An edict like "eat your veggies" might seem more appropriate for the Well Being section of this blog. But these days you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't know about the health benefits of fresh vegetables.

Still, just because everyone knows that veggies are good doesn't mean that everyone eats them. In New York and other cities, this may be simply because not everyone can get them. Then the issue becomes one of social rights. Just as people of all socio-economic statuses deserve a decent education, so too do they deserve to eat a healthy diet.

This is the logic behind a new bill proposed by the New York City mayor's office to license more than 1,000 mobile green grocers -- and dispatch them to poor neighborhoods throughout the city. It makes sense. If you've spent any time in parts of upper Manhattan and large portions of the outer boroughs (in other words, the majority of New York City), you've probably noticed the paucity of bright, fresh produce -- a sight residents of the tonier neighborhoods take for granted.

According to the Columbia Spectator, West, Central, and East Harlem are together home to more than 400 bodegas, which sell lots of cigarettes and processed food but rarely produce. Meanwhile, the Upper East Side has only 46 bodegas, but countless gourmet delis, vegetable stands, and grocery stores.

The proposal, known as the "Green Carts bill", has already raised some quills among those shop-owners who fear their businesses will suffer if the city introduces these green carts. Sunny Kim, who runs a small grocery store with her husband, told the Spectator, "It's unfair. They [vendors] don't pay rent, they don't pay taxes. They can lower their prices, but supermarkets, who pay rent and pay taxes, cannot."

Kim has a point, but so do all the people wondering when some of these green grocers will open a store in Harlem or East New York, in Brooklyn. Until that happens, I say cheers to the mayor's office for proposing this solution.