Great post! And we shouldn't fail to notice two other things:

(1) It's a pilot program - what's wrong with trying?

(2) It was passed unanimously - that means that elected officials from the affected areas decided to give this a try. I could see one arguing about paternalism against poor people if it was more like the Wal-Mart zoning issue in Chicago - where the reps from poor areas were the ones most in favor of having a Wal-Mart, while reps from wealthy districts were adamantly opposed to it. But this L.A. law seems like a different animal altogether...