LA’s Food Deserts and the Vegetable Police

Two years ago, LA Times columnist Steve Lopez reported on Ron Finley, a resident of South Los Angeles. In what’s often called a healthy-food “desert,” Finley had planted a vegetable garden for himself and his hungry neighbors. But the food was growing on the city-owned strip of land between the street and the sidewalk, and Finley was ordered to cease and desist. City Council President Herb Wesson promised to change the anti-food law. Now—two years later—Lopez finds that nothing has changed.

This report first aired on Which Way, LA? last week:

In his Ted Talk below, Finley says that 26.5 million Americans live in food deserts. South LA, formerly called South Central, is considered a food desert and Finley is trying to change that.

his website.