What Will Become of Wendy's?

So, if you haven't heard already, the LA city council is placing a moratorium on fast food restaurants in South Central. Their argument is that the poor minorities that live in the area do not have many healthy options for food, and fast food restaurants compound the problem, offering cheap, unhealthy nourishment.

Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love Wendy's, they have excellent fast food burgers for a price as low as 99 cent, they serve frosties, and they even have mandarin orange cups. If it wasn't for the fact that it would kill me, I think I might eat there everyday. I understand the premise behind the moratorium; people see a problem (residents of low-income areas do not have many healthy options) and they want to do something about it. Like any good progressive, I think that finding ways to provide healthier options to low-income people is an excellent idea. I know that the people on the LA city council were just trying to find a solution. The thing is, that, their solution won't do anything.. I repeat, not a damn thing, in fact it could make things worse. First, the benefits of fast food, in the case of people who are low income exceed the disadvantages, second- it in no way attracts better food options to low income areas, and third, it smacks of paternalism.

People don't eat fast food because it is healthy.. no one in their right mind thinks that McDonalds, Popeyes, or Wendy's will make them lose weight or is part of a nutritionally balanced diet. Fast food, however, has four advantages, the four C's if you will- it's convenient, it's consistent, it's cheap, and it's usually close. The convenience of fast food is that you don't have to do the cooking, and it usually does not take a long time. Moreover, you can eat it while you're in the car, on the bus, walking (okay I know I do that sometimes), basically you can go through your day without missing a beat.
Fast food may not be the tastiest of options, (although like I said, I think it tastes good), particularly if you had the chance to sit down to a real burger spot. But we all know what a Big Mac tastes like, and most likely there will be little variation. The lettuce, the cheese, pickles, onions, sauce, etc. are all gonna be there and its gonna taste like a Big Mac should... like a pretty good fast food burger. It's cheap... I just moved to New York so I don't know how much longer I can say that, but if you order off the dollar menu, you can get two double cheeseburgers, a small fry, a small drink (which you can refill), and two apple pies for 5 dollars. I know that in the long run, shopping at a grocery store is cheaper, but you need to have a bunch of cash on hand right then in order to make that work. Shoot, any college student knows that it's tough getting your hands on that kind of money all at once... but you'll have 5 bucks pretty much everyday. Of course, you could eat rice and beans everyday.... anyway, finally, if you live in a city, you pretty much know that you can find one close by, and it will stay open pretty late. Okay, so you gain some weight, and you have health problems later on in life.. right now what you care about is making that check last and maybe having a little something extra do something else that you like. The benefits are something you can cash in on right now.. the disadvantages are usually far away... even being overweight is not that bad anymore... it's damn near the norm. So until the disadvantages start to outweigh the benefits (maybe the day when we provide a baseline income to get people out of poverty, HA!) is the day that people can start choosing fast food over anything else.
Placing a moratorium on fast food restaurants doesn't even solve the real problem, the fact that there are little or no healthy options for people in low income neighborhoods. How does banning fast food restaurants bring better restaurants/grocery stores into South Central? If there was money for Whole Foods to make in the hood, don't you think they'd already be there, regardless of whether or not there is a Burger King next door. I've seen plenty of health food stores, healthy cafes in close proximity to more fattening fare; they could easily coexist if they wanted to. If you'd been to any bad neighborhood you know there are plenty of empty buildings to go around, South Central ain't midtown Manhattan. Now, instead of bringing healthier restaurants/grocery stores into South Central, what's going to happen is that the potential fast food buildings will sit empty and the unhealthy delis/corner stores/liquor stores will make more money... instead of a Burger King pepsi, people will just drink more orange Tampico (the thickest "juice" drink known to man). Instead of eating a burger, they'll have a cheesesteak. Everything will be pretty much the same, until there is money in those areas to be spent on higher priced healthy goods.
Finally, the LA city council's actions smack of blatant paternalism; people are not to be trusted in their ability to make eating choices for themselves. William Saletan, a writer for Slate said it best (and I will paraphrase him); this isn't liquor or cigarettes they are regulating, it's food. Regardless of how unhealthy it is, it's still edible food, which has good qualities as well.. namely that it gives you calories necessary for you to have the energy to survive, go to work, play with your kids, etc. Liquor and cigarettes are not necessary for survival, they do not add any value to life other than their ability to relieve stress, make a social gathering better, give you something to do while you're waiting at the bus stop, and to make a woman look more beautiful (i kid, i kid). Fast food itself is not bad, too much fast food is bad and again, if there were healthier, just as tasty options in peoples price range there is no doubt that they'd eat it. The thing is, people in this country are on the surface very wary of a top-down, paternalistic kind of mentality. It happens anyway, but people at the very least try not to overtly announce their preference for that kind of view. If the elite/politicians in our society were more willing to accept the responsibilities that come with that kind of attitude, then it would not be so bad. Ultimately though, I know that the people on the LA city council have their hearts in the right place. I just wish they also had their minds there, and started getting at the real root of the problem.