On your “No Fast Food” Quicklink…I’ve been following the proposed law by the Los Angeles City Council. I understand a large number of citizens would rather the government stay out of their business, but sometimes laws can make our communities a healthier, safer place.

A quote from the article, “Joe R. Hicks, a radio talk show host who was the executive director of Los Angeles’s Human Relations Commission under Mayor Richard Riordan a decade ago. The two now work for a think tank that focuses on race relations. The crime in all of this is that people are sitting around meddling into the very minutiae of what people are putting in their mouths, he said. He argues that the ban assumes the 500,000 people who live in South Los Angeles are intellectually incapable of deciding what to eat."

How is this any different than a bike or motorcycle helmet law? I don’t think the government is saying that my kid is stupid because he elects to not wear a bike helmet. They’re saying, research and statistics say it’s safer to do so and let’s take the guesswork out of it and make it mandatory. Now kids in my community don’t have to THINK about it, it’s the law. I know my dear friend from high school who lost her eighteen year-old brother to a helmetless motorcycle accident would agree. The law came a year later at the insistence of his grieving mother. We seriously can’t all agree that McDonald’s Big Macs and French fries, Taco Bell’s Chalupas, the Colonel’s fried chicken, and In and Out’s Double Doubles are full of saturated fat and a staggering amount of calories that contributes to the giant obesity epidemic in our country? Really? That’s news? That’s surprising to anyone?

I live on a street with at least a half dozen of these type of restaurants. I for one would be thrilled if they were placed on a moratorium or given an eviction notice by the city. Then my teenagers would be forced to make better choices. I certainly wouldn’t be offended that the city thinks my neighborhood needs rescuing. It does.