Showing papers in "Fordham Urban Law Journal in 2018"

Let Them Eat Kale: The Misplaced Narrative of Food Access

Abstract: In recent years, policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, and activists have supported policies to eliminate disparities in access to healthy food and, by doing so, reduce diet-related chronic diseases. These efforts have involved a wide range of interventions, from the creation of new farmers’ markets to programs encouraging convenience stores to sell fresh produce. One of the most prominent food access interventions uses incentives to lure supermarkets to so- called “food deserts,” communities deemed to have insufficient full- service food retail. Federal, state, and municipal governments have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to subsidize supermarket development through such programs. However, research has shown that merely expanding access to food retail has no appreciable effect on shopping patterns, food choices, health, obesity, or diet-related diseases. Support for these interventions has nonetheless continued to grow — obscuring underlying issues and detracting from more effective strategies. This Article examines the emergence of food access as a policy issue, current approaches to increasing food access, and possible alternatives. Part I discusses the development of the current food access narrative, focusing on its appeal to policymakers, urban planners, and public health officials. Part II describes policies to increase access to food retail. Part III reviews research on the relationship between food retail and health outcomes. Part IV examines why increasing food access persists as a policy goal despite its demonstrated failure to reduce health inequities. Finally, Part V proposes alternative strategies for reducing economic and health disparities within food systems.

A Place to Call Home: Tenant Blacklisting and the Denial of Opportunity

Abstract: Tenants named in an eviction proceeding, no matter the outcome or the context, find themselves placed on registries collected and maintained by private "tenant reporting services." Tenants whose names appear on these so-called "blacklists" are often denied future renting opportunities, stigmatized and excluded from the promise of fair housing. At a time of continued rollbacks and dramatic cuts to housing voucher programs and affordable housing options, a candidate named on a dreaded blacklist can find herself on a quick path to homelessness. That tenant blacklisting has been allowed to persist is emblematic of how powerless many tenants - and particularly public housing tenants - have become. This paper endeavors to give voice to some of the stories of tenants affected by the practice. It then sets forth an agenda for reform.

Infill: New Housing for Twenty-First Century America

Abstract: The American population has changed dramatically over the past several decades: fewer of us live in big families, more of us live alone or in pairs, and more of us favor metropolitan areas near the coasts. Yet our housing laws remain mired in assumptions from the previous century that we are a spread-out nation of large families that need and prefer single-family houses. This Article proposes that our land use laws should affirmatively encourage the construction of infill housing—that is, housing inside our built-up neighborhoods, of both cities and suburbs—and that this infill should be apartment housing— a form of living that has been disfavored under traditional land use law but is more popular among a changing American populace. This Article marshals census and housing data to explain the changing American population, with its million new households per year, and explores the effects of the traditional discrimination against apartment housing in the areas of Washington, D.C., and the San Francisco Bay. It proposes a legal technique of zoning expansion infill, by which cities would be encouraged to widen geographically their existing zones for apartment housing in a fair and sensible manner. Such infill also would further environmental aims by avoiding sprawl and would ameliorate the high costs of housing in modern America by boosting supply and spurring the process of filtering to dampen the costs of rental housing for lower-income Americans. * Professor of Law, Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport and Tampa, Florida. This Article was supported by a generous scholarship grant from Stetson Law. The author thanks research assistant Sarah Gottlieb, Stetson J.D., 2016. The author also thanks Professor Michael Lewyn for his constructive comments on an earlier draft. 596 FORDHAM URB. L.J. [Vol. XLV

Big Food and Soda Versus Public Health: Industry Litigation Against Local Government Regulations to Promote Healthy Diets

Abstract: Diets high in fats, sugars, and sodium are contributing to alarming levels of obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers throughout the United States. Sugary drinks, which include beverages that contain added caloric sweeteners such as flavored milks, fruit drinks, sports drinks, and sodas, are the largest source of added sugar in the American diet and an important causative factor for obesity and other diet-related diseases. City and county governments have emerged as key innovators to promote healthier diets, adopting menu labeling laws to facilitate informed choices and soda taxes, warnings labels, and a soda portion cap to discourage consumption. These measures raise tension between the public health promotion and the food and beverage industry’s interests in maximizing profits. This article analyzes the food and beverage industry’s efforts to undermine local government nutrition promotion measures, including lobbying, funding scientific research, public messaging, and litigation. It examines four case studies (New York City’s soda portion cap, San Francisco’s soda warnings ordinance, and soda taxes in Philadelphia and Cook County), and distills steps that local governments can take to address industry opposition and help ensure the legal viability and political sustainability of key public health interventions.