Historical Ramblings

New York, Home of the Best Stuff on Earth

New York Times' reports that Snapple is now the official beverage of New York City, to the tune of $166 million in payments. It's an innovative approach to gathering money for cities. I'm generally not a fan of major corporations "buying" into cities, but at least this is more overt than Coca-Cola's domination of Atlanta.

And if it has to happen, it's a pretty sweet deal (pardon the pun) for NY:

To be the Education Department's exclusive vendor, Snapple will pay the city a 30-cent commission on each $1 can of juice or water sold in schools. (Iced tea will not be sold in the schools.) In addition, the company will pay $3 per case sold to support school athletics, for a total of at least $3 million a year. Some of the money will go directly to schools, many of which rely on vending machines to support athletic teams and other programs.

Perhaps this is a model for other cities, especially those in financial crisis. If cities such as Pittsburgh and Baltimore can attract "sponsors", they might potentially fill some of the budget gap, and while it might provide too much influence for big business in city politics, after a while you take the money where you can get it. O'Malley, you listening?