obesity concerns spur calls to limit new convenience stores in south l.a. (link)
10.12.09 - l.a. times - by jerry hirsch

you live in south central? what's that? you've just been shot in the leg? oh wow. that's bleeding pretty bad. here. let me put a band aid on it...run along now. you'll be fine. band aid for a gunshot wound...that's essentially the approach to all the issues that plague south central, which is chock full of crime, poverty & drugs. the bloods & the crips started up there. the sweet gang filcks boyz n the hood & colors took place there. n.w.a., history's pioneering gangsta rappers, are from compton, a hood that's often considered part of south central.

you're not supposed to call the area south central any more though, because that name's synonymous with all that crime & whatnot. you're supposed to call it "south los angeles." anyway, south central's messed up & the city hasn't done much to tackle the core issue--that poor education & job opportunities for minorities have created a nasty environment to live in & that environment has spawned more of the same--but they are trying to tackle the TRUE evil...obesity.

as the l.a. times reports, as part of an expansion on last year's restrictions on fast-food restaurants, "the los angeles city council is set to consider a proposal that would limit the density of" convenient stores in south central. the rand corp. recently published a study that surmised that the high concentration of convenient stores selling junk food in the hood has led to a high obesity rate in south central ("26% of the residents of south los angeles are considered obese").

"the proposal...would prohibit such small neighborhood markets from being closer than one-half mile from one another unless they sold fresh fruit and vegetables." obviously, the convenient store industry's against the proposal, especially 7-11, which "has 50 stores within the los angeles city limits." there are "58 small food stores" in south central alone, compared to 14 in west l.a., but there are only three supermarkets in south central, compared to the ten in west l.a. no wonder gangs are always shooting each other up...they can't get a good basket of strawberries in their hood & that shit has to boil over somehow.