Jeers to this!<\/p>\n
The city Department of Health is suggesting cutting the number of liquor stores in the Big Apple as a way to curb health-threatening booze abuse.<\/p>\n
In a report released Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 DOH warned that consuming too much alcohol has been linked to at least seven types of cancer, including mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, liver and colorectal, as well as breast cancer in women.<\/p>\n
Mayor Eric Adams and the New York City Health Department are promoting a modern day temperance movement \u2014 eyeing reducing the number of liquor stores in the Big Apple to curb alcohol consumption and abuse. Seth Gottfried<\/p>\n
The report recommends reducing the \u201cdensity\u201d of spirit slingers in certain neighborhoods, and also suggests restrictions on alcohol advertising and spiking sales taxes and drink prices \u2014 recalling the public health war against tobacco.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis report from the Health Department is a clear reminder that our work to build a healthier city for all New Yorkers is far from over,\u201d said Adams, a health nut but also a nightlife advocate<\/a>, as he endorsed the report.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s especially concerning to see how the density of liquor stores in a neighborhood is linked to heavy drinking, and how this disproportionately affects communities of color,\u201d said Adams in a statement.<\/p>\n The report \u2014 part of Adams\u2019 \u201cHealthyNYC\u201d agenda \u2014 found that city neighborhoods with the highest concentration of liquor stores also had the largest prevalence of heavy drinking (12%). <\/p>\n<\/p>\n That\u2019s about three times higher than in neighborhoods with the lowest liquor store density (4%), according to the study.<\/p>\n There are nearly 25,000 businesses licensed to sell spirits in the city, with about 1,500 categorized as liquor stores, the report said.<\/p>\n But the head of the group representing the city\u2019s 3,300 wine and liquor store merchants railed that cutting off booze outlets was extreme and anti-business.<\/p>\n \u201cOur products are only sold in a controlled and regulated environment, because we believe in responsible drinking, only among legal age adults,\u201d said Michael Correra, executive director of the Metropolitan Package Store Association and owner of Michael Towne Wine & Spirits in Brooklyn Heights.<\/p>\n A new report reveals that consuming too much alcohol has been linked to at least seven types of cancer NYC Health<\/p>\n \u201cIt is also critical to acknowledge that New York City is economically reliant upon the tourism, restaurants, nightlife economy, as last year the Big Apple hosted 64.3 million tourists, who spent $51 billion here, supporting over 388,000 jobs, according to the office of the mayor\u2019s own data.\u201d<\/p>\n One bar restaurateur said, \u201cI don\u2019t even know where to start. Is this some sick Orwellian joke?<\/p>\n \u201cA failing politician and a career health department bureaucrat walk into a bar. And the bartender says nothing because they put him out of business\u2026 We also have a heart disease and diabetes problem in this country. Do we close half the supermarkets so people can\u2019t get to eat twinkies?\u201d<\/p>\n State Conservative Party chairman Gerard Kassar said, \u201cThis is nanny government saying, `We know better than you do. It\u2019s completely off-kilter. It\u2019s ant-business and anti-freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n Metro Executive Director, Michael Correra, said his store in Brooklyn Heights that alcoholic products \u201care only sold in a controlled and regulated environment.\u201d MIchael Towne Wine & Spirits<\/p>\n The DOH, previously floated the idea of slashing the number of liquor stores and sales under then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n The renewed anti-booze push comes at a time when Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul are promoting the growth of New York\u2019s legal cannabis industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are committed to increasing awareness of the risks of alcohol use and ensuring that everyone has access to the life-saving cancer screenings and the quality care they need,\u201d said Adams\u2019 statement.<\/p>\n The DOH study found that men and higher-income New Yorkers were more likely to drink alcohol.<\/p>\n The rise in the anti-booze agenda comes as Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul are promoting the state\u2019s legal cannabis industry. Linkedin\/Metropsa<\/p>\n It identified neighborhoods across Manhattan as having the most liquor stores, from 21 to 45 per 100,000 residents, along with the downtown and northern Brooklyn area.<\/p>\n The same areas also had the highest percentage of heavy drinkers \u2014 10.3% to 15% of the population<\/p>\n But even in suburban Staten Island and southern Brooklyn neighborhoods such as Bay Ridge, 5.7% to 10% of residents were also heavy drinkers, second highest in the city.<\/p>\n That wasn\u2019t a surprise to the head of a major substance abuse treatment program on the island.<\/p>\n