Personal accountability only health solution
First, the ban doesn't prevent the consumption of larger beverages, only the sale. Those who really desire more soda will simply buy another, thus creating more trash in a city where landfills are already beyond capacity. Second, the ban doesn't extend to supermarkets and other retailers, so it only affects those who are eating out or need a drink on the go. Third, there's no ban on other kinds of drinks; a 16 ounce Starbucks vanilla frappuccino has 67 grams of sugar, compared to 52 grams in a similar sized Coca-Cola — which also happens to be the amount of sugar in a bottle of apple juice.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that one out of every three Americans is obese. However, a ban isn't the way to go about getting America healthier. It's going to take education, starting from the very beginning of life and continuing on through adulthood. Of course, the knowledge has been out there a long time, so it isn't as if it's a secret; some people just don't care how fat they get. Sloth is a pretty major sin for Americans; we drive when we can walk, we take elevators instead of stairs, we order a pizza instead of cooking.
Mayor Bloomberg wants to use government to substitute for personal accountability, and it's just wrong. We've become a society where everything that happens to us must be someone else's fault. That's how it's gone for the past few decades; if you're fat, it must be McDonald's fault. Never mind the fact that you knew fast food was unhealthy, but you ate an extra-large Big Mac combo there every day anyway. Just sue them instead, and get liposuction.
There are steps government can take to decrease obesity without becoming overbearing. Our politicians could ignore the manufacturing lobby and not make pizza sauce a vegetable. We could offer subsidies to lower the cost of healthy foods like fruits and vegetables, to help low-income families plagued by obesity afford to eat better. We can stop cutting costs in schools and cities, allowing for quality playgrounds and parks for kids to use without fear of injury. We can offer universal preventative health care that could curb these problems before they become endemic.
Most of all, the government can tell people to start taking responsibility for themselves.