Berkeley to Vote on Politically Correct Coffee

Published on Thursday, October 24, 2002 by the San Jose Mercury News
Berkeley to Vote on Politically Correct Coffee
Measure O: Would Restrict Sale of Brewed Drinks to Fair-Trade, Organic and Shade-Grown Brands

by Sandra Gonzales

In ever-so-progressive Berkeley, yet another hot political debate is simmering. This one over coffee, no less.

And, if it's up to Rick Young, Berkeley voters will take their cup of brew fair-trade, organic and shade-grown.

Young, an environmentally and socially conscious lawyer on a mission to have all brewed coffee sold in Berkeley be politically correct, is sponsoring a November ballot measure that would make it the nation's only city to restrict the sale of coffee to those standards.

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