Politics & Government
Although Most New Yorkers Oppose Big Soda Ban, Mayor Won't Budge
Despite a public outcry against the proposal, the mayor is going ahead with his plan to ban the sale of sugary drinks over 16 ounces.
Although two recent polls found that more than half of New Yorkers oppose Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s , the mayor said on Tuesday that he’s not budging from his stance, according to the Wall Street Journal.
When asked Tuesday if the has made him reconsider the proposal, the mayor replied, "No."
“All we're doing is saying that restaurants and movie theaters can't use greater than 16-ounce cups,” said Mayor Bloomberg at a press conference in the South Bronx on Tuesday. “But if you want to buy five of them and drink it, you can go ahead and do it.”
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A Quinnipiac University poll earlier this month showed city voters oppose the proposal, 54 percent to 42 percent. found that 60 percent of those polled opposed the ban, while 36 percent supported it.
"The mayor doesn't care what people think – if the mayor cared what people think, he would have withdrawn it altogether," Council Member Oliver Koppell, D-Bronx, told the Journal. "I just find it offensive to interfere in people's lives in such a way."
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Robert Bookman, a lawyer for the trade group New York City Hospitality Alliance, said that the courts would decide the issue, explaining that the administration brought the proposal to the Board of Health – a panel chosen by the mayor – instead of the City Council.
"The mayor sees this as a mandate, not a legislative issue to be debated," Bookman told the paper.