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Fri 9 Nov, 2012 03:49 pm
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s food police have struck again!
Outlawed are food donations to homeless shelters because the city can’t assess their salt, fat and fiber content, reports CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer.
Glenn Richter arrived at a West Side synagogue on Monday to collect surplus bagels — fresh nutritious bagels — to donate to the poor. However, under a new edict from Bloomberg’s food police he can no longer donate the food to city homeless shelters.
It’s the “no bagels for you” edict.
“I can’t give you something that’s a supplement to the food you already have? Sorry that’s wrong,” Richter said.
Richter has been collecting food from places like the Ohav Zedek synagogue and bringing it to homeless shelters for more than 20 years, but recently his donation, including a “cholent” or carrot stew, was turned away because the Bloomberg administration wants to monitor the salt, fat and fiber eaten by the homeless.
Richter said he was stunned. He said his family has eaten the same food forever and flourished.
“My father lived to 97; 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,” Richter said.
But Mayor Bloomberg, a salt-aholic himself, was unapologetic.
“For the things that we run because of all sorts of safety reasons, we just have a policy it is my understanding of not taking donations,” Bloomberg said.
Told that his administration recently enacted the policy, the mayor was Grinch-like.
“If they did in the past they shouldn’t have done it and we shouldn’t have accepted it,” Bloomberg said.
Richter said that over the years he’s delivered more than two tons of food to the homeless. He said Mayor Bloomberg is eating away at his ability to do good.
The ban on food donations was made by an inter-agency task force that includes the departments of Health and Homeless Services.
@Mame,
The man is obviously mentally ill and we can only hope that his tenure in Gracie Mansion is a brief one.
@Mame,
I can see both side of this, actually.
I understand Mr. Richter's desire that food not be wasted.
I also see the city's side, that accepting non-prepackaged food is not desirable. In addition to the unknown nutritional content, how are they to make sure that it meets safety standards?
@Mame,
If I was to make a guess it would be that someone got sick from some donated food and sued the city, or someone was afraid that someone MIGHT get sick and sue the city and therefore passed a policy against accepting donated food.
How sad, my friend Maria is the President of Brown Bad Lunches of Pinellas, they take in food donations everyday. I hope someone doesn’t try pulling that stunt around here!
@JPB,
No, the article is about salt content, etc. It's not about the safety of the food prep and whatnot. I mean, if the stores selling the bagels are allowed to sell them, why can't the homeless eat them? I mean, if they're good enough for ordinary people, why aren't they good enough for everybody?
@Lustig Andrei,
Lustig Andrei wrote:
The man is obviously mentally ill and we can only hope that his tenure in Gracie Mansion is a brief one.
Ironically, he doesn't live in Gracie Mansion. He only uses it for VIP events.
@DrewDad,
This was his issue:
Outlawed are food donations to homeless shelters
because the city can’t assess their salt, fat and fiber content, reports CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer.
Give me a break! If I wanted to buy a Big Mac for a homeless guy, it's not illegal and it's a helluva lot more fattening, etc than a bagel and carrot soup.
@DrewDad,
DrewDad wrote:
I also see the city's side, that accepting non-prepackaged food is not desirable. In addition to the unknown nutritional content, how are they to make sure that it meets safety standards?
This food comes from restaurants, bakeries, etc.... I certainly hope it meets safety standards if they're selling the stuff to the public.
@Mame,
The man is obsessive/compulsive. As a "salt-aholic" (as it says in the OP), he is over-the-top concerned with nutrition. His banning of gargantuan soda containers was just one example of this. It wouldn't surprise me if next he tried to ban the sale of salty potato chips by push-cart vendors in Central Park.
In the meantime, perfectly good food goes to waste while the homeless worry about where their next meal is coming from, something a billionaire like Mr. Bloomberg obviously can't imagine or understand.
@tsarstepan,
What about how the food is handled in transit?
I didn't say I necessarily agreed with their policy, I just said I could understand it.
I'm sure the shelters have rules they have to follow, just like school cafeterias.
@Mame,
Mame wrote:
This was his issue:
Outlawed are food donations to homeless shelters because the city can’t assess their salt, fat and fiber content, reports CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer.
Give me a break! If I wanted to buy a Big Mac for a homeless guy, it's not illegal and it's a helluva lot more fattening, etc than a bagel and carrot soup.
What you don't realize is that prior to this war against salt, fat, etc... by Michael Bloomberg, there was also a really restrictive policy that stopped restaurants from donating certain kinds of leftover food. Clearly the food donation policies need to be reformed and this new policy is clearly the wrong direction.
@Mame,
I have been plus minus on Bloomberg's stuff, but this is out of lunch.
@tsarstepan,
I agree - it's definitely in the wrong direction. People have survived during wars and famine eating way more disgusting and unsanitary things than food from restaurants and bakeries! This food hasn't made anyone sick in the 20 yrs he's been delivering it, so this is a little over the top.
And on another note - either you eat and get sick or you don't eat and die. You pick.
@Mame,
You clearly don't realize the severity of this country's obesity epidemic. Do you
really want even more fat homeless people on your conscience? A 20-day fasting diet is just what those people need. Bloomberg is a visionary!
This is what happens when the government gets into charity endeavors.
Agencies can monitor their own "donations" and decide if they want to accept prepared foods.
@Thomas,
Yes, I noticed all the fat homeless people in NYC!! You're right - we need to teach them a lesson!
@tsarstepan,
tsarstepan wrote:
DrewDad wrote:
I also see the city's side, that accepting non-prepackaged food is not desirable. In addition to the unknown nutritional content, how are they to make sure that it meets safety standards?
This food comes from restaurants, bakeries, etc.... I certainly hope it meets safety standards if they're selling the stuff to the public.
plus the homeless routinely eat out if garbage cans
surely this is a step up
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