Neil deMause

More light, and murk, shed on the legality of Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed food-stamp soda ban:

In this corner: Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to grant New York City a two-year waiver to ban the purchase of soda with food-stamp cards, saying it’s a matter of public health. In the far corner: Joel Berg, New York Coalition Against Hunger director and food program expert, who says it’s not only a dumb idea, it’s illegal.

When we last left our two contenders, they were engaged in a fierce game of “Is not!” “Is too!” about what exactly the USDA can and can’t approve without going back to Congress to ask for a rewrite of the law. So what does, you know, the law say? Here are the results of an Exclusive Village Voice Investigation:…

Lots of ink spilled today about Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed ban on food stamps being used to buy soda, but few have asked: Can he legally do it, and should he?

If you’ve been remotely awake today (or at least clicking on your morning Runnin’ Scared links), you’re no doubt aware that Mayor Bloomberg has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allow New York City to bar its 1.7 million citizens with food-stamp cards from using them to buy soda. “This initiative will give New York families more money to spend on foods and drinks that provide real nourishment,” declared the mayor, while Governor Paterson — who actually co-sponsored the measure, but is getting ignored in the media because nobody remembers that he’s still governor — added that allowing food stamps to be used to purchase soft drinks “subsidizes a serious public health epidemic.”… [read more]

New York’s farmers markets and farm share co-ops are spreading like crabgrass, but if you rely on food stamps for your shopping dollars, many still remain out of reach:

Sometime in the last year, New York City reached a milestone: More than one-quarter of its adult residents are now receiving food stamps. Thanks in large part to the outreach efforts of the Bloomberg administration–with an added boost from the crappy economy–1.7 million New York City residents are now receiving food stamps (or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, as they’ve been officially known since 2008), up from 800,000 at its low point in the final month of the Giuliani Administration in December 2001.

Finding places to effectively spend those food stamps is another story… [read more]