It was supposedly going to be a one-year “moratorium” in 2008. Instead, the ban is permanent.

New stand-alone fast food restaurants have been banned from setting up shop in South Los Angeles, due to rising health concerns by the city council…

“This is not an attempt to control people as to what they can put into their mouths. This is an attempt to diversify their food options,” said councilmember Jan Perry.

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

Holy Orwellian rhetoric, Batman. The government now wants us to believe that banning the establishment of new places to eat actually increases the diversity of our food options. That’s logic only a nanny state “progressive” could follow.

Incidentally, you know what happens when you stop new restaurants from opening? You stop new hiring. Say a franchise owner wants to open a new McDonalds. He’s going to have to hire new employees to staff the operation. Except now he’s banned from expanding his business, meaning those individuals who would have been employed are left to collect more unemployment. And that’s kind of a problem because Los Angeles has 14.3% unemployment.

Gee, you don’t think the culture of banning economic expansion could be contribution to higher unemployment rates, do you? Could it possibly be that imposing more mandates on businesses, raising their taxes, or outright banning their expansion…all has a negative impact on the economy? Say it ain’t so!