The City's redevelopment Agency is planning to offer loans to convenience stores to buy refrigerators so they can sell more fruits and vegetables, reports Howard Fine in labusinessjournal.com

Seems reasonable - spur small business / get healthier residents. Business (and home) owners and credit card users know that credit is tight. Not everyone agrees. But almost everyone.

Manny Rodriguez, owner of El Azteca Market near Main Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and Jessica Kim, owner of the 50-year-old Liquorama store on
Washington Boulevard in Mid-City, want to sell apples and oranges and don't seem to mind a
requirement that alcohol and junk food be at least 10 feet from the cash register.

It's not news that stores place profit above health (see California Endowment partner Market Makeovers.)

“This is an entirely voluntary program,” Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry told Howard Fine. “If
you want to step into this arena, then these are the guidelines. If you don’t like these guidelines, then you don’t have to accept the money.

“This is a new way of thinking. In the past, our approach has simply been to shut down liquor stores and try to get big-box grocery chains to move in.”

There has also been a push to support and open farmers markets in University Park and Expo Park, a proactive, innovative idea that has been a big success.