Some residents in high obesity neighborhoods want the city to get its hands off their Big Macs.
City Council President Christine Quinn is considering a change to city zoning law to slow the proliferation of fast-food joints in neighborhoods with high obesity rates.
Those neighborhoods are also some of the city’s poorest and residents argue places like McDonald’s aren’t just a cheap food source, but provide much-needed jobs.
“A lot of people don’t go to school, they don’t have an education, the only places they can work are here,” said Valerin Batista, who makes $7.40 an hour at the Burger King on Grand Concourse in the Bronx. On that same block is a Popeye’s, a 7/11 and further down, a McDonald’s.
Batista, 21, applied to five jobs before Burger King hired her when it opened last year.
“I get so many people coming in here looking for part-time jobs,” said Vijay Paranjothi, a manager at a Popeye’s in the Bronx.
Right now, fast-food chains have the same zoning designation as other restaurants. Quinn’s idea for improving public health follows the lead of London, which banned fast-food restaurants from opening near schools, and Los Angeles which, in 2008, put a two-year ban on junk food places opening in low-income neighborhoods.
