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| Thread: New York City outdoor smoking ban begins |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 · NEXT» |
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Smithey
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Yes im red, choke on it !!!
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posted May 24, 2011 05:55 AM |
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Edited by Smithey at 05:56, 24 May 2011.
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New York City outdoor smoking ban begins
Ban
New York (CNN) -- Smokers in New York City looking to light up in most public places will not be able to without paying a price after an outdoor citywide smoking ban takes effect Monday.
The law, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed in February after it was passed by the New York City Council, will make smoking illegal in New York City's 1,700 parks and on the city's 14 miles of public beaches. Smoking will also be prohibited in pedestrian plazas like Times Square.
The ban is designed to help curb exposure to secondhand smoke as well as reduce litter.
Secondhand smoke causes close to 50,000 deaths per year, and side effects may include lung cancer, respiratory infections and asthma, according to the American Lung Association's website. Cigarette butts account for 75% of the litter found on New York City beaches, according to a news release from Bloomberg's office.
"Smoking in parks and beaches not only harms people trying to enjoy these recreational facilities, it also causes a litter problem that harms the beauty of our parks," Bloomberg said before he signed the bill into law.
New York follows in the footsteps of 105 municipalities (in states including California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and New Jersey) that have banned smoking on public beaches, according to data from the advocacy group Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights. Major cities include Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Seattle.
In states including California, Texas, Illinois, Minnesota and New Jersey, 507 municipalities impose laws that prohibit city parks, or specifically named city parks, to allow smoking. Major cities include Los Angeles, San Francisco and Salt Lake City.
Puerto Rico prohibits smoking in all parks and beaches.
"These smoke-free laws start at a local level," said Cynthia Hallett, executive director of Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights. "They are based on community demand, science looking at exposure to secondhand smoke and the environmental impact."
Thirty-five states have laws in effect that require 100% smoke-free nonhospitality workplaces, restaurants or bars, according to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation's "Summary of 100% Smokefree State Laws and Population Protected by 100% U.S. Smokefree Laws" compiled in April 2011.
In all, 79.4% of the country's population is covered by local and state laws banning smoking.
Hallett added that the trend to ban smoking is working from the inside out, starting in the indoor workplace, moving to restaurants with patios and then eventually to the great outdoors.
Not all New Yorkers are embracing the ban. New York City C.L.A.S.H. (Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment), a grass-roots organization, is staging a "smoke in the park" to call for repeal or to simply demonstrate anger, according to the group's website.
The ban will be enforced by the city's parks department, and if violators are caught, they could be fined $50.
New York passed its first Smoke Free Air Act in 1988, when smoking was banned in public restrooms and taxicabs. Since then, the law has been amended three times, most notably in 2002, when smoking in some indoor areas -- including restaurants and bars -- was banned.
Great news !!!!!!!! Hope the rest of the world does the same
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Salamandre
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Wog refugee
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posted May 24, 2011 06:07 AM |
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France did it as well but I found it highly hypocritical. You can not sell something and make great profit from it, and on the other side ban its usage in public places. It would be funny now if France allows burqa selling in cloth markets. Same thing.
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Elodin
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posted May 24, 2011 06:24 AM |
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I've never smoked and never will. But I find the decision to ban outdoors smoking quite tyrannical. When some people get a little power they want to start dictating how others live "for their own good." From what they eat and drink to smoking and drinking to the kind of cars they can drive to the kind of light bulb they can use.
Clicky
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Salamandre
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posted May 24, 2011 06:33 AM |
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Wrong. It is hypocritical, not tyrannical. Nobody would ban the smoking in public place if it was not to protect the health of those not smoking, but exposed to it involuntary (another marxist tendency?), and your comparisons are missing the point. The food you eat does not affect the people around you, but the smoke does.
Now I can understand it, but then why keep selling?
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Aculias
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posted May 24, 2011 06:36 AM |
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The first thing I thought about was Bootlegging haha.
Even though it will not get that extreme!
What do you think this is, N KOREA!!!
The cigarette corporation will still make their money & the people will adjust.
Nicotine is very addictive.
Teens will smoke out on the street.
Parents will smoke in the back yard or in the house.
It is adjustable.
I remember when the banned indoor smoking lol.
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Doomforge
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posted May 24, 2011 09:15 AM |
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The only "tyrannical" thing was NEVER being able to go to a half-decent club or so and getting out NOT stinking like a cesspool because of all those smokers around.
Smoking stinks, like it or not, literally. And it's the kind of stench that remains on your clothes until you wash them. Not fun at all.
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Salamandre
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posted May 24, 2011 09:22 AM |
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Quote:
When some people get a little power they want to start dictating how others live "for their own good."
From what I've read through your threads and comments, I believe you would be the perfect example in this category. 
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friendofgunnar
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posted May 24, 2011 10:10 AM |
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I'm all for it
Obviously, Elodin, you've never walked through a park enjoying the fresh air and then suddenly been assaulted by the obnoxious cancerous stench of a drug addicts, as I have MANY times in my life. This has nothing to do with tyranny and everything to do with the expectation that people should not send their filthy poisons into other peoples lungs when sharing common spaces.
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JoonasTo
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posted May 24, 2011 10:13 AM |
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As if there weren't enough air pollution in new york already that smoking had anything to add. 
I'd vote for this kind of decisions everywhere. Highly annoying. Not to mention the kids.
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Jabanoss
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posted May 24, 2011 01:04 PM |
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People can smoke in their own houses. The public air must stay fresh!
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DarkLord
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Fear me..
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posted May 24, 2011 01:43 PM |
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people die from "overplaying" World of Warcraft, is anyone banning that computer game? No, of course no...
i hate this rule.. why should be people banned of smoking? people should have a choice..
i mean it's ok to ban smoking indoors , but outdoors, it's just too much..
you want to make people stop smoking, just stop selling them! and of course it is never going to happen, as BAT (brittish american tobacco) is making multi-billion profits!!!
they are just Hypocrits!!!! that's all i can say!!!
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Adrius
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posted May 24, 2011 01:58 PM |
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Agreed... people can exercise that little hobby of theirs as much as they want, as long as I don't have to breath their waste in directly...
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Fauch
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posted May 24, 2011 02:01 PM |
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Quote:
people die from "overplaying" World of Warcraft, is anyone banning that computer game? No, of course no...
why? you can prove that game is really dangerous? maybe those people were just complete retards.
isn't it just basically moving the pollution? unless you segregate smokers, there is little hope to completely avoid their smoke. but well, streets are already polluted by cars, and you go to parks to breath some not too polluted air.
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blizzardboy
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posted May 24, 2011 02:04 PM |
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I have a hard time with decisions like this. The main one being that smokers overall make up a poor demographic of people, so with taxes on it (one of many innovative ways of sneaking in money so they don't have to raise standard state taxes) and smoking bans all over there place, you're basically further pushing down an already weak group of people, one way through further expenses, and another way through strains on mobility. NYC is a congested enough area that a public smoking ban doesn't seem too absurd, but when this happens in some rural town where people say it shouldn't be allowed because a molecular from the cigarette passed by their nostrils, I have to roll my eyes because the issue clearly isn't about public air quality. The legit medical concern is catching an immediate whiff from somebody nearby. If you're worried about overall air quality, here's a hint; the air indoors cycles outdoors, and cigarettes are a splash of water in a tsunami when it comes to sources of pollution, however smokers make up an increasingly small minority of people with an unpopular habit, which makes them the historically archetypical target for the holier-than-thou mob.
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Elodin
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posted May 24, 2011 02:57 PM |
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Quote:
Quote:
people die from "overplaying" World of Warcraft, is anyone banning that computer game? No, of course no...
why? you can prove that game is really dangerous? maybe those people were just complete retards.
Sure, some people have dropped dead from playing games too long at a time. Playing games too much also means you won't be exercising enough and so will get fat. Getting fat means you will be a health burden on everyone else. It also means you will expend more energy when you do move around. Thus when you are moving around in public you will be consuming more oxygen and putting out more carbon dioxide, reducing the quality of breathable air for all those around you. Being fat also means you will be more flatulent, thus emitting more green house gasses and dooming the planet to flooding from global warming.
Thus the government needs to severly limit the amount of time you can spend playing games and needs to put a "fat tax" on fat people for the good of the public.
I suggest there be loud speakers in every home and street. This will allow government "exercise" officials to call out mandatory exercise times. Of course there must also be cameras everywhere to properly monitor the people. Not exercising during exercise time should be a capital offense.
People would also be weighed every month at the local police station. If a fat person has not lost significant weight during the month he would be summarily executed for the good of the public.
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mvassilev
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posted May 24, 2011 05:01 PM |
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Quote:
people die from "overplaying" World of Warcraft, is anyone banning that computer game?
When World of Warcraft starts emitting secondhand smoke, this analogy will be accurate.
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bLiZzArdbOY
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posted May 24, 2011 05:07 PM |
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It emanates Xerox's ranting. Does that count?
Yeah, Elodin's argument fell flat from the beginning. Second-hand smoke is a public concern. If you're walking down a congested sidewalk in Manhattan everyday you shouldn't have to inhale other people's nicotine.
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Azagal
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posted May 24, 2011 05:26 PM |
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Quote:
The only "tyrannical" thing was NEVER being able to go to a half-decent club or so and getting out NOT stinking like a cesspool because of all those smokers around.
Smoking stinks, like it or not, literally. And it's the kind of stench that remains on your clothes until you wash them. Not fun at all.
If you go to a club where people smoke you smell like smoke and the club may smell a bit like smoke. If you go to a club where people don't smoke you smell like sweat and the whole ****ing club smells like sweat. That's a lot more gross if you ask me, then again I smoke. Mind you I don't like the smell much either but it most certainly beats sweat.
And what I don't get is why they can't just have smoker stalls in the park. I understand people not wanting to inhale/smell smoke if they don't like it but it's very relaxing and nice to sit outside enjoy the weather and have a cigarette. To take that away from them entirely without good reason is just retarded. The health of other people is good reason but an area reserved for smoking isn't going to harm non-smokers so why not simply go with that?
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william
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LummoxLewis
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posted May 24, 2011 05:26 PM |
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Edited by william at 17:27, 24 May 2011.
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Bah. I sometimes smoke, depends how stressed I get but I wouldn't ban it. No matter if they ban it or not, people will still find ways to do it. Fresh air is nice, yes, but you can't ban people from doing something they want to do. I understand that it may well affect others, but then just have certain areas where people can smoke and the non smokers just avoid those places. Whenever I smoke, I tend to walk away from people so it doesn't annoy them too much and they don't have to breathe much of it in.
Edit: Azagal just said the idea that I was meaning. I don't see how that wouldn't work? If people who don't smoke go there then that's their own fault. But come on, let the smokers be able to smoke.
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Insanity
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posted May 24, 2011 05:27 PM |
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eeeeeeeek, why so much racism towards smokers ? do we not bleed black nicotine when cut ?
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