You are a busy person taking time to be informed and I respect that. So I’m going to let you in on my line of reasoning here: corporations impact what we drink, what we drink impacts our health, “our health” includes “your health”, you can vote, therefore vote “Yes” on D! Why am I writing […]
Soda tax
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: Berkeley teachers support Measure D
On behalf of all Berkeley teachers, I ask you to vote yes on Measure D for the health of our children. Ask any teacher in Berkeley and they will tell you that there is a strong connection between physical health and academics. Indeed, research has shown that when students are healthy, they are much more […]
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: Lessons from the war on tobacco: How to beat Big Soda
Remember when people could smoke in restaurants, on airplanes, and at work? This changed, thanks to tireless efforts by health advocates like me. In 1988, California voters passed an excise tax on the tobacco industry which raised prices, reduced consumption, and funded programs that successfully advocated for clean indoor air laws in cities across the […]
Posted inCity, Community
Photo essay: Berkeley, a city consumed by a soda tax
Two high-school students on their lunch break carry food and drink out of the McDonald’s on University Avenue in Berkeley. Photo, taken on Monday Oct. 20, 2014, by Gael McKeon On Nov. 4, Berkeley voters will show where they stand on Measure D, the so-called Soda Tax. The proposed tax on sugary beverages has been one of […]
Posted inCity
Michael Bloomberg has now spent $370K in support of Measure D; other Berkeley election news
A still from one of two Yes on D ads paid for by Michael R. Bloomberg that ran during the World Series. (Watch it below.) A still from one of two Yes on D ads paid for by Michael R. Bloomberg that ran during the World Series. (Watch it below.) Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York […]
Posted inCity
Berkeley ballot snafu, more money in for 2014 election
Alameda County officials are mailing out postcards to alert voters that the date of the election printed on many mail-in ballots is wrong. It reads Nov. 5, 2014, when it should read Nov. 4, 2014. Photo: KQED The Alameda County Registrar of Voters has sent out 27,000 postcards to Berkeley voters informing them that the […]
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: Measure D — a doctor’s perspective
I am a Berkeley doctor. I support Measure D, and want to comment on specious and incorrect arguments by Jill Herschman and Dan McDunn, both of whom argued against the measure in op-ed pieces published on Berkeleyside. I assume that the flyers with the allegations summarized below, and distributed door to door with the statement “Paid for by […]
Posted inCity
Berkeley 2014 election hub: What you need to know
Berkeleyans will get out the vote in less than three weeks. Are you ready? Photo: Pete Rosos Absentee ballots have arrived and the November 2014 election is just around the corner. Berkeleyside has been covering the issues for months, and we’ve collected some of our best Berkeley election coverage in a single post to help readers get […]
Posted inCity, Community
Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg donates $85,000 to support Berkeley’s proposed soda tax
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 […]
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 […]
