Put a lid on it, Mayor Bloomberg!

www.icescreammama.com

My husband and I have three kids and like three fingers on my hand, they’re all different. They have different personalities, interests and body types. They basically agree on nothing – except the Vanilla Coolattas from Dunkin Donuts. We’d get the medium 24 ounce cup with five straws, sit in the park and share. It is one of our favorite treats after a nice bike ride, except soon, in New York City, it will be illegal.

Somehow Mayor Bloomberg thinks that limiting the size of soda and sugary drinks in concession stands and restaurants will do something to combat the 58% of obese adults and over 20% of obese children in New York City. So, starting in March, it will be against the law to sell these drinks in cups over 16 ounces.

Because that’s the problem - not that people’s main exercise is lifting Cheetos to their mouths. It’s not the hot dogs that people eat at the stadiums or the cracker jacks, giant pretzels, cotton candy or milkshakes. Nope. It’s that giant cup that is the real culprit. Get rid of that and problem solved.

What about this makes any sense? Hot cocoa should be regulated, but not coffee that someone might fill with heavy cream and sugar? I can buy a giant tub of buttered popcorn at the movie theater, but I can’t have a large soda. Honestly, I find it offensive and obnoxious. Who is this Bloomberg telling me the size cup I can buy? Is he coming into my kitchen at night and trimming the fat off my cutlets? Is he going to take the spoon out of my hand when I go to have my nightly treat? Is he pinching my inch? Please, get your hands off me, Mr. Mayor.

A smoking ban? Great. I don’t need to breathe other people’s poison. Nutrition information provided by restaurants? Great. I can read and make my own decision. Telling me I can’t buy a big beverage, and placing an unnecessary burden on manufacturers to get new bottles and cups? Maybe you should be concentrating on something more relevant for a NYC mayor, like traffic congestion or homelessness.

Yesterday we took one of those bike rides, passing up Dunkin Donuts, instead opting for a giant Big Gulp at a local 7-Eleven. You see, convenience stores won’t be subject to the same regulations. Apparently, obese people are only frequenting pizza places and movie theaters. So we tried the Cherry Big Gulp. It was good, but not the same as our Coolatta.

Next time, ban or no ban, we’re headed back to D&D, and in March we’ll be forced to purchase five small 8 ounce drinks, totaling 40 ounces. That’s 16 ounces more high calorie beverage than the original 24 ounce cup we had all happily shared. Good job on adding to my ounce intake and my money outtake. I appreciate that, Mr. Mayor.

I think Bloomberg should put a ban on his alcohol cup consumption, because clearly he’s been drinking if he thinks this new law makes any sense. It’s an unnecessary waste of time and energy that is going to do nothing to change anyone’s body; it’s just one big headache for consumers and manufacturers.

Your cup runneth over Mr. Bloomberg, so take a Big Gulp, back off and let ours do the same.

Judges Comments:

You did a nice job ranting but not coming across as angry. There was snark, which is key to disarm any trolls who are looking for a fight. You also took a local issue and made people outside of the NYC area care about it by making it about your family. Overall, I thought this was very well done. If I am being nitpicky, 24-ounce, 16-ounce, and 8-ounce should be hyphenated. And when talking about a number, I prefer "more than" instead of "over" because "over" is a where and "more than" is a how much. Those are just suggestions from an anal copy editor. I can't help myself. But I am not docking you for those minor things because to me this post was great.

-From Daddy Knows Less

Well you could only buy two 16-ounce drinks and then you would only be over by 8-ounces. I'm with you on thi, I applaud the mayor for trying to make NYC a healthier place, but this just seems to be overstepping his bounds. It's too much involvement. My only thing that I would have changed is about the cup manufacturers. I don't think that too many people actually care about that (I apologize if you are part o the Solo fortune who might have issue) but other than that maybe leaving that out I thought this was a good piece.

-From Daddy's In Charge?

I really like this piece. Light-hearted, but with facts and analysis to back it up. Fluffy? Maybe, but I see merit in looking at the political implications you mention.

-From The Klonopin Chronicles (Guest Judge)

I like this. You talked about the legislation, how it will affect your family, and how you feel that it will/will not correct the problem that it is meant to correct - and you did it without being overly emotional or fact-heavy.

Nice work.

-From Non-Stop Mom

Well done. You made me aware of something I had no idea of, since I don't live in NY. I can't believe something like this is even important enough to be an issue at the city level. I get that obesity is becoming an epidemic, but it is not the government's job to regulate our beverage consumption.
You took an interesting topic and added that personal touch by talking about how it directly affects your family.
Overall it was well-written. Good job.

-From Pinwheels and Poppies

This is an interesting topic. It's clearly a step that doesn't really solve the problem he wanted to address.
I had to reread the first sentence because you missed a comma between "and" and "like". Remember that commas can really change the meaning of a sentence. But overall it was a great post!

-From Bay Area Mommy

As soon as I started reading this I was pissed. I can not stand intrusions to personal freedoms. That said, I step off of my little soap box and applaud your piece. You illustrated the epic nonsense for me when you said you had to skip your favorite treat and get a Big Gulp. For reallies??? I thought a Big Gulp was the king of all evil soda drinks! You put a light on the issues that I didn't even think of. Way to go! Now I'm thirsty.

-From Honey Badger Press