No Big Gulps, No Peace In Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is doing better than most cities in America but like all major cities it has its share of problems that need to be tackled but limiting diners at city restaurants on how much soda they can drink is not one of them. Cantabrigians should be embarrassed that not only is Mayor Henrietta Davis proposing such an obscene idea but that she was inspired by a similar municipal ban proposed by the biggest nanny stater in the country, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

At a time when the city just across the river, Boston, is taking a beating for allegedly having limited appeal to young professionals for a variety of a reasons you would think Cambridge would be doing things to differentiate itself. Cambridge already has some image problems (some fair, some not) it has to overcome and this wrongheaded attempt to combat obesity just adds to them. The last thing Cambridge needs is to garner a reputation like Boston as a place that curtails your fun. Cambridge, particularly the Central Square area, is home to better clubs, bars, and restaurants than Boston so why try to limit their possible offerings with a hilarious awful effort to combat obesity?

I really wonder if Davis is proposing this out of sheer boredom because, after all, Cambridge is a pretty well run city. It has one of the lowest residential property tax rates in the Commonwealth and boasts great public schools. When politicians are not challenged with monumental problems they need to find some reason to justify their existence but there really is no need for urban mechanics to stick their nose into regulating how much soda people drink at city restaurants. City pols should really stick to fixing potholes and keeping the streets safe.