(MEATPOULTRY.com, July 30, 2008)
by MEAT&POULTRY Staff
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted
unanimously to put in place a 1-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in
the South Los Angeles, Southeast Los Angeles, West Adams, Baldwin Hills and Leimert Park community planning areas.
The action, which still must be signed into law by the
mayor, is believed to be the first of its kind by a major city to protect
public health.
"Our communities have an extreme shortage of quality
foods," said Bernard Parks, a city councilman.
The moratorium would only affect stand-alone restaurants, not establishments located in malls or strip shopping centers, and
defines fast-food restaurants as those that do not offer table service
and provide a limited menu of pre-prepared or quickly heated food in disposable
wrapping.
The Council said the moratorium is designed as a
"stop-gap measure" that will allow the city council’s Planning and
Land Use Management Committee time to study the effects of fast-food
restaurants as they pertain to community design, pedestrian activity, traffic
and other important urban planning issues. It also will allow time to attract
grocery stores and restaurants to the area.
"This ordinance is in no way attempting to tell people
what to eat but rather responding to the need to attract sit-down
restaurants, full-service grocery stores, and healthy food alternatives,"
said Jan Perry, a city councilwoman.
The announcement comes just a few days after California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 97, a bill that will phase out the use
of trans fats in all
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