New Yorker Features Alliance on Trans Fat

In the current issue of the New Yorker magazine, in its "Talk of the Town section, features the work of Richard Lipsky and the Alliance on the trans fat issue. The magazine also highlights the efforts of Louis Nunez of the Latino Restaurant Association. Nunez took reporter Lauren Collins on a dining tour of some of the best Latino eateries in Manhattan and the Bronx.

In the article Collins describes our efforts, along with those of Chuck Hunt of the Restaurant Association, as a defense of the "Fat Lobby." She observes that it is interesting that the larger chains are somewhat less visible on this issue but she also points out that, as Nunez told her, the smaller ethnic restaurants are much more vulnerable because of their lack of resources and information.

The real issue it appears to us is the fact that these decisions are being placed in the hands of unelected bureaucrats, rather than the city council where they belong. Regulations should be made pursuant to specific legislation and not through any usurpation of power by a health czar. In the near future we will be mobilizing the neighborhood eateries and their representatives in the council to challenge the jurisdiction of the Department of Health.