Berkeley will vote on Measure D, the so-called Soda Tax, in November. Photo: Vox Efx Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who fought unsuccessfully to establish a cap on the size of soda portions sold in that city, has donated $85,000 to the Yes on Measure D campaign. His contribution – the largest the […]
Measure D
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: Soda Tax is wrong formula, regardless of ideology
Next month, voters in Berkeley and their neighbors across the Bay in San Francisco will go to the polls to determine whether their cities would be the first in the country to pass taxes on sugar- sweetened beverages. Berkeley’s “Measure D,” a 1-cent-per-ounce proposal, would mean a 50% cost increase for soda in the checkout […]
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: Berkeley, not Big Soda, knows what’s best for Berkeley
If an alien were to drop into Berkeley this election season, one could not fault her for presuming that the staunchest protector of our community’s collective wellbeing is the American Beverage Association, the bank and voice of Big Soda. Loudly and ubiquitously, Big Soda professes its concern for us from placards plastered on our bus […]
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: Refuse to be confused — vote Yes on Measure D
As a Latino health professional, as a father of two, and as a citizen of Berkeley, I am voting Yes on Measure D. The science that the overconsumption of sugary sweetened beverages can cause diabetes is not in dispute in the Berkeley initiative to place a 1 cent per ounce excise tax on the distributors […]
Posted inCity
Beverage companies spend $1.675 million to defeat Berkeley soda tax
The No on Measure D campaign on Oct. 8 covered the Ashby BART station with signs — on the floor, on the walls, and next to the ticket machines. BART workers accidentally took down some of the signs Wednesday night, but they will be reinstalled. Photo: Marian Mabel Any traveler who walked into the Ashby […]
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: Yes on D campaign must stop bubbling over
Just like there are two sides to every coin, there are two sides to every campaign. KTVU’s story on Berkeley’s Measure D, which first aired last week, was an unsettling look at some childish and unfortunate behavior by those pushing hardest to pass the soda tax here. Signs have been planted on lawns around town […]
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: The goal is health: Measure D brings us closer
The going was tough in the late 1990s when a passionate and diverse group of Berkeley citizen-activists wrote the first school food policy in the nation. Through conflict and compromise, they worked long and hard to get the policy passed and supported by the Board of Education. Yet, nothing much changed until a middle schooler […]
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: Measure D: D is for distraction
Children in Berkeley are at risk for diabetes due to the lack of clean air in our allegedly “green” city. In West Berkeley, the most diverse and low-income area in town, children have an alarming rate of asthma. Once the lungs are affected, it is a challenge to then exercise. Obesity, according to the Center […]
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: How Big Soda tried to buy my political soul
I am a strong supporter of Measure D, the sugary beverage tax, but recently I was recruited to help the No on D campaign. In exchange for my participation, I received $100 and a behind-the-scenes look at what the single largest political contribution in Berkeley’s history is paying for. This is how it happened: at […]
Posted inCity
Campaign donations reach record levels in Berkeley; beverage companies donate $1.4M to defeat soda tax
Dustan Batton (left) and Josh Daniels (right) argue the merits of Measure D, a proposed tax on sugary beverages, at an election event Oct. 6. Batton is a lobbyist for the No on D campaign, and Daniels is co-chair of the Yes on D campaign. Photo: Mark Coplan The beverage industry in recent days contributed […]
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: We trust officials to spend soda tax money wisely
In “Beverage companies donate $800,000 to fight soda tax,” an article published on Berkeleyside on Sept. 22, 2014, I laughed when I read ‘No on D’ spokesperson Roger Salazar’s explanation as to why an unprecedented $800,000 from the Washington, D.C.-based American Beverage Association (ABA) is required to fight a local Berkeley political campaign. His reasoning? […]
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: Why a liberal mother of 2 is voting no on Measure D
I begin with this confession: I don’t drink soda and I never have. My boys, ages 9 and 12, don’t drink soda, either. In fact, I’ve never even let them try it, because I didn’t want them to like it. If either of them has tried it, he didn’t tell me about it, or there […]
