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September 13, 2012
Barclays Center becomes first food service venue to voluntarily comply with new rules limiting size of sugary beverages (but what about that unlimited food option?)
Atlantic Yards Report
We're not above giving credit where it's due, so it's nice to know that we'd be able to buy a reasonably sized soda if we ever attended an event at the Barclays Center, though that, of course, ain't gonna happen.
So the New York City Board of Health agreed to Mayor Mike Bloomberg's contentious plan to limit the sale of sugary drinks in food service establishment to 16 ounces (here's coverage in the Times), and the guest of honor at the press conference was developer Bruce Ratner, whose Barclays Center will voluntarily conform six months in advance.
At the press conference (video), Bloomberg noted that Ratner was once Consumer Affairs Commissioner under Mayor Ed Koch and "he's never lost his sense of civic responsibility."
"Bruce has never been shy about taking on a challenge, like bringing professional basketball to Brooklyn," Bloomberg said later, introducing Ratner. "Here he is, my hero."
Gag us with an All-Syrup Super Squishee.
Ratner didn't say he was going to lean on his mall and movie theater tenants to voluntarily adopt the policy. That would have been heroic.
Also, Ratner's anti-obesity cred deserves an asterisk. The Nets offer an All Access Pass that can "be used for unlimited food, prepared by award-winning Levy Restaurants, at designated clubs and all fixed concession stands during NETS games -- a first-time offering for a major New York metropolitan area sports team."
So those sugary drinks, at least for the high rollers, can keep coming.
Posted by eric at September 13, 2012 8:37 PM