March 20, 2008
Gavin Newsom "Takes Back the Tap"
Curbed SF tipped us off that our Greeny "McDreamy" McGreen mayor, Gavin Newsom, was at the Ferry Building today handing out aluminum water bottles in an effort to "Take Back the Tap." Take Back the Tap is an initiative trying to get more San Franciscans to drink tap water. They are also trying to convince San Francisco restaurants to serve tap water by passing out “A How-To Guide for the San Francisco Restaurant Switch to Tap Water." By getting restaurateurs to pledge use of the tap, San Francisco can help reduce waste by helping eliminate plastic bottles.
So, in the name of San Francisco's tap water being among the healthiest in the nation, Newsom spoke to the masses reporters about how safe SF tap water is while everyone the press was roasted in the hot sun during his speech. Nothing like getting everyone dehydrated before offering them an aluminum water bottle to fill from their own sink. Way to go, Gav!
Pic from Plug1.
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Huh. Seems like an awful lot of nightclubs would rather sell folks a 3.00 bottle of water than offer them a nice glass of water (to keep them from getting so wasted)
Are they going to do some training for local bars on how to clean the coolers of water they set out for patrons? What about the disposable plastic cups they give us to use rather than glassware?
p.s. - I got a plastic bag at H&M the other day. I thought SF was plastic bag free?
nice pic....i wonder who took it.
I'm pretty sure it was someone using a Sidekick LX! That phone rocks for on-the-spot pics.
SFpist: and i quoth "Pic from Plug1".
additionally, they had some fantastic glass pitchers that said "i heart SF tap water" on the side and man, if someone knows how to get one of them, ill be happily pouring tap water all cot damned day.
ps: SFpist & SFBgrrl, see ya in the cubicle farm!!
First they came for the bottled water, and I did not speak out-
Because I was not a Gap-clad yuppie on my way to work after spin class
Then they came for the Perrier and Pellegrino, and I did not speak out--
Because who cares what cologne-soaked Eurotrash drinks?
Then they came for the club soda, and I did not speak out--
Because I don't really care for scotch
Then they came for the tonic water-
And there was nothing left to mix with gin.
Caption for photo
"Lissen here...I'm the goveno-MAYOR of San Francisco and when I tell you that her tit's were THIS BIG - you would NOT have believed it! Besides, everybody knows you cannot mix scotch with Evian - it's got to be SF tap water! *burrrrrp*"
cleangovt, you're on fire tonight.
Who *does* the plastic bag ban effect, really? The Walgreens employees almost seem as if they're in some kind of race to see if they can get your crap into plastic before you can get the words "I don't need a bag" out of your mouth.
Typical half-assed, non-enforceable law that looks good but does no good. Typical Newsom.
The water here is really good, though.
Safeway definitely stopped doling out the plastic bags
If I remember correctly the plastic bag ban is only enforced on large grocery stores. Retail can do whatever they want. Small corner grocery can dole out the plastic. It's a step in the right direction, it just needs to expand to other parts of economy who don't care if our lovely seagulls choke to death *tear*
bluecanary: Gavin isn't proposing a law. Mostly it's just a PR campaign (SF is the awesomest and has the awesomest water!) combined with a pubic service announcement (uh, the water out of the tap is safer, better, and free-er than the crap you're buying in bottles, ya dolts).
It might also be helpful for restaurants (especially the kind that attract a lot of out-of-town rich folk) to volunteer to publish a blurb about the tap water in their menus. The lost revenue is probably a dealbreaker, though. Maybe the city could offer a trash collection rebate to those restaurants that don't serve bottled water?
I was referring to the plastic bag ban.
The idea about placing the blurb on the menu is a great one. Some cities have truly disgusting water (Houston, I'm talking about you), and out of towners may not realize ours is actually quite tasty.
Good luck getting restaurants on board with this one. Small businesses in this city are already bleeding money, so I can't imagine they'd be eager to voluntarily lose even more revenue.
But why are they advocating using aluminium?
@ Carney: Because plastic leeches toxins into the water, even the super-heavy duty stuff they make Nalgene bottles out of. Aluminum keeps your water carcinogen-free. ...Well, free of any plastic-induced carcinogens, that is.
Glass, glass, glass!