“This is not an attempt to control what food people put in their mouths,” LA city council member Jan Perry insists, but of course the new ban on new fast-food restaurants in South LA is exactly that.  Perry just wants to “diversify their food options,” but apparently doesn’t trust residents to do that for themselves and so wants to limit their options — presumably to higher-priced restaurants that may or may not open in their neighborhoods.  After all, it’s not as though there is a shortage of leasing space in these parts of America’s #2 city.  Nor will this help the already-high unemployment in these low-income neighborhoods, as the ban will prevent a steady source of part-time work for students:

Perry’s new plan bans new so-called “stand alone” fast food restaurants opening within half a mile of existing restaurants.

Such stand-alone establishments are on their own property, but those same restaurants are OK if they’re a part of a strip mall, according to the new rules.

“Give a grocery store and a housing combination a chance to come in,” Perry said.

What, there aren’t any high-priced French restaurants in South LA?  Sacre bleu! That might have something to do with the high unemployment and low incomes in the area.  Perry complains that 72% of the restaurants in the area are fast food compared to West LA’s concentration being in the mid-40s, but the obvious explanation is that higher income areas can support higher-priced restaurants.  If Olive Garden could make a profit in South LA, they’d already be there.  The issue isn’t that fast-food restaurants are hogging the commercial space, but that other establishments aren’t moving into the area.

The people Perry treats as idiots aren’t terribly happy about the new ban, either:

“People don’t need to be told what to eat or what they want to eat. To me, it’s not right, especially with employment right now,” said South L.A. resident Joel Rodriguez.

What about the jobs?  Left Coast Rebel wonders, too:

Where liberal policies abound, massive economic failure is not far behind. As previously reported, BLS places LA’s unemployment rate at 11.7% at the end of October. However, here are some more fun facts according to LA publications. To give you an idea of the job market, here is the LA Times:

In California, the construction industry has lost 323,100 jobs since the beginning of the recession; manufacturing has lost 209,700.

Wouldn’t it be nice for some jobs for low-skill labor in LA? Apparently, LA’s unemployed think so, later in the article, there is a report that focuses on an unemployed convict looking for work in…wait for it…a restaurant:

He knows he’s competing against thousands of other men as he applies for low-end jobs in restaurants and factories, even though the South Los Angeles resident would love to return to driving a truck, which he did before he went to prison.

A whopping 20% of LA’s black community has not worked in the past year, proving once again, the wonders of liberal policies for the African American community.

I’d guess Perry will be in the running for a Reason TV Nanny of the Month.