Public hearing on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s
proposed soda ban
City Council members Dan Halloran, Oliver Koppell, Letitia James, Melissa Mark-Viverito and Robert Jackson all showed up at yesterday’s public hearing on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s
proposed soda ban – and each one criticized the proposal, saying it
would hurt small businesses and the local economy. Some blasted the
proposal as arbitrary, since some establishments would not be covered by
the new limit, which would cap the size of sodas and sugary drinks
available at food service establishments at 16 ounces. “Laws and
regulations should not be arbitrary and capricious,” Councilman Koppell
said. “This proposed regulation is exactly that.” But Health
Commissioner Thomas Farley explained that the change could only
be implemented for restaurants and other establishments that are
regulated by the Health Department. The restrictions were proposed by
the Bloomberg administration as a way to address obesity, but critics
also said they would fail to address the underlying issues of the city’s
obesity epidemic – education, physical activity and poverty – and urged
the Board of Health to vote against the proposal. Councilman Jackson
recounted that a constituent told him that, “Only God can dictate to me
what I can and cannot do. And [Mayor Bloomberg] is not God.”
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