Residents of Brentwood reportedly live 12 years longer than those in Watts, and more than 30 percent of children in South L.A. are obese compared with less than 12 percent of kids living roughly 21 miles due west.
These types of health and wellness disparities may have encouraged the Los Angeles City Council this week to vote unanimously to add a section to its general plan that focuses squarely on bridging the health gap between historically poor and wealthy neighborhoods.
The new health guidelines will include goals such as improving access to grocery stores, adding park space and increasing the number of low-cost daycare centers in economically deprived neighborhoods. All of these issues, according to city planner Claire Brown, are vital in maintaining the city’s economic viability. Experts like Brown stress that the council action reflects a broader shift in political thinking about health policies which are fundamentally linked, she said, to social conditions citywide.
“They’re not isolated pieces—you can’t just fix one thing and you’re going to solve health (challenges) for everybody,” Brown said in reference to a planning analysis that found that communities suffering from health problems were also those disadvantaged in other ways, including the lack of affordable housing, poor transportation options and a dearth of open recreational space. The analysis also suggested that people who feel unsafe in their neighborhood or don’t have a park nearby are far less likely to exercise.
Overall, Los Angeles has 8.9 acres of park space per 1,000 residents, exceeding the accepted standard of 3 acres per 1,000 residents. In South L.A. that figure shrinks down to less than one acre of park space per 1,000 residents.
Matt Raimi, a consultant who worked on the city’s new general plan and on similar projects in cities statewide, said L.A.’s adoption of the health plan is part of a recent trend that acknowledges “… how the decisions that planners make ultimately affect people’s health.”
“Los Angeles needs to follow through and fund programs that will help improve health throughout the city. Adopting the health element is not the end of the process, but rather it is the beginning,” Raimi explained.
The council vote does not include new funds or resources to accomplish citywide health goals, but officials believe the document can help future city planning. For example, city officials will now be obligated to consider health disparities and outcomes when updating zoning laws or allocating resources for public libraries. The new health plan is a collaboration between the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the City of Los Angeles Planning Commission and the California Endowment.
