Should Dave Bing impose a moratorium on fast-food restaurants in the city?

[jcole]

Are these the same people bitching about the smoking ban? The state should just add its sin tax and earn some revenue from those who want to enjoy their vices in public.

[DetroitPlanner]

Can someone enlighten me with the difference... healthwise.. between a fast food restaurant and a coney island??

I will stop at Wendy's and get a Grilled Chicken Sandwich, baked potato and a Caesar's "side salad". But you won't catch me stepping into a coney island type restaurant... and ordering a coney dog....

Isn't it more about WHAT your order... than WHERE you order it??

Exactly, most fast food restraunts offer salads, grilled chicken or other healthy alternatives. Its more about personal choices than it is about the vendors.

[bartock]

My Mom taught me everything in moderation. It isn't the fast food places that bother me so much as kids in gas stations waiting for buses to get to school, using a bridge card to buy chips and a soda for their morning meal

There is a BP on Mack Ave. SW of Outer Drive that seems to stock nothing but those 35 cent bag of chips, and there is heavy parent/children traffic in the mornings buying the exact morning meal you described.

[RickBeall]

Yes, I think we need to outlaw all rib joints, pizza places, and soul food restaurants in the city. I also think that children should be trained to do citizens arrests in the event their parents fry anything.

[Russix]

How about imposing a warning label on fast food that is high in saturated fat? WARNING: This food may KILL you. I don't think it's fair to fat tax everything from a fast food joint, they do sell healthy items along side the junk food.

[BShea]

Is Slow's healthy food?

Perhaps that should be closed, too, in the name of Nanny Statism.

I'm having flashbacks to "Hipsters growing carrots will save Detroit!"

The McDonald's at Mack/75 is the fastest, most efficient thing in the city.

[jtf1972]

In New York City, officials required fast food chains to post calorie counts on menus and displays.

This would be a HUGE asset [[in the fight against huge asses.) When you walk into a fast food place or any food place for that matter, your eyes may tell you "Double-Cheesy-Bacon-Chocolate-Butter-Melt," but when your eyes look to the side and see that it has 19,000 calories you tend to say "Lemme get that 350 calorie burger."

I've dropped 25 lbs this year by watching my calories.

[CLAUDE G]

If we followed all the bullshut health guidelines, everything is bad for you and you can't eat anything!

There was a show a few months ago where they made healthy looking meals out of fast food and served it to people now knowing it was fast food.

They first served the fast food made to look like healthy food, and everyone was surprised how healthy it was and tasted good.

They took the same food, and servedit in their origional fast food wrappers and people where complaining about how bad the food was for you

[Zacha341]

Oh, don't mention Slows... I don't eat BBQ or pork often but their food is great... yummy!

Is Slow's healthy food?

Perhaps that should be closed, too, in the name of Nanny Statism.

I'm having flashbacks to "Hipsters growing carrots will save Detroit!"

The McDonald's at Mack/75 is the fastest, most efficient thing in the city.

[Lowell]

The McDonald's at Mack/75 is the fastest, most efficient thing in the city.

Wrong. Parking enforcement is. All city departments need to be modeled on this department.

On the list of what is unhealthy, fast food is way down the line. It is also one of the few entry-level job venues available for youth where income, structured training and employment skills can be obtained. Do I wish the menus were healthier, the employees paid better? Certainly. But shutting them out is not the way and serves only those with distant ideals who don't need those jobs.

[gdogslim]

i concur 100%

[DetroitPlanner]

If anything this goes back to people being poorly educated about making the correct choices in life. Folks cannot see the consequences of thier actions. Change this and we will see a much better region.

[Melocoton]

You're right, calling Detroit a dessert does not make any sense. It's a brunch, at best.

I'd say it's more of a mid-afternoon snack, really.

[roblinn]

I still want to know why they picked Detroit. I looked this issue a little bit in my blog. but I didn't really come to hard conclusions. They don't really offer any hard evidence that Detroit has greater accessibility to, or consumption of, fast food than its peers across the country and state.

[ASR89]

Welcome to the forum, Roblinn.

[RickBeall]

Dog treats have more fat in them than burgers at McDonalds. They should be outlawed too.

[RaumVogel]

Dog treats have more fat in them than burgers at McDonalds. They should be outlawed too.

Good point. I think these moron "do-gooder" organizations should STFU and help people instead of impose their will on people.Next they will want to tax fast food so they can fund the next Kwame.

[erikd]

Fuck these prohibitionists. I rarely eat fast food, because it is shitty food and very unhealthy, but the last thing we need in this country is more laws banning personal choice. We don't need more bullshit laws banning fatty food, booze, smoking, drugs, gambling, or prostitution. What we really need is to impose a moratorium on murder, rape, robbery, burglary, shoplifting and auto theft.

These puritanical morons have their heads up their asses. We have 400 murders in this city every year, and these idiots want the city government to protect us from cheeseburgers and french fries.

[DetroitDad]

I also don't think this can be done within the bounds of the law, if we remain under the Constitution. It will be dashed to the rocks as hindering the free speech rights of corporations-as-persons. This, if made into law, will only COST the city monies we dearly do not have, wasted on lawyers yakking.


Educating the masses and providing them with true options seems the only way. Incentives to grow your OWN food and eat it closest to its raw state would be ideal, but it may be too great a cultural shock to the average person who actually thinks fast restaurants serve real food!



I used to BE a fast-food ONLY eater. I'll never forget one day on the salesfloor of a hifi store up in Birmingham...when one of my customers saw me slamming another quarter-pounder with cheese in three bites...and they said, "How can you eat that stuff?!" My flippant remark was probably, "what? you just saw me...in three bites!"


But it made a dent. I saw my health deteriorating in my late twenties into early thirties. Married at 32, all of a sudden I went from being 30 pounds overweight to 65 pounds heavy. Sick as a dog with asthma, allergic to an alarmingly increasing number of things, lethargic...and then I got my wake-up call.


Spent fifteen years diligently learning and applying what little I understood. NOW? I'm back to my high-school weight at 47, and have completed twenty marathons. They were all jog/walked...I don't consider myself a runner, THOSE folks watch the clock. I find my rhythm and pace myself, and enjoy every step...every breath.


So...can we find motivated, high-visibility individuals in each neighborhood...and prove to and through THEM there is a better way...so they can share it with those who trust and know them? The overall meme throughout the city is distrust of authority, especially governmental. So nearly anything the government tries, against the hearty momentum of the fast food industry, will be held in high suspicion.

Same approach may help eliminate the 'no snitching' rule, too! Who knows?!


Cheers

That may have been my favorite post of yours, Gannon.

[JimminyCricket]

73 fast food restaurants in 139 square mile city of over 800,000 people is hardly a lot. Downtown Toronto easily has over 100 fast food restaurants in about 4 square miles. Hell, the food courts ALONE have over 100 restaurants combined.

[Zacha341]

Yes, we have horrid police and fire service, a fragile electrical grid and the 'food' police are coming. How absurd... and fake. Keeping people safe and alive to be able to eat would make more sense instead of some social reform program/ law...

Fuck these prohibitionists. I rarely eat fast food, because it is shitty food and very unhealthy, but the last thing we need in this country is more laws banning personal choice. We don't need more bullshit laws banning fatty food, booze, smoking, drugs, gambling, or prostitution. What we really need is to impose a moratorium on murder, rape, robbery, burglary, shoplifting and auto theft.

These puritanical morons have their heads up their asses. We have 400 murders in this city every year, and these idiots want the city government to protect us from cheeseburgers and french fries.

[maxx]

For as much talk as there is about Detroit being a food dessert, this does not make any sense.

These folks would be light years better off going into public schools and educating the children about making wise choices, not only in selecting foods but with everything. A regular hamburger from McDonalds is not the issue, its the choice of eating the Big Mac with large fries and barrell sized coke everyday that will.

The parents need to be educated. "Supersize Me" has a lot of good info about fast foods and nutrition including that children's behavior can be changed with proper nutrition. Parents determine the eating habits of children.
It's amazing that there are so many fast food places in the poorest city in the U.S.. As someone mentioned, there is something wrong when fast food is cheaper than fresh fruits and veggies. That's our farm bills and farm subsidies.

[Zacha341]

I saw Supersize Me, it was very compelling. Yeah, interesting that the poorest US areas have high obesity rates. I work teens from time to time and I am amazed at how much fast foods they eat, and quantity. So many young females that are obese before they have even had children. I don't mean full figured. There's a difference. I mean obese.

The parents need to be educated. "Supersize Me" has a lot of good info about fast foods and nutrition including that children's behavior can be changed with proper nutrition. Parents determine the eating habits of children.
It's amazing that there are so many fast food places in the poorest city in the U.S.. As someone mentioned, there is something wrong when fast food is cheaper than fresh fruits and veggies. That's our farm bills and farm subsidies.