By Danny Gallagher
Mayor Michael Bloomberg ’s scuttled rule on jumbo sodas is just the latest in a long railway line of rule on verboten goods .
1. Pinball
This amusement industry staple fiber fill some serious real estate in arcades across the Carry Amelia Moore Nation during its blossom . But some of America ’s big metropolises ordain strict bans on the game table . New York City was one of them . Mayor Fiorello LaGuardialed an challenging effortto rid his metropolis of mob activity — including their well - establish play fraudulent scheme , which included pinball game , since some machines would reward winner with money . In 1942 , a Bronx court ruled that pinball was an illegal shape of gambling , and law started rounding up the machines . Los Angeles and Chicago soon followed lawsuit . The ban persist in effect until 1976 , whenGQeditor and pinball game aficionado Roger Sharpe help demonstrate that pinball was really a game of science alternatively of chance by make for the game and successfully calling his shots in front of the New York City Council .
2. The words “burlesque” and “strip-tease”
LaGuardia ’s crusade to clean up New York did n’t cease at the arcade . He also went after the metropolis ’s fabled chain of burlesque and strip shows , practically cast them out of commercial enterprise . The mayorenacted lawsin 1937 that ban the use of goods and services of words such as " burlesque " and " strip - minx " from occupying any blank on gild or theater marquees . The Bachelor of Arts in Nursing stay in place until 1955 , when a State Supreme Court Justice approved a court order of magnitude to plagiarize it .
3. Beekeeping
New York City never explicitly spelled out a banning on beekeeping , but its wellness code does prevent citizen from keeping animals that are " tempestuous , fierce , fierce , dangerous or naturally inclined to do harm"—and metropolis official once see bee to be in that category . The New York City Beekeepers Associationled a long campaignto get the city ’s Board of Health and Mental Hygiene to rent them keep and work their hive on the city ’s rooftop , and they got their wish in 2010 , when thelaw was amendedto allow beekeeping .
4. Pet ferrets
Thank former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for this one . In 1999 , he amended the bee - encompassing code on " wild , ferocious " animals to include a forbidding on black-footed ferret . The city and its city manager quickly felt up thewrathof ferret owners , including the New York Ferret ’s Right Advocacy group , whose president called in to the city manager ’s weekly tuner show to discuss his business organization . The two got into a short but legendary shouting lucifer , leading Giuliani to observe that " there is something really sad about you and you take supporter … This excessive concern with small weasels is a sickness . "
5. MMA fighting
It may be one of the fastest growing witness sports in the country , but the state of New York still has a strict ban on interracial soldierlike arts . The practice of law , enacted in 1997 by former Gov. George Pataki , who once called the play " barbarian , " proscribe any MMA bouts and remains in place to this day . The legislaturetried and failed to upset the lawin 2011 . That lead to a lawsuit from UFC , which call off the forbiddance unconstitutional . But this ban may not be long for this humanity . Gov. Andrew Cuomo recentlysaidhe enjoys watch the occasional combat , and feel that fall back revenues from ticket sales might change some politicians ' minds about repealing the ban .
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