San Francisco Mayor Bans the Bottle
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.23.07
Science & Technology (water)
Mayor Newsom tours the Hetch Hetchy reservoir--a major source of water for the Bay Area
First plastic bags, now bottled water; San Francisco is certainly setting an example. Mayor Gavin Newsom signed an order this week banning the use of City funds to purchase single-serving bottled water. The Mayor told Newsweek:
The transportation and distribution, developing the plastic for the water bottles, the cost of the water, has a huge environmental and economic impact....the difference between bottled water and Diet Coke is that you can’t get Diet Coke from the tap. It’s not like any other bottled liquids. These people are making huge amounts of money selling God’s natural resources. Sorry, we’re not going to be part of it. Our water in San Francisco comes from the Hetch Hetchy [reservoir] and is some of the most pristine water on the planet. Our water is arguably cleaner than a vast majority of the bottled water sold as "pure."
San Francisco Mayor Bans the Bottle : TreeHugger Newsom sneaking around and sipping out of a bottle?
Is the Green Mayor holding out on us?
This week, the City Insider spotted an almost empty case of bottled water in the back of Mayor Gavin Newsom's hybrid sport utility vehicle as it was parked in front of City Hall. At least one full bottle of Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water remained under the plastic covering.
Chronicle
This from the mayor who in June 2007 issued an executive order directing city government to no longer purchase bottled water, saying the containers clog landfills while the city owns a pristine reservoir in the Sierra Nevada that produces some of the country's best-rated tap water.
Newsom, a former restaurateur, last year called on the restaurant industry to stop selling bottled water to customers and start serving local tap water instead.
Because of that, the mayor generally declines bottled water at any event or meeting, lest he be photographed with an offending bottle.
The mayor sometimes slips, said his spokesman, Nathan Ballard. But in this case, the bottled water belonged to the mayor's security detail and wasn't purchased with city funds, Ballard said. "The mayor will be the first to admit that he occasionally indulges in bottled water," Ballard said. "It's not something he's proud of."
Well, no one's perfect.
City Insider : Newsom sneaking around and sipping out of a bottle?
Hypocrite and coward. Has his boy blame it on his driver. Besides, it's "not something he's proud of"? What a bunch of kooks. It's not as if he was fking his best friend's wife. Oh wait, he was fking his best friend's wife!