Newsom Mandates Healthy Eating in San Francisco

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom took another step toward a full nanny city on Wednesday when he issued an executive directive mandating healthy eating in San Francisco.  This, after he banned bottled water for city employees (which I agree with on fiscal grounds — bottled water costs money and honestly Hetch Hetchy water is excellent anyway), and ordered composting citywide.

Newsom on Wednesday issued an executive directive he hopes will dramatically change how San Franciscans eat.

All city departments have six months to conduct an audit of unused land – including empty lots, rooftops, windowsills and median strips – that could be turned into community gardens or farms that could benefit residents, either by working at them or purchasing the fresh produce. Food vendors that contract with the city must offer healthy and sustainable food. All vending machines on city property must also offer healthy options, and farmers’ markets must begin accepting food stamps, although some already do.

The mayor will send an ordinance to the Board of Supervisors within two months mandating that all food served in city jails, hospitals, homeless shelters and community centers be healthy.

And effective immediately, no more runs to the doughnut shop before meetings and conferences held by city workers. Instead, city employees must use guidelines created by the Health Department when ordering food for meetings.

Examples include cutting bagels into halves or quarters so people can take smaller portions and serving vegetables instead of potato chips.

“We have an eating and drinking problem in the United States of America,” Newsom said Wednesday. “It’s impacting our health, and it’s impacting our economy.”

Now honestly, this is an honorable initiative.  People do need to eat healthier.  Turning unused land into gardens is an excellent idea.  But just how far does government need to intrude on citizens’ lives by now mandating how and what people eat?  Obesity certainly is an issue in America (I struggle with my weight, too).  But mostly these are personal, lifestyle choices that people make, unless there is a health issue like a thyroid problem. 

California is already a nanny state of the worst kind (and this is coming from someone with genuinely progressive leanings).  The state mandates all kinds of things from limiting cell phone use in cars to proscribing smoking in a car with a child in it.  Again, some of these are excellent ideas.  But for a state that can’t even pass a budget, doesn’t it have better things to do than intrude on people’s choices?

Now, San Francisco wants to worry about how people eat.  President Obama has mentioned it as well, but you haven’t seen him issuing executive orders on this.  The United States is a republic founded on the basis of personal liberty.  We don’t need the government infringing upon that one little step at a time.  Pretty soon Big Brother will indeed be watching.