June 22, 2006
Zoning to Fight the Fast Food
City Councilman Joel Rivera has floated a novel idea: Limit fast food establishments through zoning. Rivera pointed to the fact that many fast food locations are low-income neighborhood, which also have very high obesity rates. (One in five schoolchildren is overweight and "almost" one in four is obese, according to the Department of Health.) Rivera sid, "You're not going to totally eliminate fast food restaurants, but you could limit the amount," and says he will hold hearings to see if the zoning laws can be changed in such a way. NYU's Mitchell Moss doubts zoning laws could be changed, saying, "In a city like New York, where everybody is on the run, it's very hard to single out what is and isn't fast food."
Do you think this idea has legs? The idea is certainly intriguing, but we wonder if some neighborhoods would be upset that a cheap and convenient food option would be denied. And the Post reports that the big pizza chains - Papa John's and Domino's - are looking to increase their presence in the city (there's a quote from Slice!).
Photograph of Blimpie in Greenpoint from Tien Mao
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Hell, lets just cut to the chase and make it illegal to be fat.. or ugly.. government imposed plastic surgery and liposuction as well as mandated exercise for everyone.
I don't think this idea has legs. First of all, what constitutes as fast food? I'm willing to bet that Subway and Blimpie will fight the label. Secondly, the reason a lot of fast food places are in poorer communities is becuase a salad bar will fail in 2 months. Like it or not, but if you surround a poor neighborhood with juice bars and vegetarian restaurants and put in 1 mcDonalds, the mcDonalds will have a line around the block. And a "nice" restaurant would be too expensive for the people living nearby anyways.
Why is every problem in low income neighborhoods always someone (the government, the white man, fast food companies) else’s fault?
Stop eating so much friggin’ KFC/McD’s/BK and you won’t get sick/fat plus if you aren’t eating there, then they aren’t making money and they will close!
Why doesn’t this idiot worry about serious issues?
Ummm.. are even there low income neighborhoods in NYC? (Meaning.. the island of Manhattan?)
Government paternalism is a standard answer (used by liberals, organized religions, etc) to social "problems" (drinking, smoking, sex, etc) committed by people who do not share their value system...
Gothamist seems to have falled into this trap of ignorant idealism, and I don't think this is the first time, either...
The answer is obvious: the city needs more Shake Shacks.
For those of you who take pride in fast food chains failing, I would like to say that the Blimpie photographed, on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, is doing very poorly.
I live across the street and see it everyday, and I never see more than 2 people inside. They've put up discount signs and handed out fliers and nobody ever goes inside. Probably because Blimpie's food sucks, but I digress.
I disagree with the Libertarians who think the goal of thinner/healthier is not a concern for government, but this is a horrible way to pursue this goal. There's nothing about food being served "fast" that makes it necessarily unhealthy. Many chain restaurants serve cheap unhealthy food quickly and these restaurants have proliferated in communities where people don't have the money for healthier options or the habits necessary for the pursuit a healthy lifestyle. The reasons for the latter are likely very complex and I won't attempt to address them here.
The likely outcome of any policy of zoning-out fast-food restaurants would be to replace McDonald's with "mom-and-pop" stores that would serve the same sort of food that will likely be of even worse quality and more expensive (unless the legislation incorporates some of menu-item requirement, but that could easily result in the sort of food equivalent of "porn" stores that get by zoning laws by carrying 500 copies of Finding Nemo). Changing people's desires to be healthy and giving them the means to make healthy choices is the only realistic way to solve this serious problem.
Ummm.. are even there low income neighborhoods in NYC? (Meaning.. the island of Manhattan?)
Yes Peepers, there are. Contrary to popular belief the East Village goes past Avenue A, Lower East Side goes past Essex, and the Upper East side goes past 110 st.
Brett,
Everyone has the means to buy healthy food. Have you really looked at the store how relatively inexpensive it is to buy raw fruits and vegetables and grains in relation even to the price of fast food? Try it next time you're in a store. You can get 2,000 "good and healthy" calories in you every day for less than the cost of a KFC family bucket.
But you know what? People like the taste and convenience of fast food, so they buy it.
Perry, I agree with you on this, but I don't really agree with this: "You can get 2,000 "good and healthy" calories in you every day for less than the cost of a KFC family bucket." It's simply not that true, unless you eat 15 apples a day and four cups of rice. A KFC bucket is probably around 8 dollars.
Shit, if they take Blimpie away I'll burn this motherfucker down. Sometimes I don't feel like spending $8 on the same shitty Panini that every deli in the city sells.
Perry, I agree with you on this, but I don't really agree with this: "You can get 2,000 "good and healthy" calories in you every day for less than the cost of a KFC family bucket." It's simply not that true, unless you eat 15 apples a day and four cups of rice. A KFC bucket is probably around 8 dollars.
For a single person eating just one meal, your logic makes sense, but come on...
If your horizon stretches beyond one meal, you can certainly spend less on a small but healthy selection of groceries that would last a few days than you would in buying $8 fast food meals.
Factor in multiple family members, and the economies of scale are even greater.
Anonymass, I know I was just playing devils advocate a little bit. People have to understand that it's not as easy as saying, get some fruit at the grocery store. There's a lot of other factors at work here. People don't eat fruit for meals. People want meat at every meal. Yes, everyone would save a lot of money if we all went to the grocery store every few days and stocked up on oranges and carrots. And the fact of the matter is that it IS economical to eat fast food every day. It's extremely unhealthy, but eating healthy get expensive if you don't have a lot of time and expertise. Or if your not one of those people that slices up a pear and chops up a head of lettuce and calls it dinner.
it is absolutely NOT economical to eat fast food every day. it is economical to spend $20 bucks at the grocery store for enough food for 2 people to eat dinner for 3 days. totally do-able, and much better for you than eating fast food.
I know, I already said it's better for you. Of course it's better for you. The whole $20 for the next 3 days for 2 people is total bullshit, I challenge anyone to give me a list of what food they buy that will feed 2 people for 3 days on $20. Chicken alone will end up being more than $10. I know you can buy a lot of vegetables, but once you actually add in a meat and some starch other than rice and it gets expensive. I go to the grocery store because I know how to cook and I really care what I put in my body.
When I was at my laziest and unhealthiest, I gave myself a $6 budget for every meal of fast food. And I met it consistently. It was NOT a good way to live, but it WAS economical.
apples are 4 pounds for $1 at the greenmarket. add some sweet potatoes, peppers, onion, zucchini, and rice and you have enough food for six meals in under $5.
and it's nutritious, to boot.
Right. You actually think that's a comparable menu? On the one side you have pepperoni pizza, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fries, burgers, etc. and on the other is six days worth of rice and zucchini with an apple for dessert.
Just tax a hundredth of a penny per calorie everywhere from restaurant to grocer. Funnel the money directly to anti-obesity campaigns and only exclude baby food.
Noble premise but as someone who lives in one of "those" neighborhood and happens to be fat--hell, maybe even obese--I have to say it has nothing to do with proximity of fast food restaurants. As a matter of fact, I can count on one chubby hand the number of fast food places above 125th Street. There are 4 McDonalds that I know about in Harlem above 125th and a few pizza places. Chain fast food isn't the culprit in this part of town. It is chicken wings and fries from the local chinese restuarants and lack of exercise. Plain and simple.
I have to disagree with Nathan...there are a handful of fast food chains in Harlem while there are over a dozen juice bars (not chains) and they are not failing. Next theory???
Big Mamma has it exactly right - sure McDonalds is always packed, but at least as heinous (and more pervasive) are the Chinese joints that fry everything (and offer up fried combo meals that make McDonald's happy meals look downright healthy.
And Nathan, you might be a decent cook, but your budgeting skills suck if you can't find a way to live off of groceries for less than it costs to cram down the fast food. And without compromising in terms of protein.