Hoping Detroit sets an example

“About 3,400 of the city’s residents die from heart disease every year, giving Detroit the dubious distinction of having the fourth highest rate of heart disease-related deaths of all U.S. cities. …

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine recently sent a letter to Mayor Dave Bing asking him to impose a moratorium on new fast food restaurants in the city. Right now, Detroit boasts 73 fast food restaurants within the city’s 139 square miles. Thirty-two of those establishments are McDonald’s. PCRM thinks that 73 junk food purveyors is quite enough for one city, and the group is pushing Mayor Bing to enact legislation that bans new fast food establishments from setting up shop in Detroit.

Part of the problem in many cities is that fast food restaurants plunk themselves right in the middle of food deserts. Knowing that there’s a lack of grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and food coops in the region, fast food chains prey on folks who lack better, healthier food options. If legislation prevented any new fast food restaurants from moving into Detroit neighborhoods, it might open the door for healthier purveyors to take root, expand, and grow.”