The local paper for the Upper East Side
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER
6-12 2018
STRIVING TO STOMP OUT SUGAR HEALTH City Council fast-tracks a new bill to bolster children’s diets, rein in soda consumption — and alter the way 10,639 restaurants in Manhattan conduct business BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
2008 at the U.S.-Northern Ireland Investment Conference. “It is nearly impossible to imagine New York’s history without our ties to Ireland,” he added. For three decades, O’Flanagan’s was a dependable spot for locals — and mayors — to wind down or party up; Giuliani also frequented the Irish bar and restaurant at a time. But on Friday, August 31, after 30 years of drinks, cheers, live music and memories, O’Flanagan’s, just south of 66th Street, closed its doors for the last time.
It doesn’t foretell the decline and fall of sugar. It doesn’t immunize New Yorkers from heart disease. It won’t end the scourge of obesity either. But new legislation has been quickly advancing in the City Council that backers believe would take a huge step toward promoting those goals. The bill does this simply by elevating the nutritional standards for the beverages included in meals served to children in city restaurants. It creates a “default beverage option” in which eateries serving kids are required to offer drinks that don’t contain added sugars or sweeteners. This is a big deal. The measure is largely aimed at the fare of fast-food chains — the Happy Meal that McDonald’s has sold its customers since 1979, for instance. But it applies to all 24,000 dining spots in the five boroughs, including 10,639 in Manhattan, that receive a letter grade from the city’s Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene. The proposed new law’s sponsor is East Side City Council Member Ben Kallos, who early this year became a first-time father of a baby girl, and he summed up the bill’s mission in familial terms: “This will make it much easier and simpler to raise happy, healthy children,” he said. Specifically, the bill mandates that a beverage provided on a child’s menu, or in a combination meal in a restau-
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After three decades of drinks, cheers, live music and memories, O’Flanagan’s, just south of 66th Street, closed its doors for the last time on August 31. Photo: Shoshy Ciment
CHEERS AND SO LONG TO A NEIGHBORHOOD LANDMARK FAREWELL O’Flanagan’s shutters after 30 years of merriment on First Avenue BY SHOSHY CIMENT
Former city Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg might diverge politically, but when it comes to drinks, they’re on the same page. “If it wasn’t for O’Flanagan’s on First Avenue, I don’t know where I would have spent my Friday nights as a young man,” said Bloomberg in
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Childhood obesity will stop being the norm when children are given meal options that are all healthy.” City Council Member Ben Kallos
City Council Member Ben Kallos with preschoolers at the Manhattan Schoolhouse on the Upper East Side last year. He’s sponsoring a bill, likely to pass, that would bolster nutritional standards for beverages served to kids in thousands of city restaurants. Photo: Office of Ben Kallos Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat and holiday candles Friday Sep. 7, 7:00 pm Rosh Hashanah eve. Sunday Sep. 9, 6:57 pm 2nd day Rosh Hashanah eve. Monday Sep. 10 after 7:54 pm from a pre existing flame For more information visit: www.chabaduppereastside.com
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