Berkeley has become the first city in the country to pass a sugar-sweetened beverage tax in an effort to combat childhood obesity and diabetes, according to Josh Daniels, co-chair of the Yes on D campaign. As the polls closed Tuesday night, an energetic crowd, many of whom wore black t-shirts emblazoned with the words “Berkeley vs. Big Soda,” clapped and cheered within the Yes on D campaign headquarters on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley.
Two years after Richmond voters overwhelmingly rejected a soda tax, health advocates in Berkeley and San Francisco are drawing lessons from Richmond’s Measure N defeat to try to pass similar taxes on sugary drinks on Nov. 4.