Mayor Bloomberg's New Ban

[Smokey 1]

Then what are all those cane-looking pipes sticking out of the ground?

Gas vents. There is some decomposition going on that produces landfill gas particularly before the landfill is capped and sealed. Even so the land will still be perpetually dedicated to waste disposal and can't be used for much of anything else except open space and recreation.

[HAIL2BNG]

Red herring my ***, it fits because it's a matter of what can be sold not what you can drink. Too much soda is bad for children; lead in paint is bad for children. What part of that don't you understand.

If you want to carry around a gallon of soda, bring your own container.

If reducing the size of a soda cup can keep a few hundred calories off of our overweight young people, why not?

Lead paint is dangerous. Styrofoam doesn't recycle. They aren't comparable.

There are tons of things that are unhealthy but it isn't the government's job to tell us what we can and cannot consume. It's funny how willing some people are to get pushed around in the guise of consumer health. Hell, we can't even tell people on food stamps they can't buy unhealthy crap but I can be told what I can and can't buy with my own money? Bull.

[Marshan Man]

Giuliani and Bloomberg are the reasons NYC is more lame than ever

Up until the mid-90s, the city had character. Now its boring

I dunno if you can ever call NYC boring, but yeah I know exactly what you mean...

Also, what happened to the native blacks of NYC? Most, or maybe I should say many blacks there now seem to be either foreign born or transients from another state.

[veritas]

Giuliani and Bloomberg are the reasons NYC is more lame than ever

Up until the mid-90s, the city had character. Now its boring

Yea, all that crime really added color.

[HAIL2BNG]

Giuliani cleaned it up. Bloomberg dumbed it down.

[veritas]

Lead paint is dangerous. Styrofoam doesn't recycle. They aren't comparable.

There are tons of things that are unhealthy but it isn't the government's job to tell us what we can and cannot consume. It's funny how willing some people are to get pushed around in the guise of consumer health. Hell, we can't even tell people on food stamps they can't buy unhealthy crap but I can be told what I can and can't buy with my own money? Bull.

Shame Bloomberg can't legislate good parenting and common sense.

[soulflower]

I dunno if you can ever call NYC boring, but yeah I know exactly what you mean...

Also, what happened to the native blacks of NYC? Most, or maybe I should say many blacks there now seem to be either foreign born or transients from another state.

Many like myself have relocated from NY to Maryland and the South. The NY Times had a in-depth article about the reverse migration a year or so ago.

I agree that a large percentage of Black New Yorkers today are from the Caribbean or Africa.

[soulflower]

Yea, all that crime really added color.

I don't miss the crime but I miss the character. I don't know what it is but NYC seems so bland today...

[skeemer]

I don't miss the crime but I miss the character. I don't know what it is but NYC seems so bland today...

You must mean the bland subway cars and stations, the bland buses, and the bland taxis. The ones that used to be covered in 'street art' but are now clean and bland.

[soulflower]

You must mean the bland subway cars and stations, the bland buses, and the bland taxis. The ones that used to be covered in 'street art' but are now clean and bland.

For now, I watch movies like "The Warriors" and miss the good ole days when NY was dirty

[BiggSeth]

While I agree that styrofoam is evil, that genie is out of the bottle and as mainstream as one-use plastic bottles....

Let's look at the real issue here.....

forcing vendors (hot dog cart/coffee guys all the way up to brick and mortar stores) to abandon styrofoam is going to increase their costs, which in turn will increase the cost of the item....

Look at a simple 12 oz. coffee cup:

Styrofoam 1000/cs $50.30

biodegradable "eco cup" 12 oz 1000/cs $117.17

the difference between .05 a cup and .12 a cup....

That is a 133% increase in material costs for a simple cup of cofee...

The same can be said for all carry-out items.

the little guys will be hit the hardest when they have to start raising prices to make up for the costs of the new mandate.

The consumer pays in the end.

when will the fools in these librat bastions realize that their self-professed "betters" are legislating them into the poor house?

[LarryN]

biodegradable "eco cup" 12 oz 1000/cs $117.17

Here, I found you a better deal:

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/solo...s/760412W.html

[Brohan]

Every little bit helps?

Where would you rather place our collective priorities: On the chance that we might stop engorging our children or on defending the right of a 7/11 owner to increase his profit at their expense?

Like you said above, they will just buy two at a time and wind up drinking more than they originally would have.

This hurts poor fat kids more than anyone. Now they have buy two sodas.

[Phineas Finn]

Lead paint is dangerous. Styrofoam doesn't recycle. They aren't comparable.

There are tons of things that are unhealthy but it isn't the government's job to tell us what we can and cannot consume. It's funny how willing some people are to get pushed around in the guise of consumer health. Hell, we can't even tell people on food stamps they can't buy unhealthy crap but I can be told what I can and can't buy with my own money? Bull.

For the last time -- no on is telling you what you can't buy. The regulations apply to what can be sold. There are more than a few of those. No one is stopping you from drinking all the soda you want.

Why is it that the right insists on characterizing our government -- elected by us, comprised of people chosen from among us -- as if it were an occupying alien force?

Sure faciltates the creation of bogey men, doesn't it?

[Phineas Finn]

Like you said above, they will just buy two at a time and wind up drinking more than they originally would have.

Liberals and unintended consequences...

When's the last time you saw a kid carrying two sodas at a time?

Conservatives don't get to throw stones at unintended consequences as long as Citizens United continues to poison our political system -- but then again -- those consequences weren't necessarily unintended.

[reg_indy]

While I agree that styrofoam is evil, that genie is out of the bottle and as mainstream as one-use plastic bottles....

Let's look at the real issue here.....

forcing vendors (hot dog cart/coffee guys all the way up to brick and mortar stores) to abandon styrofoam is going to increase their costs, which in turn will increase the cost of the item....

Look at a simple 12 oz. coffee cup:

Styrofoam 1000/cs $50.30

biodegradable "eco cup" 12 oz 1000/cs $117.17

the difference between .05 a cup and .12 a cup....

That is a 133% increase in material costs for a simple cup of cofee...

The same can be said for all carry-out items.

the little guys will be hit the hardest when they have to start raising prices to make up for the costs of the new mandate.

The consumer pays in the end.

when will the fools in these librat bastions realize that their self-professed "betters" are legislating them into the poor house?

maybe .07 a cup is worth it to help improve the environment...

[HAIL2BNG]

For the last time -- no on is telling you what you can't buy. The regulations apply to what can be sold. There are more than a few of those. No one is stopping you from drinking all the soda you want.

Why is it that the right insists on characterizing our government -- elected by us, comprised of people chosen from among us -- as if it were an occupying alien force?

Sure faciltates the creation of bogey men, doesn't it?

I've always found the best way to not be thought of as an overbearing nanny state is to not be an overbearing nanny state. We elect people to govern, not control us. I hope you know the difference. I also hope you weren't one of the people screaming over the idea of making women who want to have abortions to get ultrasounds. That clearly was just the government looking out for us too.

[Fang]

- Soda and salty food ban - dumb
- Smoking ban - applaud
- Styrofoam - Not sure I care either way. If it's not environmental friendly then I'd go along with a ban.

Questions - Why would someone be OK with a smoking ban and also want weed legalized? The two seem to be in contradiction to me. (I don't know Bloomberg's stance here. It's just a general thing I've noticed on some people)

[slapshot]

Roll your eyes all you want. I live here. He can't run again. I am shocked he hasn't just declared himself permanent mayor.

OK.

$20 says you're pro-choice too. Oh the hypocrisy.

How so? Absolutely no hyocrisy.

Why shoud we, the tax payers, be financially burdened in helping to support the unwanted fetus? Because the Pope, or ultra-conservative Christian groups says we should? Similarly, why should the rest of us have to (indirectly) support the medical expenes of the chronically obese? Finally, if you ask someone in your country, what fraction of the road/highway budget goes towards picking up litter, etc....I think you will be very surprised at the answer. We, as tax payers, directly pay for those who throw their fast food waste along the road....coffee cups, food wrappers, and yes, styrafoam containers. We pay for the clean up. In a perfect world, they would keep that chit to themselves, but the reality is, many don't.

Again, in the utopian, isolationist world you subscribe to, these happenings don't affect the rest of us...yet, in the real world that most of us live in, they do.

[slapshot]

You obviously know nothing about landfills. It doesn't matter what a substance does once its in a landfill, it is there sealed off from the rest of the environment for a long, long, time.

Baloney. The volume (bulk) is a determining factor in the ultimate lifetime of any landfill...and these products contribute to reducing that lifetime.

On another note, if you mix gasoline with styrofoam it makes a gel like substance similar in appearance and function to napalm.

Napalm was very popular in my war....many lasting side effects.