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Big Soda is “supersizing” its fight against the city’s crackdown on big sodas.
The American Beverage Association, the soda workers union, movie theater owners and the National Restaurant Association joined forces yesterday with a lawsuit aimed at overturning the city Health Department’s ban on sugary sodas of more than 16 ounces.
“The ban at issue in this case burdens consumers and unfairly harms small businesses at a time when we can ill afford it,” the Manhattan Supreme Court suit says.
“The regulation should be struck down.”
The ban passed last month after Mayor Bloomberg’s handpicked Board of Health members approved it by a vote of 8-0.
Slated to take effect on March 12, the action will ban theaters, sporting venues, food carts and eateries subject to Health Department letter grades from selling sugar-laden drinks like soda, fruit punch and lemonade in cups larger than 16 ounces.
In affidavits attached to the suit, the coalition argued the ban could lead to a small-businesses “sodapocalypse.”
Because gas stations, bodegas that don’t prepare food and grocery stores will still be able to sell the larger drinks, opponents of the ban argue their businesses are being unfairly targeted.
Robert Sunshine of the National Association of Theater Owners of New York State said in affidavit that the ban could affect movie ticket prices.
“Sharing sodas and other concessions also helps to keep the movie-going experience affordable, and The sale of concessions also helps keep ticket prices down,” Sunshine said, adding the move won’t help the city in its battle against the bulge because most New Yorkers go to the movies only four times a year — and splurge on concessions only every other visit.
Edward Weber, of the Soft Drink and Brewery Workers Union, noted that it represents 3,600 workers in the five boroughs, and cautioned that the ban “will unquestionably result in the loss of warehouse, distribution, merchandising and haulage jobs” and a “layoff of its members.”He also pointed out that many companies don’t have 16-ounce containers, like the 20-ounce Arizona Iced Teas, and would need to spend big bucks to sell their wares in the city.
The groups’ filing seeks a court order overturning the ban on the grounds that it was passed “by executive fiat,” when it should have gone through the city council.
“This case is not about obesity in New York City,” the filing says. “This case is about the Board of Health, appointed by the mayor, bypassing the proper legislative process for governing the city.”
The mayor’s press secretary, Marc La Vorgna, said the board “absolutely has the authority to regulate matters affecting health, and the obesity crisis killing nearly 6,000 New Yorkers a year — and impacting the lives of thousands more —. . . unquestionably falls under its purview.”
He compared the legal challenge to the failed bids to stop the city’s smoking ban and calorie count requirements.
“This predictable, yet baseless, lawsuit fortunately will help put an even greater spotlight on the obesity epidemic,” La Vorgna said.
Bloomberg essentially dared the industry to come after him after ban was passed.
“I just spent roughly $600 million of my own money to try to stop the scourge of tobacco, and I’m looking for another cause,” he said.