July 31, 2008
When they came for the drinkers and smokers, I didn't care..."What we're looking at, essentially, is the beginning of food zoning. Liquor and cigarette sales are already zoned. You can't sell booze here; you can't sell smokes there. Each city makes its own rules, block by block. Proponents of the L.A. ordinance see it as the logical next step. Fast food is bad for you, just as drinking or smoking is, they argue. Community Coalition, a local activist group, promotes the moratorium as a sequel to its crackdown on alcohol merchants, scummy motels, and other "nuisance businesses." An L.A. councilman says the ordinance makes sense because it's "not too different to how we regulate liquor stores.... Supporters of the moratorium call this state of affairs "food apartheid." - Banning fast food in poor neighborhoods. - By William Saletan - Slate MagazineRich whites to poor blacks in South Central L.A. - "Shut up and eat your vegetables."
Posted by Vanderleun at July 31, 2008 9:25 AM from American Digest