After much deliberation and two “tags” it looks like enriched water won’t be sold at Houston City Hall after all. For now. Prices for drinks at City Hall are going to go up no matter what, so Council Members and staffers, load up those refrigerators in your offices with Coke, Diet Coke and bottled water! Melissa Noriega, our newest Council Member is all about the Diet Dr. Pepper, so she’s going to be good to go no matter what.
Here’s Matt Stiles:
Turns out all that City Council debate during the last two weeks about amending a soft-drink contract might not have been necessary.
The proposed contract changes, which are on this week’s agenda, would allow Dr Pepper Bottling Co. of Houston to deliver Glacéau’s “Vitamin Water” brand to hundreds of vending machines, including those at parks, airports and even City Hall.
Here’s where it gets tricky.
The controversy has centered on the fact that, once Dr Pepper takes over delivery to City Hall and the City Hall Annex, where council members have offices, employees in those buildings would no longer see Coca-Cola and Pepsi products.
Last week, though, members complained that 1) Glacéau had recently been purchased by Coca-Cola, raising a question about whether Vitamin Water could even been delivered by Dr Pepper, and 2) whether it was appropriate for the city to offer the drink, because it’s been promoted by rapper 50 Cent. Some members objected to his lyrics.
City officials answered the first question this morning, rendering the second moot: Dr Pepper won’t be delivering the water now or in the future. But the contract changes, which allow for higher prices, are still necessary, they say, because the company plans to debut a new “enriched” water sometime soon.
Tracy McGrady promotes Vitamin Water too. What does Houston City Council have against the Rockets?
Our long national nightmare is over.