Mayor De Blasio Looking to Ban Large Sugary Drinks Because That Went So Well the First Time

The more things change, the more
they stay the same. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio is
reportedly mulling a large sugary drink ban 2.0, according to

The Wall Street Journal:

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration is exploring new ways
to regulate the size of large sugary drinks in New York City,
holding high-level meetings behind closed doors with health
advocates and beverage industry executives.

“Mayor de Blasio has made clear he supports a ban on large
sugary drinks,” his spokesman, Phil Walzak, said on Thursday. “The
administration is currently considering plans on the best way to
reach that goal.”

Earlier this year, a New York State court
gave the beat down to former mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ban on
16-ounce sodas. The court found that the city’s Board of Health did
not have such wide-sweeping authority.

But that victory might be shortlived. The court’s findings
didn’t put the kibosh on bans qua bans: It merely found issue with
the procedural methods the administration pursued to achieve its
intrusive goals. Only the elected City Council has the authority to
ban saccharine libations, the court said. The door for new
prohibitions was left wide open—a door the de Blasio administration
is looking to slink through

De Blasio is treading softly and carrying a big soda, however.
He realizes that at the moment the City Council would
probably not sign off on a large sugary beverage ban:

While Mr. de Blasio said last year he would pursue legislation
if the state’s highest court agreed the council was the proper body
to impose such regulations, the administration has been wary of
introducing a bill. A majority of council members, including
Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, voiced opposition to the
Bloomberg-backed regulations.

Yet if Councilman Corey Johnson is a reliable bellwether, the
Council won’t take too much convincing:

He opposed Mr. Bloomberg’s ban largely because of jurisdictional
reasons. Mr. Johnson also said he was concerned Mr. Bloomberg’s
plan treated “similar businesses in an uneven way.” “I am
completely open to looking at a fair and healthy way” to regulate
sugary beverages citywide, he said.

Dr. Thomas Farley, health commissioner under Bloomberg and the
Oz of the first soda ban, thinks the uphill battle to convince the
Council to meddle
even further into personal affairs is winnable. He “said the
council could approve regulations that are broader than the
original Bloomberg proposal.”

The effectiveness of such soda bans is
debatable, to say the least. What isn’t debatable is that de
Blasio is trying his best to keep alive a cherished NYC tradition
of banning everything in sight. Gone are the days of smoking

flavored cigarettes in
public while stuffing your face with
salty trans-fat
flavored French fries. Now even
horse-drawn carriages and Big Gulps are (once again) under
threat.