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Yesterday 12th Ward alderman George Cardenas pitched the idea of taxing sales of bottled water. Not surprisingly, Mayor Daley spoke up for the idea at a press conference today–Cardenas rarely moves in public without checking with the mayor. And there’s a clear advantage for Daley to having one of his surrogates float the proposal: this way, if the idea sinks–as it almost certainly will–he doesn’t have to look bad. Cardenas, best known as a filp-flopper on the big-box minimum-wage ordinance and as an apologist for the HDO, doesn’t have to worry about such things.
Frankly, though, if city officials were serious about confronting these environmental problems, they’d impose a deposit on bottled water and other beverage containers and lobby the legislature to take it statewide. That way they could actually discourage use while encouraging recycling for those who buy the bottles anyway.
