LA Eyes Ban on New Fast Food Outlets

There is so much fast food in South Los Angeles, and so much obesity, that city officials are considering banning any new outlets.  A two-year moratorium on new fast-food eateries has been proposed for an area where 30% of adults and 29% of kids are obese (compared with just over 20% and 23%, respectively, for the county overall). “To be honest, it’s all we eat,” one resident told the Los Angeles Times. 

South LA has a higher concentration of fast-food restaurants—20 outlets in one quarter-mile stretch—and fewer grocery stores per capita than other neighborhoods. The moratorium, to be considered by the city council this fall, is the “wave of the future,"  one health policy activist says. Cities including Berkeley and Arcata have implemented similar regulations. (More Los Angeles stories.)