Since it seems unlikely that Mayor Bloomberg’s successor will take up his crusade against unreasonably large sodas, he can only hope that someday New Yorkers will realize they miss having a mayor who cared so much about whether they were obese and diabetic. In the meantime, he’s exporting his dietary finger-wagging to Mexico, and it isn’t going over very well. The AP reports Bloomberg has become a target in the debate over a proposal to impose a 1 peso (8 cent) per liter tax on soft drinks. The mayor hasn’t spoken out on the issue, but Bloomberg Philanthropies donated $10 million to “top research and advocacy organizations” that support the soda tax. Several ads published in recent days declare, “No to the Bloomberg Tax,” and there’s a new carpetbagging angle to the usual “Nanny Bloomberg” complaints. “Bloomberg … has the right to be crazy, but he doesn’t have the right to come here and impose his craziness on us,” said Cuauhtemoc Rivera, leader of Mexico’s National Association of Small Stores.
