There are still a few New Yorkers who remember the days of Prohibition, when the Government banned alcohol and criminal syndicates made their fortunes supplying the speakeasies that sprang up all over the city.
Now Michael Bloomberg, the mayor, plans to ban another perceived threat to the health and wellbeing of the populace — large servings of sugary drinks.
He proposes to make New York the first city in the America to prohibit the sale of any sweetened fizzy drinks, juices, teas and coffees that come in cups or bottles of more than 16oz (1 pint): a serving regarded in much of the metropolis as medium size.
The proposals, which would come into force next March, would devastate the drinks menus of delis and fast-food restaurants and halt vendors at cinemas and sports arenas from supplying the customary bucket-like cups of soda. It would also affect cafés and the nearly 190 Starbucks across Manhattan, offering the option of 31oz servings of sweet iced coffee. Grocery stores would still be allowed to supply large bottles of coke and diet sodas and fruit drinks could still be consumed by the pint.
The proposed ban is Mr Bloomberg’s boldest move yet in a long-running battle against drinks that are widely regarded as an essential institution of American life. He previously supported a failed attempt to levy higher taxes on sugary drinks and tried to stop citizens from buying them using food stamps — a measure rejected by the federal government.
Advertisement
Armed with a 2006 study that suggested that the drinks were the largest single cause of rising obesity, officials at City Hall will now test whether they have the authority to ban larger servings.
“All across the country, everybody recognises obesity as a growing, serious problem,” the mayor told The New York Post. “I think it’s fair to say that while everyone else is complaining, New York City is acting.”
He is likely to succeed. He has the support of the city’s health commissioner and the power to appoint the members of the Board of Health, which will consider the plan. The idea received a predictably chilled reception at the New York City Beverage Association.
“The New York City Health Department’s unhealthy obsession with attacking soft drinks is again pushing them over the top,” said Stefan Friedman, a spokesman.
“The city is not going to address the obesity issue by attacking soda because soda is not driving the obesity rates.”
Advertisement
In a deli in the East Village that may shortly have to re-order, Laverne Sparrow, 50, who works for a phone company and runs a homeless charity, said that she didn’t know whether it was right to enforce the measure. “But our young kids are growing up obese,” she said. “They’ve got to force people to get healthier.”
Out on the streets there were many who disagreed with the proposals. “He wants to control everything. He thinks he’s a God,” said Barry Lumford, 59, who works in a UPS warehouse. “I look at him now and I notice the similarities to Adolf Hitler — if you just put a moustache on him.”
Can Denircanli, 30, a lift repair man from Brooklyn, felt that the measure would strike at his basic civil liberty as an American to consume vast quantities of soft drinks. “You can’t smoke in parks,” he said, referring to another of the mayor’s measures.
Mr Bloomberg has also placed restrictions on the trans-fats served in New York’s food trucks. “What happened to our constitutional rights?” Mr Denircanli said. “We are supposed to be doing whatever we want, that is what this country is built on.”
He did, however, admit that his tea was unsweetened. “I haven’t had a soda for the past four months,” he said. “I’m on the wagon. I was getting fat.”