Split Las Vegas council pursues healthy food but not unhealthy food outlets

The city that pioneered cheap casino buffets and counts 8,000-calorie burgers as a civic attraction has adopted a healthy food policy, but not without an argument.

The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday voted 4-3 for a resolution that calls for increased access to healthful foods through grocery stores and farmers markets.

But the approval only came after a debate that resulted in paring back the resolution to strike references to restrictions on unhealthy food outlets.

“Are we going to start this where if In-N-Out Burger wants to open up in my ward they can’t because it is not healthy?” Mayor Pro Tem Stavros Anthony asked.

He said the portion of the resolution that suggested zoning restrictions to discourage unhealthy food outlets reminded him of the recent attempt by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to use city regulations to prohibit large soda sizes.

“I think that is ridiculous,” Anthony said.

Anthony wasn’t the only one wary of city government delving into the politics of food.

“I personally hate overgovernment,” Mayor Carolyn Goodman said. “I don’t dislike it; I hate it with a passion.”

Residents who showed up to testify also decried the specter of government control, raising concerns about everything from the dangers of genetically modified food to the “Agenda 21” conspiracy theory that asserts the United Nations is seeking to deprive people of their property rights through a 1992 resolution on sustainable development.

“We have a real problem, and it is not here in Las Vegas,” resident Michael Turley said. “We are being influenced by designs we don’t understand unless we do the research.”

The resolution passed only after Councilman Bob Coffin suggested changes to keep parts that call for cutting red tape to make it easier to run farmers markets while eliminating any suggestions that the city should discourage unhealthy choices.

Coffin said the discouraging parts could make it appear as if the council members were making overly judgmental decisions about how people should eat.

“Now you are going to make us on the council the wise men and women of dietary consumption,” he said.

City planning manager Flinn Fagg said the resolution is merely a road map for the city to accomplish a council goal of making Las Vegas a healthy place to live.

It directs the staff to review polices and regulations that can get in the way of opening farmers markets and other healthful food outlets. It also identifies areas of the city with a disproportionate number of residents who don’t have reliable transportation and are more than a quarter-mile from a grocery store.

“We don’t build grocery stores,” Fagg said. “However the city does have land use policy and regulations that tell you where grocery stores can locate.”

Council members Steve Ross, Lois Tarkanian, Ricki Barlow and Coffin voted for the amended version of the policy. Goodman, Anthony and Councilman Bob Beers voted against.

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285 .