Mayor Bloomberg Wants a Plastic Bottle Deposit; Lauren Bush Thinks It’s a Great Idea

At the UNICEF Snowflake Ball last night at Cipriani on 42nd Street, the Daily Transom encountered David Lauren (son of Ralph) and his girlfriend, Lauren Bush. (Ms. Bush’s cousin Barbara Bush was also present, arriving with socialite Maggie Betts; both refused to speak to the press; in the September issue of Vogue Ms. Betts said, "If the economy continues to slip, don’t you think the adoration of Daisy Buchanan types will fall with it? They will be resented, replaced by something grittier and more real." Perhaps she wasn’t feeling "real" last evening.)

Lauren Bush was wearing a black-and-red-checkered, one-shouldered, belted, possibly flannel dress paired not with the FEED tote that she carries with her everywhere, but rather a more dressed-up clutch printed with the letters FEED across it. 

"It actually used to be a tote but I made it into a little clutch," Ms. Bush told the Daily Transom. 

But just as we were beginning to chat with Mr. Lauren and Ms. Bush, we were interrupted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg who approached the attractive couple to say hello. 

"Oh, yeah, hi! Nice to see you," exclaimed Ms. Bush, shaking his hand. (We suppose you don’t exactly give the mayor an air-kiss regardless of how many times you’ve seen him out at charity benefits.)

"And you as well," politely replied the mayor.

Ms. Bush complimented Mr. Bloomberg on a speech he made recently at another charity event. 

"And congratulations on the plastic bag initiative," added Ms. Bush, referring to the tax that Mr. Bloomberg proposed last month that would charge citizens 6 cents per bag and encourage usage of reusable bags.  

"Oh, yes," replied Mr. Bloomberg. "I don’t know that we’ll get that done, but we’re going to keep working on all of these things. We’ve got to keep planting trees. Did you know that in New York City 80 percent of the pollutants come from buildings and 20 percent from transportation?"

Here we began to tune out a bit as the mayor dove into a full-on discussion of green initiatives in New York City. Words like mass transit, fluorescent bulbs, modern-day air-conditioners, and green roofs were mentioned. The trio finally settled on the topic of plastic water bottles.

"What we should do also is put a deposit on water bottles because then people would return them," said Mr. Bloomberg. "The statistics are clear. What people tend do with cans is just throw them away and then someone else goes around and picks them up. But with plastic water bottles it can be like a plastic bag."

"Well, plastic bottles are a good place to start," said Ms. Bush. "Every time I get a plastic bottle now I feel so guilty."

"Right," replied Mr. Bloomberg.

At that moment, an authoritative voice filled the marble room and instructed everyone to be seated. Mr. Bloomberg excused himself and Mr. Lauren and Ms. Bush followed closely behind.