Smoking In New York: Bloomberg Wants Building Owners To Set Smoking Rules

Bloomberg's New Anti-Smoking Bill

Former smoker Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing legislation which will clarify where residents can and cannot smoke inside residential buildings.

The bill requires, according to The Wall Street Journal, residential buildings to draw up written policies on where smoking is and isn't permitted (balconies, stoops, lobbies, courtyards, individual apartments, roofs etc...) and show the rules to tenants. Officials predict the measure would also increase the number of smoke-free apartment buildings in New York City, according to The Journal.

Advocates for the bill say it will protect New Yorkers from second-hand smoke, while opponents argue it infringes on people's rights to do what they want to do in their own home.

Nearly 2,500 people called 311 this year to complain of second-hand smoke in residential buildings.

“You should be able to do whatever you want in your own apartment,” one woman told The Journal.

The proposed penalty for violating the law would be $100 per violation.

The measure is the latest in the city's, and Bloomberg's, crusade against smoking. Earlier this month, the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation instituted a smoking ban in all of the city's six state parks. Last year, the city banned smoking in city parks, beaches and pedestrian plazas.

After all of the city and state taxes, a pack of cigarettes in New York City costs about $12.50.

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