line socialism. While it is true that people from this part of the city are inhibited by their income, it is ultimately their own decisions to eat these foods that lead to their overall lack of health. It should not be up to the city to decide whether or not these restaurants or any other business can set up shop in certain areas because the truth is, if a person wants a Big-Mac badly enough they will drive the fifteen minutes to get it. In addition, the lack of fast-food will not lower the cost of fruits and vegetables in Compton or Inglewood. That being said, this isn’t an economic issue at all. Rather this is a blatant abuse of power on the part of the city which is much more dangerous than a quarter-pounder with cheese.