Mayor Henrietta Davis
In a boost to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s efforts to prohibit the sale of large sugary drinks, the mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has asked that city’s health officials to study the implementation of its own ban on large sodas to curb obesity.
Henrietta Davis, mayor of Cambridge, a medium-sized politically liberal city that is best known as the home of both Harvard and MIT, said she also was concerned about the health effects of large quantities of soda.
While Bloomberg’s proposal in New York has generated a great deal of controversy, with many observers claiming that its an infringement by government on individual liberties, the mere suggestion that another city is considering such a proposal gives him significant political cover. Bloomberg’s ban would prohibit food service establishments from selling sugary drinks in excess of 16 ounces. Some Cambridge officials say they would rather wait to see what happens in New York before they take up such a ban, but enforcement in a city the size of Cambridge—the fifth largest in the state of Massachusetts—would be much easier than enforcing it in New York.
