Councilwoman Tish James (Photo: Facebook)

Councilwoman Tish James, who's currently running for public advocate, will be doing some cable news punditry this weekend. Tomorrow morning, Ms. James will appear on MSNBC's Up With Chris Hayes to discuss her agenda and Mayor Michael Bloomberg's soda ban.

"I’ve been proud to champion progressive causes in the New York City Council, fighting for good jobs, affordable housing, improving our schools and making sure every single New Yorker has a voice in government," Ms. James said in a statement announcing her appearance. "I will never pass up an opportunity to advocate for social and economic justice in our city and beyond."

Ms. James' apparent ability to reach a national media audience may help her make up for the fact that in previous financial filing periods, she has lagged behind her main rivals, Reshma Saujani and State Senator Daniel Squadron, in terms of fundraising. She also secured a union boost this week from 32BJ SEIU's endorsement.

(Photo: Getty)

At a brief but emotional press conference this afternoon, Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the controversial ban on large surgary beverages that a lower court had overturned earlier in the day.

"People are dying every day, this is not a joke," Mr. Bloomberg said of deaths from obesity . "This is about real lives, 5,000 every single year in America. 7o plus thousand across America. As a matter of fact, it is (obesity) a world-wide problem. It is just as bad overseas as here."

Mr. Bloomberg also vowed he would appeal the court's ruling. He argued the ban large cups for sugary drinks in restaurants and other food establishment larger was a vital step in the war on obesity.

"I've gotta defend my children, and you, and everybody else and do what's right to save lives," Mr. Bloomberg said, addressing a reporter. "Obesity kills. There's just no question about it. There's no question that it comes from overeating and there's no question that empty calories contribute to the problem. As a matter of fact, we put out some statistics this morning that show with higher consumption of full sugar drinks, you have a much hire obesity rate and it happens much worse in poorer neighborhoods. And so, this is the science, now we've gotta do something about it."

Mr. Bloomberg even invoked God in his defense of the soda ban policy.

"We have a responsibility as human beings to do something, to save each other, to save the lives of ourselves, our families, our friends, and all the rest of the people that live on God's planet," he said. "So while other people will wring their hands about the problem of sugary drinks in New York City, we're doing something about it."

John Catsimatidis

Freewheeling billionaire John Catsimatidis was told again and again it was time to for him to leave as he stood at the foot of the Verrazano Bridge in Brooklyn this afternoon.

"No, no, no..." his handlers pleaded as Mr. Catsimatidis, a Republican candidate for mayor, prepared to tell a gaggle of reporters about another press conference of his scheduled for next week.

"Now, there's another press conference coming, guess what we did in Brooklyn that nobody knows about?" Mr. Castimatidis asked as his team strained to keep  their plans under wraps.

But Mr. Catsimatidis, arriving in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to originally explain his plan to call upon the MTA to freeze additional toll and fare increases, was in his element, rambling extemporaneously about whatever subjects the assembled reporters cared to discuss. Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis smiled at his side, watching as the man who had never been an elected official said and did exactly what he wanted to do. Politicker asked Mr. Catsimatidis about Mayor Michael Bloomberg's controversial plan to ban high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces. Business leaders have attacked the proposal, which is set to go into effect March 12, but Catsimatidis, a supermarket tycoon, wasn't willing to join their ranks.

"I wouldn't want my kids to drink 32 ounce sodas,"  said Mr. Catsimatidis, explaining that he would also want more  health education programs put in public schools. "When I went to the movies a couple of weeks ago and I looked at the 32 oz soda and it said 1,100 calories, wow, never in a million years would I buy that one!"

Ms. Malliotakis rushed to agree with Mr. Catsimatidis about how it was good to make calorie counts available, but pivoted to take up the New York Post's talking point that the ban would also "tell me that I can't have a birthday party for my kids at Chuck E. Cheese with a pitcher of soda."

Mr. Catsimatidis also criticized the MTA's planned fare and toll hikes in March but, like Ms. Malliotakis, did not lay the blame on his Republican rival in the mayor's race, Joe Lhota. The MTA chairman when the tolls hikes were approved, Mr. Lhota faces potential backlash from voters on Staten Island who will have to pay even more to cross the Verrazano Bridge.

"I would say, I would have looked at it a lot more closely," said Mr. Catsimatidis  when asked if he also would have hiked fares if he was in Mr. Lhota's shoes. "I think some of the other political people in Staten Island that want to support him have to ask him the same question."

And Mr. Catsimatidis, seemingly unaware that former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion is kicking off his mayoral campaign tomorrow night and looking to run against him in a Republican primary, said Mr. Carrion should instead run for something like public advocate or comptroller.

"I think the Republican Party that I'm running in has to be diverse. We need a Hispanic, we need a black and I'd love to see Adolfo Carrion run on one of those lines or A.R. Bernard who is a very, very decent guy. I've met him and really love the guy," he said.

As for that mysterious Brooklyn press conference?

"Stay tuned to next week. We saved jobs in Brooklyn nobody knows about."

(Photo: Getty)

Earlier this afternoon, the New York City Board of Health officially approved its plan to ban larger soda cup sizes at restaurants and concession stands, and, barring a successful lawsuit and a court order, the initiative will take effect in six months. And although a majority of the city's residents disapprove of the move, at a press conference, a testy Mayor Bloomberg repeatedly told reporters the ban won't be as controversial as it seems.

"I think it's fair to say there's no evidence that it will hurt their business," he said about restaurants arguing the requirement will affect their bottom line. "Maybe outside of the limelight of newspaper or television camera, they would probably agree that down the road, what's likely to happen here, what's very likely to happen, is eventually they will just transition pretty much everything and change the public's taste. Why? We cannot continue to have our kids come down with diabetes at age 6. If it was one of your children I think you'd be out there with a very different kind of question."

At times, Mr. Bloomberg seemed exasperated by questions about the ban. For example, one reporter asked how he knows soda, which has been part of Americans' diet for some time, is responsible for the surge in obesity.

"Miss, I don't know how to answer your question if you don't have any understanding of science whatsoever," the mayor answered. "It's just thermodynamics, if you put in more calories in than you burn up, you're going to store it. Storage of calories is called fat and we'd be happy to provide some information for you."

Another journalist pointed to a restaurant owner who complained that customers would buy soda at a nearby convenience store, which would not be regulated by the proposal.

"Okay, come on!" he responded. "There's nothing to say. I'm sure you can find somebody who will do that. We're talking about saving lives and you're talking about a hypothetical."

The questioner said the restaurant owner he talked to argued this is already happening, suggesting it will only increase under the new rules.

"And how many times has it happened?" Mr. Bloomberg shot back. "Before you allege --. You're trying to imply --. Maybe it is! Get the facts before you start. In any case, the Board of Health has approved this. ... We're talking about doing what's right for the public."

At another point, he stressed that it might be easy to find complainers for news reports, but that doesn't mean it's an accurate portrayal of what New Yorkers actually think.

"If you look at the comments we got sent to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, it was 36,000 in favor and 6,000 against, or something like that," he said. "This is not going to be a controversial thing. I'm sure you can find somebody to put on the radio or in your article or on your television show that says this is going to be the end of the world."

New Yorkers for Beverage Choices is fighting for your right to Big Gulp.

Today, the Board of Health approved Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ban on large sugary drinks. This provoked a predictably outraged response from the group New Yorkers for Beverage Choices, a group with close ties to the soda industrythat was formed to oppose the ban on sugary drinks over 16 ounces being sold in restaurants or concession stands, which pointed to the number of Board of Health members appointed by Mr. Bloomberg and cast the ban's approval as a political fix.

"The fix was in from the beginning, and the Mayor’s handpicked board followed their orders by passing this discriminatory ban; but it has not passed with the support of New Yorkers," New Yorkers for Beverage Choices chairwoman Liz Berman said. "It’s sad that the board wants to limit our choices. We are smart enough to make our own decisions about what to eat and drink."

New Yorkers for Beverage Choices argues the ban, which is intended to combat obesity, will hurt small businesses. To prove that point, they included statements from representatives of the restaurant and movie theater industry in their response to the Board of Health ruling.

"Proposals like the soda ban discourage new business and hurt our reputation as the dining capital of the world," New York State Restaurant Association spokesman Andrew Moesel said. "Reducing obesity is an important goal, but we want to partner with government to come up with effective ways to confront the problem. What we don’t need is more burdensome regulation making it harder for businesses to function and skewing the competitive landscape."

Robert Sunshine, executive director of the National Association of Theatre Owners of New York State, pointed to the fact the movie business has already been hurt by slumping box office sales.

"This misguided ban will only impact the health of the City's struggling small businesses, not New Yorkers," said Mr. Sunshine. "The average New Yorker only goes to the movies four times a year, and purchases concessions twice. The choices made during the other 363 days out of the year have a much greater impact upon public health and serious issues like obesity. With ticket sales this summer at a ten year low, and down again another three percent in 2012, this ban will only serve to further reduce lines at theatres, not the waistlines of our patrons."

The food and theater industries aren't the only ones against the soda ban, which has also been opposed by a slew of city politicians. Former comptroller and 2013 mayoral candidate Bill Thompson sent a letter to the Board of Health in advance of today's vote encouraging them to table the ban for now. Mr. Thompson said the City should focus on fighting obesity through other initiatives including improved health education, increasing access to healthy foods and improving recreation opportunities rather than by banning unhealthy options.

"I believe we need to arm New Yorkers with the knowledge to make healthy personal choices and to provide our children with every support needed to act on those choices," Mr. Thompson wrote. "What we should not be doing is limiting choices for New Yorkers and hurting some of our small business, as the Mayor’s proposal unfortunately does."

For their part, New Yorkers for Beverage Choices vowed to keep up their fight for soft drinks of all sizes.

"This is not the end," said the group's spokesman, Eliot Hoff. "We are exploring legal options, and all other avenues available to us. We will continue to voice our opposition to this ban and fight for the right of New Yorkers to make their own choices."

(Photo: Getty)

Comparing soda to drugs, the soda industry to tobacco manufacturers, and the obesity epidemic to a virus that wipes out thousands of New Yorkers a year, members of the Bloomberg administration and their allies pushed back against opponents of a plan to limit the size of sodas that consumers can purchase.

"New York City has been hit by an epidemic. The epidemic of obesity kills by our best estimates some 5800 New Yorkers per year. Now, if a virus were killing 5,800 New Yorkers this year we would be clamoring for  a strong government action to stop it," said Thomas Farley, the city's health commissioner.

The comments were made before a Department of Health hearing about the proposed ban, and were to a  room of several dozen reporters from news outlets around the world.

Mr. Farley went on to mock those who had opposed previous aggressive public health efforts by the Bloomberg administration, including a transfat ban in 2006

"Six years ago New York City Board of Health considered and ultimately passed a ban on artificial transfats in restaurants in New York City. At the time, the restaurant industry called [it]  'A misguided attempt at social engineering by a group of physicians who don't understand the restaurant industry.' Now, six years later, we know that the ban has reduced consumption of unhealthy fats in restaurants without an increase in saturated fats and it is potentially saving lives. I have not heard a single complaint about the ban on transfats in New York City and I fully expect the same will happen with this rule when it is ultimately put in place."

The hearing, which is set to begin shortly, is in a sense a fait accompli, since the Board of Health is entirely comprised of Bloomberg appointees. Opponents of the ban have largely relied instead on swaying public opinion, something today's press conference was designed to push back against.

"I have been particularly upset with the way the industry has been trying to justify the resistance to this very modest effort by talking about this as a violation of a person's rights and liberties," said David Jones, CEO of the Community Service Society. "We know the markup on these drinks is so enormous that close to drugs, this is about the best market you can get into. This have very little to do with personal responsibility and everything to do with the amount of money to be made."

Mr. Jones also slammed the opponents of the ban for their "Million Big Gulp March," which he said was "making fun" of the "Million Man March" in 1995.

Twenty four ounce soda cups. (Photo: Getty)

The New York City Board of Health will conduct a public hearing tomorrow on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposal to restrict soda cup sizes at restaurants and movie theaters, so his administration gave their argument another push with an Alphabet City press conference this morning. According to Mr. Bloomberg, however, the wheels are in motion and there's no stopping this initiative.

"I don't think there's a negligible pushback whatsoever," Mr. Bloomberg said to a reporter asking if he was surprised by the strength of the opposition. "You certainly don't get it on the streets."

He also suggested reporters, hungry for conflict, have been artificially highlighting opponents of his plan by interviewing special interests, saying, "Only if you go and try to incite somebody and ask somebody who works for a company that you know is going to do that, can you find that."

"If you do the polls, 53% already say it's going in the right direction, and that's without getting them to really understand the issue," he continued. "Compared to smoking, this is an easy battle to win and nothing's going to stop this thing, in my impression."

This is a point he further emphasized in a press release sent out after the event.

“Six years ago, naysayers called the transfat ban ‘a misguided attempt at social engineering by a group of physicians who don’t understand the restaurant industry,’” Mr. Bloomberg said in the statement. “This week, we saw evidence that the ban is reducing New Yorkers’ fat intake and potentially saving lives. Six years from now, hopefully we are celebrating a reversal in the obesity epidemic currently killing 5,800 New Yorkers a year and due to our plan to limit the size of sugary beverages and other anti-obesity initiatives.”

Dan Halloran and his "twin cups of freedom." (Photo: Steven Stites)

Queens councilman and Republican congressional candidate Dan Halloran supports your right to consume soda in mass quantities. Mr. Halloran participated in "The Million Big Gulp March" rally against Mayor Bloomberg's large soda ban outside City Hall yesterday. He was accompanied by a pair of women he dubbed the "twin cups of freedom" who wore costumes representing 157 ounce cups of soda adorned with Halloran for Congress posters and the slogan "One small sip for man...one big GULP for mankind."

Along with his visual aids, Mr. Halloran gave a speech where he defended New Yorkers' right to drink soda responsibly.

"Only you, not the government, should make decisions about you and your family's diets. And soda is not inherently bad for you," Mr. Halloran said. "Many responsible, healthy New Yorkers choose to consume soda in moderate amounts on certain occasions, such as at a movie or baseball game."

Mr. Halloran also suggested there are far better ways to address the City's health issues than banning large containers of soda.

"If we want to fix the health problems in this City, let's start with gym classes and after-school programs, parks and recreation space, and educating people about health issues," he said.

Spike Lee (Photo: Getty)

Director Spike Lee gave a lengthy interview to New York magazine to promote his upcoming film Red Hook Summer and he shared his thoughts on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's controversial soda ban and the presidential election. Initially, Mr. Lee's only comment on the mayor was that he's a "fellow New York Knicks season-ticket holder," but after some prodding from New York contributing editor Will Leitch, Mr. Lee went on to say he thinks Mr. Bloomberg's legacy "took a blow" with his pursuit of a third term. Though Mr. Lee didn't seem too supportive of Mr. Bloomberg maneuvering around the old two term limit, he gave the soda ban a much more positive review.

"I’m in favor of it. Look, when I was growing up in Brooklyn, we had gym, and you had to run. You had some physical activity. Children today in public schools across the country are not being taught art, are not being taught music, and they have no physical ed. Obesity is a major, major problem in this country," Mr. Lee said. "Americans—we’re just obese. It’s crazy. Ask ­African-Americans. We are way over ­index on obesity, which means we are over index on diabetes, heart disease, and it goes down the line."

Mr. Lee also gave his thoughts on the presidential election. The director, who has hosted benefits for President Barack Obama, said he believes the elections will be "very, very, very close," but he has "faith" the president will be re-elected. Mr. Lee described Mitt Romney's Mormon religion as the "big question" of the campaign.

(Photo: Getty)

Governor Andrew Cuomo discussed New York City's plan to restrict large soda containers on former Governor David Paterson's radio show this evening, and while he declined to wade into the debate, he did give some cover to Mayor Michael Bloomberg by musing about the productiveness of the experiment.

"I don't believe that this proposal can do any harm, Governor," Mr. Cuomo said, noting he hadn't yet seen the specifics of the plan. "Obesity is a major problem and it is a problem that we desperately need to address."

Mr. Cuomo then argued that if the soda ban becomes staunchly opposed by the public, the city's voters can simply elect a mayor who promises to undo it in 2013.

"I also think people now will have a chance to react to  it," he said. "It will be reviewed by the next mayor. It will be discussed during the mayoral campaign. If people really object to it, the next mayor can just undo it. It's done ... by mayoral fiat."

"I don't think you can do a lot of harm in the interim, as I said, I think you can only do good," he added. "I'll leave it at that."

Mr. Paterson was unsurprisingly sympathetic to the idea. Like Mr. Bloomberg, he had pushed for a soda tax when he was governor, so he clearly believes in government action to combat obesity by reducing sugary beverage consumption.

As a side note, the former governor also had some fun to introduce the topic.

"We were talking about the wide listenership we've had today governor, that some people in Albany are listening," he began. "Some of these listeners have called in."

"Let me just look on this page," the legally blind Mr. Paterson said, rustling a piece of paper for effect. "Have you ever heard of Fred Dicker of the Post?"

"Never. Never," Mr. Cuomo jokingly responded (Mr. Cuomo's rare media appearances are usually confined to Mr. Dicker's radio show).

Mr. Paterson proceeded to tick out a list of callers who asked him to inquire about Mr. Cuomo's position on the soda ban proposal.

"Ken Lovett? Hang up. Hang up," Mr. Cuomo quipped at one point when the prominent Daily News reporter's name came up.