Many in New York nicknamed Mayor Bloomberg “Nanny State Bloomberg” due to his insistence on having control over the eating behaviors of citizens. Many current and former New Yorkers remember his administration’s ban on saltshakers on restaurant tables or his edict that “big gulps” decrease their size.
It gets worse. Did you know that in 2011 Bloomberg banned individuals from giving food donations to the homeless?
When Glenn Richter tried to donate a bag of bagels to the poor in 2011, he was informed that the Bloomberg administration no longer allowed for food donations. CBS reported that at the time, Mr. Richter stated that “over the years he’s delivered more than two tons of food to the homeless.” Mr. Richter vented that “Bloomberg is eating away at his ability to do good.”
Bloomberg is eating away at his ability to do good
At the time, Mayor Bloomberg’s response was non-apologetic, and in fact, criticized any organization that had previously taken food as donations. Bloomberg stated, “For the things that we run because of all sorts of safety reasons, we just have a policy it is my understanding of not taking donations. If they did in the past they shouldn’t have done it and we shouldn’t have accepted it.”
Who knows, maybe after Bloomberg is asked about this unpopular policy, he will once again apologize and state that the policy does not represent the “way that [he] thinks” now that he is running for president.
