Food on NLR council’s plate
Aldermen to look at guides for healthier vending-machine options
Vending machines, concession stands and city-catered events in North Little Rock would offer more healthful food and beverage options under proposed city guidelines.
A resolution establishing those guidelines — but not enforceable mandates — will be considered Monday by the North Little Rock City Council.
The recommendations from the city’s Fit 2 Live office and sponsored by Alderman Beth White outline categories of foods and beverages that would be integrated with other food options in vending machines in city-owned buildings and by concessionaires at events on city property, if the council approves.
The recommendations follow the national “Go-slowWhoa” program that categorizes foods from the most-toleast nutritious.
“The best way to explain ‘Go-slow-whoa’ is that ‘Go’ is an almost anytime food, like an apple,” said Bernadette Rhodes, the city’s Fit 2 Live coordinator who was hired a year ago to help guide city initiatives concerning food alternatives and exercise opportunities. “There are really no restrictions on quantities and on when to have an apple.
“‘Slow’ is a sometimes food, still fairly healthy but you want to consume those items in moderation,” Rhodes continued. Examples would be rice, pasta, white bread and canned tuna in oil, among others. “‘Whoa’ is a once-in-awhile food, like ice cream. It’s fine to have once in awhile, but you don’t want to build it into your regular eating patterns.”
The plan is to offer more nutritious options along with the usual candy, chips and sodas. Vending machines, for instance, would have at least half of their items fall into the “Go” or “Slow” listings, according to the resolution. In drink machines, bottled water or 100 percent fruit juice would be options along with traditional soft drinks.
By implementing such guidelines for city facilities and functions, White said, the
city would set an example for its residents.
“It is making a statement that we care about people’s health, for one thing, and particularly for our city employees,” White said.
She also emphasized that it is not the city’s place to forcefeed anyone, but only to offer options.
“I don’t believe in mandating what people need to eat,” White said. “But let’s give them a choice.
“Putting healthy options in vending machines gives people a choice. The lesshealthy snacks are still going to be there.”
However, baseball fans won’t have to miss out on splurging at Dickey-stephens Park when they take in an Arkansas Travelers baseball game. Hot dogs, sausages, nachos and other standard ballpark fare would not disappear, or even become scarce, because of the new guidelines.
“At this time, the guidelines do not include Dickey-stephens,” White said. “I know we’ve had conversations, but nothing was resolved. I’m hopeful.”
Pete Laven, general manager for the Arkansas Travelers Baseball Club, said Rhodes met with him after last season, “just discussing different things and possibilities.”
The ballpark’s restaurant, open to the public, offers salads and fruit plates, Laven said, but the concession stands do not offer the options the city is trying to emphasize.
“Not because we’re opposed to it,” Laven said. “There’s just not been much clamoring for it. Our main goal is to just give people what they want.”
“If it gets to that point,” he said, referring to customers wanting healthier items, “we’d be happy to explore any options.”
Using mostly city sales tax money approved in a 2005 election by North Little Rock voters, the city built the $40.4 million ballpark that opened in 2007. In 2008, the City Council turned over the ballpark’s ownership to the North Little Rock Public Building Authority, which leases the property to the ballclub.
The Public Building Authority — an independent board established to provide a long-term financing mechanism for the city — took over the ballpark to improve financing options to pay off the remaining debt on the ballpark.
The Travelers manage the ballpark, and it’s up to them what they offer their customers in the way of concessions, said city Commerce and Governmental Affairs Director Joe Smith, who is also chairman of the three-member Public Building Authority.
“I would say the lessee does have the right to control what he sells there, and we wouldn’t be able to dictate what he sells,” Smith said.
Rhodes said the city wants to work with the Travelers organization to find options that “would work for them and that are practical.”