(Image Source: LIFE)

BY YIQIAN ZHANG
 

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New Yorkers will soon be breathing cleaner air. Or so the government hopes. Nine years after the city banned smoking in bars and restaurants -- on Wednesday, the New York City Council approved a ban that extends to parks, beaches and even Time Square.

Reviews are mixed -- to say the least.  Here’s CNN.

“I think it’s BS, because second hand smoke is the least of our problems.”
“I believe in free rights for everybody and the people should be able to do as they please, regardless of whether it’s hurting other people or not.”
“We should ban smoking in parks because there are children around so it would be really nice if it were a smoke-free environment for everyone."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has made improving the health of New Yorkers one of his main ambitions -- and is likely to sign the ban. He tells The Guardian....

“New Yorkers who go to our parks and beaches for some fresh air and fun will be able to breathe even cleaner air and sit on a beach not littered with cigarette butts.”

But not everyone wants the butts out. Whoopi Goldberg raged about the ban on The View -- calling for a public space to puff.

GOLDBERG:  "I'm done with this (anti-smoking) because I feel I pay taxes here just like everybody else. There should be a designated place and I'm tired of being treated like some damn criminal. If they're really worried about the smell in the air, give us electric buses, give us electric cars, and then I'll understand!"
 

And of course, the ban has received much support among the nonsmokers. A blogger for Yahoo! writes -- don’t stop at the parks -- extend the ban to the streets.

"Walking along the sidewalk to go to school or work ... is a necessary part of life for most New Yorkers. I find it patently unfair that people living their daily lives should be forced ... to walk behind a smoker who carelessly exhales cigarette smoke into the air; smoke which often ends up in the face and lungs of those of us walking behind them.”

Finally, despite the good intentions, a blogger for The San Francisco Examiner wonders -- will the ban backfire?

“...I’m curious if people really think that banning smoking in parks wont just push people to smoke somewhere else. Like say the sidewalks, where there are far more people converged in a far smaller area and more likely to breathe in second hand smoke...”

(AOC)
Going forward -- one councilman tells the Metro -- he sees a slippery slope -- with bans on smoking in cars with minor -- and even public housing.  So -- is New York protecting citizens -- or burning the city’s 1 million smokers?
http://www.metro.us/newyork/local/article/761696--public-smoking-ban-parks-are-off-limits

 

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