Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg wants to extend bans on smoking in the city from restaurants and bars to parks, beaches and pedestrian malls and plazas, according to an article in today's New York Times by Anemona Hartocollis.
The proposed law, the article said, would cover all 1,700 parks, playgrounds and recreational facilities, and 14 miles of city beaches, as well as boardwalks, public marinas, and the public pedestrian malls and plazas.
"City health officials proposed a smoking ban in parks and beaches last year," the article continued, "but the mayor seemed to be caught off guard by the idea and did not immediately embrace it. But after he and his health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Farley, spent months looking at studies, Mr. Bloomberg delivered a broadside against secondhand smoke at a news conference on Wednesday and said that one poll showed 65 percent of adults were with him."
"Research showed, he said, that someone seated within three feet of a smoker - even in the open air - was exposed to roughly the same levels of secondhand smoke as someone sitting indoors in the same situation," the article said, adding that the mayor said that "Most people don't like their beaches being used as ashtrays."
The article noted that Mr. Bloomberg "was something of a pioneer when he proposed the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants in 2002, but he noted that hundreds of cities and towns across the country, including Chicago and Los Angeles, have already banned smoking in parks and beaches," and added that "the success of the restaurant and bar ban, which was fiercely debated at the time, has since gained widespread acceptance, and could dampen any outcry over the new proposal."
The article said that the proposal, which is to be introduced by Gale Brewer, a Democratic councilwoman from the Upper West Side, must be reviewed in public hearings before it can be adopted by the Council.
Officials, it continued, said "there were some details yet to be worked out, including the amount of a fine, which is expected to be in the $50 range."
At the news conference, the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, who supports the ban, was asked whether the police would give tickets to people who smoked while walking across pedestrian malls in crosswalks and the article said she "insisted the law was not meant to be a 'gotcha.'"
The proposed law, the article said, would cover all 1,700 parks, playgrounds and recreational facilities, and 14 miles of city beaches, as well as boardwalks, public marinas, and the public pedestrian malls and plazas.
"City health officials proposed a smoking ban in parks and beaches last year," the article continued, "but the mayor seemed to be caught off guard by the idea and did not immediately embrace it. But after he and his health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Farley, spent months looking at studies, Mr. Bloomberg delivered a broadside against secondhand smoke at a news conference on Wednesday and said that one poll showed 65 percent of adults were with him."
"Research showed, he said, that someone seated within three feet of a smoker - even in the open air - was exposed to roughly the same levels of secondhand smoke as someone sitting indoors in the same situation," the article said, adding that the mayor said that "Most people don't like their beaches being used as ashtrays."
The article noted that Mr. Bloomberg "was something of a pioneer when he proposed the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants in 2002, but he noted that hundreds of cities and towns across the country, including Chicago and Los Angeles, have already banned smoking in parks and beaches," and added that "the success of the restaurant and bar ban, which was fiercely debated at the time, has since gained widespread acceptance, and could dampen any outcry over the new proposal."
The article said that the proposal, which is to be introduced by Gale Brewer, a Democratic councilwoman from the Upper West Side, must be reviewed in public hearings before it can be adopted by the Council.
Officials, it continued, said "there were some details yet to be worked out, including the amount of a fine, which is expected to be in the $50 range."
At the news conference, the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, who supports the ban, was asked whether the police would give tickets to people who smoked while walking across pedestrian malls in crosswalks and the article said she "insisted the law was not meant to be a 'gotcha.'"
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
6sqft delivers the latest on real estate, architecture, and design, straight from New York City.
