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I can't think of a better way to make it absolutely certain that the kids will binge out on candy bars, Twinkies and potato chips from vending machines or nearby convenience stores than to make sure they don't get a burger or sandwich salad at a fast food place.

Did you consider unintended consequences? Or is that really the consequence you intended?

For more about fast food and schools, check out http://detentionslip.org, the leader in crazy education news.

If we don't allow bars within 500 feet of schools, why should we allow fast food?

The naysayers can come up with a lot snarky jokes, but the fact is, any kid who has a dollar-menu within spitting distance is going to eat there every single day s/he has dollar, no matter how healthy their parents or their school is.

French fries and the like are engineered to respond to our bodies cravings and children under 14 simply can't be expected to understand how harmful these foods are.

Go Gioia!

I think instead of moving the fast food restaurants, they should just arrest the kids who are in the restaurants. A few nights in the slammer would get these kids eating carrots in no time.

Parents, please, please, please start raising your own dam kids!!!!! There is no excuse for letting your kids eat crap everyday, no matter how poor and or ignorant or even illiterate you might be. No supermarket near you? Then go find one. To bad if you have to get on a bus or walk 3 miles. Having children no matter what you think is 100% your choice. You deiced to procreate, not the government. That means your 100% responsible, not the government. It’s your job and duty to know what’s right or wrong for your kids. Ignorance is no excuse for poor nutrition and improper upbringing.

I don't see a problem with this. It costs nothing and can can lead a few kids to eat less junk food. It isn't a perfect or complete plan but it's a step forward. There are parents that never learned about proper nutrition. Should their kids continue eating junk food until the school adds nutrition to the curriculum?

The government already has zoning rules in place indicating where certain businesses can operate and that's all this is.

Perhaps now would be an opportune time to mention the New York Coalition for Healthy Food:

http://www.healthylunches.org/index.htm

Banning new fast-food restaurants in close proximity to public schools is a nice beginning, but it is only that: It is even more important to offer healthful, delicious, affordable food to our school children, too.

The greatest barrier to offering low-fat, high-nutrition food to our kids remains the agribusiness lobby, which pushes the Federal government to push "surplus" milk, cheese, pork, etc., onto the most vulnerable of our population - growing children, often those from poor backgrounds who have no choice but to eat the high-fat, artery-clogging garbage they are served.

Also, since many of the affected kids are African-American and Latino, they are often adversely impacted by extra dairy (African-Americans/black people in general, Latinos in general and Asians usually cannot break down the lactose in dairy, which leads to a host of health issues).

Much better to provide a rich, traditionally-ethnic variety of fruits, vegetables, beans, rice and other whole grains.

What would qualify as fast food? My school is very close to Burger King, Subway, Mcdonalds, etc. We are also just as close to wonderful Mexican, Dominican and Chinese stores which sell a wide variety of food. I bet that Tortas are every bit as heavy in calories, fat, etc. as a Big Mac.

I have a better idea. Every child in every public school should have recess once a day. For those of you who don’t work in the schools it may come as a shock to you that most students will have recess only once a week, if that. Many schools do not even have proper gyms, just a classroom or two with mats on the walls. What ever happened to fresh air and exercise?

lower class neighborhoods DO have access to large supermarkets. you obviously have never lived in a lower class neighborhood. the fast food places are successful because people here are making the choice to eat there. it is NOT the only place to eat in the 'hood but it certainly is the busiest. PERSONAL RESPONSIBLITY!

Good grief. Everyone is missing the point. We have an obesity problem in the country -- overweight children become overweight adults. Wake up!! Eons ago, when we were young eating pizza and candy -- we also played outside, rode bikes, and generally burned off calories. It is a known fact that lower class neighborhoods do not have access to the large supermarkets found in better areas. Fast food businesses target these neighborhoods. It's classist to insist that people want to eat only this kind of food just because it's there.

and if that's his best idea i won't be voting for him!

the idea that people in poor neighborhoods don't have access to healthy food is such a falsehood. it's an excuse.
i live in bed-stuy, bklyn and my local Pioneer has a beautiful brand new fruit&vegetable area that is CHEAP but it's always empty. ever hear of rice & beans? is that too expensive? costs about $2 to make a nice, big pot of rice/beans.
it's about the lack of personal responisibility, that's the crux of the problem.

what about the ice-cream trucks that pull up outside the schools at 3pm when the kids get out and are hungry.

what about the people that stand outside schools and sometimes enter the playgrounds of the public schools selling cotton candy when the kids get out?

when our kids are grown they will look back on this type of behaviour and understand it to be naive, criminal and shocking - why should these individuals make money at the expense of our children? i understand its the parents job to monitor this but often its babysitters and not parents with the kids and the pressure to allow your child the treat because everyone else is is enormous - lets just remove it!

"Go you chicken fat, go!" :)

Everyone talking about the unhealthy options (including war rations) they had in school can't be compared to today's fast food. Even the fast food of today is far more evil than the fast food of 25 years ago, due to all the HCFS.

Kids eat what is easy and tastes good and what their friends eat. Kids are not thinking about having hypertension when they are 50 years old! If parents give them healthy foods, low on the food chain, then they will develop a taste for it. Please! I grew up eating Pop Tarts for breakfast, but by my 30s, when I finally started to CARE, I finally figured out for myself that this is not a good idea. This is one for the parents and the schools.

How about making it mandatory for schools to provide lunches in the schools? At my daughter's school, they are not allowed to eat in the cafeteria because there isn't enough staff to monitor them. So they are required to eat outside everyday.

I thought the vending machines were already removed an number years ago? I remember the reporting on it.

Perhaps a "grass roots" effort to get healthy, tasty food into schools would be a good start. ala Jamie Oliver's "School Dinners" efforts in the UK. I'd nominate Mark Bittman for the role!

get this guy out of here -- he has nothing new or interesting to say.

he is just proposing this to get attention.

obviously fast food is not good for anybody (kids or adults).

This proposed law is ridiculous. Just because there is a statistical link between obesity and location of fast food does not mean there is a causal link. School cafeteria food has always been and will always be just as bad for you as fast food. Its in the school. This is not a sensible law.

How about banning advertising to children period?

THIS IS AN ATROCIOUS IDEA. Do you not recognize that fast food resturants are virtually the only places that provide public space outside of school for kids to hang out in? This is as true here and now as it was in the small town where I grew up years ago. If you move them further away, you will only be encouraging people to skip an extra period before or after lunch.

This guy is way, way out of touch...I loathe junk food and totally agree that most New Yorker's display a rotten diet, but this horse is too high: it's just another condescending, patronizing polemic with a safe and easy target that can't shoot back. YOU SHOULD FEEL ASHAMED OF YOURSELF.

Bring back GYM! That would be more beneficial.

This is a great idea. Are ice cream trucks included? Not only do they provide empty calories in unhealthy ingredients, they foster a bad eating habit--setting up the expectation in kids as young as 4 and 5 of a sweet, unhealthy snack at the end of school. Every day is too much.

Regarding my own comments [7], I should add that I am glad there are no actual "fast food" restaurants in my neighborhood.

Get rid of the fast food restaurants, Great! But what are the remaining options? What are kids supposed to eat?

I'm a big supporter of Counciilman Gioia but on this issue I don't fully agree with his method of solving the problem. If anything the problem is one to be handled in the home; parents have to teach their kids how to eat healthy foods. Many of these places now offer healthier food as well as the delicious ones (wink, wink). But seriously I just don't think regulating where a business can open is really constitutional and it verges on control that can get out of control.

his reasoning seems a bit curious to me; perhaps the fast food restaurants are in close proximity to these schools because the people in this neighborhood patronize it -- regardless of age?

gloia is glossing over the economic implications in his proposal.

Doesn't sound crazy. Removing the junkfood vending machines would be nice too. Replacing that revenue is another issue though.

If the fast food restaurants are farther at least the kids who do eat there will have to walk farther for it. Let's get exercise back in the school system too.

couldn't parents just tell their kids not to eat in the fast food places, or have we lost control of our children?

We were allowed to go out for lunch in junior high and high school (pubic school here in NYC). I ate fast food or pizza every single day, and I gained an extra 5 pounds every year. The problem is - the school didn't have a cafeteria large enough for all of us, so we had to go out for lunch, but most of us could only afford $5 or less for lunch every day. Where else but fast food were we going to eat? I think maybe we need to provide better nutrition education (I had no idea what calories were!) so kids know how to make healthy choices.

even for me this is too crazy and funnier than someone's april fool's joke!
I agree with Caitlin take the junk out of the lunch line and open grocery stores in some under served neighborhoods first.
exercise programs for students won't hurt.

I agree with the comments suggesting the need for "getting rid of the junk food IN the schools before getting rid of it AROUND schools", and for the need to offer basic nutritional education in school.

In my neighborhood, children are let out of school during lunch time one or more days during the week. I see them in the local diner, pizza place, Chinese restaurant, AND the fancy supermarket, buying french fries, or hot dogs for lunch more often than not. Closing all these places would be a serious imposition for our neighborhood.

There are so many schools in NYC that it seems like this would involve shutting down the fast food industry in the city. I wouldn't really miss these establishments, but we have a much larger problem with the poor nutritional content and sanitary condition of the food served in school cafeterias. It seems like it would be more effective to start inside the schools before penalizing nearby businesses.

I agree with Edward (poster #2.) Though I agree with the idea, that children shouldn't eat fast food, I don't think it is appropriate for the government to legislate such a thing. Education is one thing, but this proposal goes beyond the scope of what the gov't should be doing. And I'm a 'liberal,' too.

How about getting rid of the junk food IN the schools before getting rid of it AROUND schools? I don't know about public schools in NY, but when I was in high school in VA (not all that long ago) there were vending machines filled with snickers and coke all over the place, the only 'healthy' option in the lunch line was wilted iceburg lettuce salad, and everyone subsisted on fries and pizza.

When I was in junior high in Queens in the mid 1960s, the cafeteria sold packaged cake for dessert at lunch-time. Why was it ok then but not now?

We were taught in school in the 60's and 70's about proper nutrition. In addition our parents taught us the difference between healthy and junk food. We do not need more stupid legislation. We need more family and school education. It is difficult to understand how people can not know that fast food is unhealthy.

1/10th of a mile is nothing, it is a pointless waste of time trying to prevent fast food restaurants from locating in this area. What about all the deli's and convenience stores. What is next no Twinkies, Funny Bones and Ring Dings within 1/10 of a mile of a school!

What about better nutritional courses in the school curriculum? It wasn't until I was 23 and curious about eating well that I learned how to eat propoerly. I had to do it on my own. I think if kids were better educated they would make better choices.