The Bagel Ban
Because New York has solved all its other post-superstorm Sandy problems, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has banned food donations to the homeless.
“I can’t give you something that’s a supplement to the food you already have? Sorry that’s wrong,” says Glenn Richter, who gathered surplus bagels from a synagogue to drop off at a city-run homeless shelter.
Sorry, no-go. The city has no way to examine the salt, fat and fiber content of donated food.
Achtung: Verboten!“My father lived to 97,” Richter tells WCBS-TV “my grandfather lived to 97, and they all enjoyed it, and somehow, we’re being told that this is no good and I think there is a degree of management that becomes micromanagement, and when you cross that line simply, what you’re doing is wrong.”
What’s the city worried about? Lawsuits? From homeless people who’ve been displaced by the superstorm? Over fat and salt content in the food?
They don’t accept donations “for the things that we run,” Mayor Bloomberg told puzzled reporters, “because of all sorts of safety reasons, we just have a policy, it is my understanding, of not taking donations.”
When reminded it was his minions who put this rule in place only recently, he upped the ante: “If they did [accept food] in the past, they shouldn’t have done it and we shouldn’t have accepted it.”
Let them eat cake, indeed. But only a vegan, unsalted, sugar-free cake, apparently… good lord.
Cheers,
Addison Wiggin
The preceding article was excerpted from Agora Finacial’s 5 Min. Forecast. To read the entire episode, please feel free to do so here.
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