The No-Fry Zone

Joel Rivera, the "youthful and slim" health committee chairman of the New York City Council, has an idea:

"What I want to do is limit the number of fast-food establishments within specific proximity of each other, and try to give incentives for healthy alternatives, and give people choices," he adds.

The main idea he wants the health department and fellow politicians to consider involves using zoning-laws to put a cap on the number of fast-food outlets in low-income neighbourhoods, where diseases like type-two diabetes are most prevalent.

Got that? Give people choices by limiting options, shut a bunch of profitable businesses (but only in low-income areas), and ignore the fact that poor people (even fat poor people) still retain the right to move outside their immediate surroundings. And there's more:

It's a legal restriction that has already worked in several other American cities, he says, and it makes sense to explore drastic measures, following on from the statistical success of the city's three-year-old smoking ban.

Whole thing here.