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First they came for the smokers in bars and restaurants, and we said nothing—we simply enjoyed breathing air without carcinogens. Now the Mayor is coming for the smokers on park benches and beach towels, and we're still saying nothing! As part of an ambitious new public health initiative, city health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley announced that the Bloomberg administration would seek to ban smoking in all city parks and beaches. Public health advocates like Dr. David A. Kessler are elated; he tells City Room, "The issues with secondhand smoke are very real and the majority of the population today doesn’t want to be breathing in tobacco smoke, whether indoors or outdoors." Farley says the proposal to proscribe cigs may require the approval of the City Council, and health department spokeswoman Jessica Scaperotti tells Bloomberg News that officials haven’t yet devised "a specific strategy for reducing smoking in parks." But if cops can be as militant about busting smokers as they are ticketing people for public drinking, we're sure this'll be a big cash crop for the city.
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I agree. Jake is making the Extra Extras more thick than say 3-4 bold ones.
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First off: I'm an ex-smoker. I used to do two packs a day and quit about ten years ago.
I like clean air, but I sympathize with an urge to light up.
Second: this is BATSHIT. This is outside! OUTSIDE! Does the city have nothing else to worry about? How about cleaning up parks outside of Manhattan?
I'm a non-smoking, vegetarian liberal and I agree this is BATSHIT crazy. Please don't the Dems name on this one...
"The issues with secondhand smoke are very real"
OK, if that's true, cite a single scientific study that backs it up. I quit cigarettes 14 years ago and I knoe the damage that they cause... but this second-hand smoke frenzy is, so far, noting that has been proven.
The negative health effects from fine particulates are indisputable. The only question is exactly how harmful it is.
Smokers are pigs. They pollute the air with no regard for those around them & pollute the earth with their carelessly disgarded cigarette butts. Ban them from living.
Bloomberg was an ex-smoker. And doesn't Obama occasionally light up a smoke?
Yeah, but neither of them exactly walk on water.
Amen.
vehicles pollute more than smokers. should we ban driving?
yeah. fuck smokers. especially that girl in that picture one legged style.
maybe this will change your attitude about smoking:
http://www.itshibrow.com/pro-smoking.html
Leave people the fuck alone.
Focus on political corruption and the economy first before taking on these bullshit non-issues.
Fantastic pic.
Next it's going to be all public places, sidewalks included. I wonder if the Gurkha Titan II smoke I blow off my terrace can reach Central Park one block away.
My dad was a near-lifetime smoker, and suffered from emphysema in his eighties. It's a horrible disease to suffer and die from.
And even *I* think this is stupid. Against smoking indoors, you have a quite literal air-tight case. Outside, doowutchalike!
I am all for it...smokers think that throwing a cigarette on the ground is not littering. I see butts buried in the sand all the time at the beach.
littering is already illegal. i see people's food wrappers, we going to ban them from eating?
You don't need to smoke to survive. Food on the other hand...
My conversation tonight...
Me: Honey, i REALLY wanna move already, NYC is becoming a f'ing communist city, what's next, I'll be bailing you outta jail for farting in the apartment?
Honey: What more is this city going to waste our money & their time on?? If they spent as much money cleaning up things like Rotting trees, which emit more carbon dioxide than A LOT of other things(obviously i'm no scientist, but do your homework)
F'ing pathetic
Parks in this city are the only places where you can at least attempt to delude yourself into believing that you are breathing clean air. I hate reading in the park when some smoker comes and lights up, then throws the butts on the ground!
And there is a plethora of scientific evidence that secondhand smoke is harmful. See http://www.no-smoke.org/getthefacts.php?id=18 or try doing a simple Google search. Slight side note, my dad was a smoker when I was growing up and had health issues (chronic bronchitis and asthma) as a direct result so don't even get me started on the effects of secondhand smoke/smoking around children.
my old man was a lifetime 3 packs a day smoker, unfiltered, when he died of a heart attack at 74 he was still smoking 2 packs a day. but he left a gift, my mom, a non smoker has lung cancer. the second hand smoke findings are not conclusive, who knows, new construction may have airborne carcinogens. over development can be the cause.
let people smoke outside, the wind will blow it the other way in a second. enforce auto idling laws, enforce pooper scooper laws. not this new law.
Dumb idea... The second-hand smoke being a threat outside is BS; and we need the tax revenue from tobacco.
Ban smoking anywhere. Legalize dope in any form and then tax it. Then we will have ended the threat to our lungs but will start ridding the city of the sociopaths.
i haven't smoked in a year and a half. within weeks of quitting, my heart rate was down and i generally felt healthier.
this is fucking bullshit. the only reason i could get on board with the restaurant smoking ban, and i was a smoker then, was because there were people there who were, essentially, trapped with the smoke - the waitstaff, the bartenders, etc. the smoker has as much right to the park as the guy sitting next to me on the bench with the smelly tunafish making me nauseated.
Whether second hand smoke inhaled outside causes cancer or not, it's still annoying as hell when you're walking behind one of those inconsiderate asshats puffing away.
AND ON ALL PUBLIC STREETS, PLEASE!!!
Amen. What is with the smoker entitlement? They feel entitled to pollute public space with hot ashes and blowing smoke around with absolutley no regard for anyone else around them?
Ever notice how many smokers hold the smoldering butt away from their own body on a crowded sidewalk so that THEY don't get burned? Or how about walking near a smoker blowing smoke, with force, into the air around them an into other people's faces like "oh fuck you guys. I'm so cavalier and cool." Or when they flick burning hot ashes wherevever they may land? Babies in carriages and childen low to the ground be damned. Not to mention the filthy saliva covered butts that litter the walkways and spaces that we all share.
Why is it that we, as a culture, look down on belching, spiting and farting as pigish, but not blowing smoke and flicking hot ash onto people as just as repulsive? The next time I get a mouthful of the smoke coming from the person walking ahead of me I will want to run up and fart in their face and ask them if they enjoyed it as much as I enjoy breathing in their smoke.
Just saying it might be time for an attitude adjustment and some social grace if smokers want be smoking in crowded public spaces. Think before you damage other people's lungs, burn them, or pollute an already very polluted world.
Entitlement is right. Smokers constantly whine and complain about how mistreated they are, but seem totally oblivious to how seriously their nasty inconsiderate behavior affects the health and comfort of people around them.
I know! And what about all those people with their cars and riding around in those taxis and buses. Do they honestly think we don't smell the exhaust coming from their tailpipes? I mean, what's that all about?
If you don't mind standing a few feet down wind from me when I lay a nasty farts, then you may light up to your heart's content.
less incentive smoke. works for me.
as if air quality in this city is not shit as it is, and as if it would even marginally improve if only it weren't for those pesky smokers. there's no logical argument to ban it. just because something annoys some people doesn't mean it should be made illegal. i'm not a smoker, and i don't enjoy walking through smoke, but i also understand i'm just a whining bitch if i think something should be banned just because i'm not personally fond of it.
Wake up people!! We've already had eight years of Bloomberg insanity. Four more years can only get worse. Don't let our great city go down the toilet.
This is too much, though I can understand situations in which maybe there need to be such rules. For example, standing on a line next to someone who is smoking is not good. Maybe there should be rules about no smoking in lines or at certain organized events outside.
But banning smoking in general in parks? That's over the top.
I call bullshit. Banning restaurant and bar owners from allowing their patrons to smoke is one thing. But banning people from smoking outside is ludicrous.
And people who cite emphazema and lung cancer as being horrible ways to die as reasons to ban smoking ought to be aware that we smokers choose to smoke, and we are also aware of the health risks. As Vonnegut said, it's a sure and honorable method of suicide.
It just seems to me that once people in this country were free to do what they wanted so long as they weren't, you know, harming others. Now the man cracks down on anything and everything.
New York may be one of the more liberal places in the world, but it sure is conservative in its stances toward pretty much every recreational activity.
Pretty soon you won't be allowed to smoke on sidewalks, or in your apartment.
Yet one more reason why Bloomberg won't be getting my vote.
I'm going to go light up now.
I hope you're right about that.
Why doesn't the mayor's office impress me with a social initiative that really helps people. Like low income housing. Low income housing also benefits the rich. There are no "rich" without wage slaves to work for them and stooges to aspire to being them in close proximity. When will they understand that? Now that is wise politics.
Can we please rid ourselves of Nanny Bloomberg. This is going too far. And yes, I can see the NYPD salivating over how many tickets they get to write for promotions.
I hope they also ban smoking in outdoor dining areas. I hate it when someone's smoke blows over to my table. I'm all for these smoking bans after seeing my dad fall apart from years of smoking. Had smoking been banned in all public places 40-50 years ago, I probably wouldn't see him struggling to breathe now. It's devastating to witness something like that.
smoke isn't the problem, people are.
BAN PEOPLE!
I hate the smell of smoke. My father died of smoking.
But this is fucking ridiculous.
NYC was, is, and will always be a decadent city. That's why we live here. We like our booze, our anonymous sex, our drugs and our 5 pound steaks cooked in butter.
If you don't like smoking I hear Salt Lake City is wonderful this tie of year.
Hallelujah!
I'm not a fan of smokers either, and I'm glad it was banned in restaurants, but banning smoking in parks seems a little ridiculous.
How about just actually fining people for throwing butts on the sidewalk or grass in the parks? If this were actually a public health issue, the real "threat" is from thousands of cars idling in traffic.
Second-hand smoke is dangerous, but I'm not concerned about it in outdoor, open spaces. This move seems more like another money grab.
Blah blah blah. It's a great idea! Most smokers are slobs who do not care if they blow smoke in your face or leave butts everywhere. My tax dollars pay for those parks. Great idea!
This article is totally misleading. Bloomberg just found out about this idea. He did not iniate it. Get your facts straight. That being said, it's a great idea and vote against Bloomberg!
Cigarette smoke is genuinely _unpleasant_ to smell. This point is rarely addressed in pros and cons. its the key issue for me. Folks can smoke themselves to a cancerous death if they want, but do I have to smell that stuff while they do it?
Wow, I find smoking to be a terrible habit, but this just seems a bit crazy.
Also, with the ban in restaurants and bars, the impetus is on the business to make it clear smoking is not allowed because they are the ones who will be fined, so they ultimately prevent the smoking. The issue is handled individually in each establishment.
So is this going to be enforced by the foot patrol cops all over the city? Will there have to be new signs everywhere in Central Park explaining where people can and can't smoke? I guarantee there will be countless foreigners very, very confused when told they're breaking the law by smoking outside in an expansive park... and probably angry when some random person comes and scolds them for such a common act.
Anywho, those are just my initial thoughts when reading this.
Also, someone made a good point that the city makes a lot of money off of its insanely high taxes on smokes and something like this (and what inevitably would follow) might eventually start impacting the bottom line...
This is nutz!
Ban polluting cars as well then, those do more damage than the ocassionally second hand smoke trail u happened to inhale once in a while... come on live a little!
The city needs the tax revenue from smokers.
How about a trade? How about no more smoking in parks in exchange for no more filthy fucking dogs shitting and pissing on the goddamn sidewalk? I'm sick and tired of going out for a walk and smelling nothing but dog piss.
SECOND-HAND SMOKING RESULTS IN LIVER DISEASE, STUDY FINDS
ScienceDaily: Latest Science News
Sep 14, 2009 8:00:00
Scientists have found that even second-hand tobacco smoke exposure can result in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, a common disease in which fat accumulates in the liver of people who drink little or no alcohol. The researchers found fat accumulated in liver cells of mice exposed to second-hand cigarette smoke for a year in the lab. Such fat buildup is a sign of NAFLD, leading eventually to liver dysfunction.
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/2_KR3c-8Wzk/090910142425.htm
fat accumulates in the liver of people who drink little or no alcohol.
then have another glass of wine and shut up.
this is fucking bullshit.
Um
How about first doing something about the pollution from the thousands of vehicles driving around the city at every moment of the day and night?
Then maybe you have a right to ask me to put out my cig outdoors - until then though - my tiny cig does nothing compared to all the pollution everyone breaths in from all the traffic.
Show me you care about the big problems then you have a right to deal with the small insignificant ones.
so, with all the auto and business air pollution in NYC the Mayor is worried about a little open-air smoke? Could it be that going after the cars, buses, and businesses might impact his pocketbook?
Wonder if he's considered how banning open-air smoking will affect international tourism? Banning open-air smoking is akin to banning Europe and Asia-Pacific tourist dollars.
I guess he figures he can recover the lost income to the city by stepping up the traffic and parking ticket business in the city.
I have had so many people blow smoke into my face while walking down the street. I hate it. If you want to inhale that crap then do it where nobody else is going to share in it. It's a selfish habit.
These bans have nothing to do with public health, they're about lifestyle control. If they were about health, smelly dryer sheets and air freshener would be banned. Check out the toxic compounds in your average Snuggle sheet:
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/08/08/fragrance-study.html?ref=rss
Yes it is a health issue.
I like to walk and do my Tai Chi
in a park with clean air,
and don't have to smell the cigarette smoke
of those @#$@#holes.
I am very sensitive to those smells.
How do you like it if I fart in your face ??
That's how I react to cigarette smoke
Thanks for the hot picture.
At the beach, I find chubbies in tiny bathing suits more of a public nuisance than smokers.
Ban those guys.
Nice photo.