Sorry for the politically incorrect title, but don't blame, blame the government tyrants in Washinton D.C. and Pima County who are at war with fat folks.

Pima County has super-sized plan for starving private property rights

by Christina Kohn

Uncle Sam wants to replace the fast food in your diet with government pork. Arizona’s Pima County is one of 44 municipalities receiving federal stimulus money to address obesity within its borders.

Pima County will use its $15.8 million to implement a comprehensive scheme of programs and restrictions on restaurants, workplaces and schools all aimed at shrinking the waistlines of county residents. The County has already made plans to restrict what foods will be available in county vending machines and has used taxpayer money to add 155 employees to the local bureaucracy.

Perhaps the most egregious of the plan’s goals is so-called “obesity zoning” which would limit the number of fast food restaurants within a given area. These zoning changes could result in the shutdown of locally-owned businesses and a considerable decline in the value of property zoned for business uses.

Beyond trying to micro-manage what we eat, by imposing stricter zoning on fast food restaurants, Pima County exposes itself to potential legal trouble. In 2006, Arizonans passed the Private Property Rights Protection Act, also known as Prop 207, which requires the government to compensate property owners when a land use law reduces the value of their property. So, if Pima County enacts obesity zoning, it may have a long list of property owners it has to compensate for restricting their property rights.

Although Prop 207 exempts land regulations that protect public health and safety, that really means addressing issues like sanitation and traffic control, not broad, general ideas about what the government thinks we should eat. The government will have a tough time proving this overreach falls within the designated exceptions. Pima County’s obesity action plan restricts consumer choice and reduces property values. Given voters’ overwhelming support for Prop 207, Pima County should abandon these proposed zoning rules that would leave a bad taste in every taxpayer’s mouth.

Christina Kohn is a staff attorney with the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation.

Source

15M to fight obesity in Pima

Stephanie Innes

Arizona Daily Star

Posted: Monday, October 18, 2010 12:00 am

Where is the money going?

The $15.7 million is going to eight teams, headed by the University of Arizona, the YMCA of Southern Arizona, the Carondelet Health Network, Activate Tucson and the Community Food Bank. The UA is heading four of the teams and will get the largest share of the $9 million that has been budgeted for the teams.

The remaining $6.7 million of the grant money is going to salaries, advertising, a website and small projects - for example if a neighborhood association or school wanted shade trees and benches for its playground.

So far, the county has spent $184,500 of the grant money.

Obesity refers to having a high amount of body fat in relation to lean body mass. Most studies and federal guidelines define an overweight adult as someone with a body mass index of 25 or higher - 30 or higher is considered obese. Body mass index is calculated from weight and height. Many experts say it can indicate the potential for health problems.

Most federal guidelines consider

In two years, Pima County residents will be slimmer and healthier.

That's the goal of county officials who received $15.7 million in federal funds to help curb and prevent obesity.

The money will go to eight local teams working to curb and prevent obesity through health and wellness education through schools, workplaces, faith-based groups and neighborhoods. It also will hire 75 full-time and part-time work-site wellness trainers, educators, data collectors and farmers-market-development employees. The local funds are part of $373 million awarded to 44 communities nationwide from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the economic stimulus package. Pima County was the only Arizona recipient.

Obesity creates significant health costs because it boosts the risk for chronic health conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, sleep apnea and respiratory problems, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says.

More than one-quarter of Arizona adults are considered obese, which means they have a body mass index of 30 or more. Arizona ranks 29th in the country for adult obesity and 15th in the nation for childhood obesity, says this year's "F as in Fat" report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America's Health. Nearly 18 percent of Arizona children ages 10 to 17 are obese, the report says. The data also say fewer than one-third of Arizona kids ages 6 through 17 participate in vigorous daily physical activity.

The federal money will fund several local programs. Among them:

• A communitywide campaign to get every Pima County student doing 60 minutes of physical activity per day. That might include reinstating recess or adding after-school programs.

• Healthier food choices in school cafeterias and vending machines.

• A voluntary "healthy" designation for local restaurants that show they meet a set of criteria such as smaller portion size and healthy menu options.

• Workplace wellness programs including forums, work-site training sessions and incentives such as pedometers, stretch bands and healthful-recipe cookbooks.

• An obesity prevention tool kit for churches, hospitals, doctors and community agencies, including "train-the-trainer" sessions on health coaching.

• More locally grown food at affordable prices. The Tucson Community Food Bank already operates three farmers markets and plans to add a fourth, at El Pueblo Neighborhood Center on Tucson's south side on Saturdays beginning in late October. Other plans include a mobile farmers market and an expanded gardening cooperative.

• Shadier bus stops, because having to sit in the sun discourages people from using mass transit.

• An analysis of how Southern Arizona's buildings, roads and parks affect our health. One plan calls for a team of University of Arizona students to map "food deserts" - areas where people don't have access to healthy food nearby - and the densities of local fast-food outlets.

• A survey of how Pima County fares when it comes to overweight, obese and underactive teens. The grant money demands quick changes, but those involved are confident that programs it funds will spur enough energy and excitement about a healthier Tucson to make a difference over the long term.

"Two years is not a long period of time, and policy changes take awhile, but policy drives behavior," said Merrill Eisenberg, an assistant professor in the UA's College of Public Health. "I'd love to see us get some policies in place so we make a better use of the resources we have and plan our community in a better way in terms of the next generation."

Contact reporter Stephanie Innes at 573-4134 or sinnes@azstarnet.com