DC Pub Cracks on Concord's Bottled Water Bylaw

As a December special Town Meeting approaches, Concord's revolutionary bottled water bylaw is again in the crosshairs, under fire from threats both local and further afield. 

The local threat is a petitioner's article seeking to repeal the town's bylaw banning the sale of unflavored, unenhanced drinking water in single-serve, PET plastic bottles. 

And the latest instance of fire from afar can be found in this Washington Times editorial, an apparent response to D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray's desire to explore a ban on Styrofoam cups in our nation's capital. 

Concord catches the ire of the Times about mid-way through the piece, which left more than enough time to establish Bloomberg as an adjective. 

The passage -- with links added by Patch: 

The ban on plastic foam is more of the same Bloombergian mindset that prompted the town of Concord, Mass., to prohibit single-serving bottled water earlier this year. In the birthplace of American liberty, the effetes exempted sparkling water from the ban. King George III might be pleased.

OK, we get it. Concord's bottle ban has been fodder for many over these past few ... well, years. But in those few sentences, the Times missed on a few of the details.

Like these three: 

1. Concord's bottle bylaw wasn't prompted by a Bloombergian mindset. It was prompted some four years ago, out of the shock and awe a local grandmother felt after learning of the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" from her grandson. In fact, the town had been voting on Jean Hill's proposed bottle ban for three years before the mayor of New York proposed a citywide ban on plastic-foam food packaging in February. 
2. It's not simply a ban on single-serving bottled water. The bylaw -- which was upheld by the state attorney general and took effect Jan. 1, 2013 -- specifically prohibits the purchase non-sparkling, unflavored drinking water in polyethylene terephthalate bottles of one liter or less. Water bottled in glass, in compostable plant plastics and in some other creative solutions is still sold around town.
3. "The Birthplace of American Liberty?" That's Lexington's tagline.