Metro

Soda war a cinch: Mike

The soda war is sort of over, Mayor Bloomberg declared yesterday.

“Compared to smoking, this is an easy battle to win and nobody’s going to stop this,” the mayor said of his plan to ban sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces in restaurants and other eating establishments.

The mayor’s comments came as the Board of Health prepares for its public hearing on the proposal today.

A half-hour after Bloomberg’s remarks, the beverage industry held a rally at City Hall and delivered petitions with 90,000 signatures from New Yorkers opposing the ban.

“The mayor wants to do this by fiat,” City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens) told a crowd of about 200 at the rally. “We’re not going to let one man become king in the City of New York, are we?”

He argued that the soda-ban proposal should have come before the council for a vote rather than before the Board of Health, which is controlled by the mayor.

Halloran said a court fight would center on a disparity in the proposed ban, which would still allow grocery stores to sell any size soda.

“Either it applies to everyone or it doesn’t,” he said.

The Board of Health will vote on the ban Sept. 13.