I'm sorry, but I couldn't have a drink at a bar with my friends in NY till I was 37 (would have allergy attacks due to the smoke), which means I love Bloomberg for saving my social life. That also means I'm all for any kind of smoking ban, anywhere, anytime. (Since all my friends are alcoholics!) (Just kidding). But hey, even my smoking friends complain about walking in the wake of someone's smoke outside. That's telling, isn't it?
Follow Carolita Johnson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/carolitajohnson
:)
If you want to make yourself heard by people who are actually involved in the smoking ban question, I would be honored to suggest using the democratic process (however subverted you may think it is at the moment by Bloomberg, it is still there for you to wrangle with now and in the future), by writing to your representative, or to Mayor Bloomberg himself, at:
http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.bd08ee7c7c1ffec87c4b36d501c789a0/index.jsp?doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fmail%2Fhtml%2Fmayor.html
Have fun!
:)
I live in Salt Lake City, a city with the distinction of having some of the worst air in the country. Why don't you draw a cartoon about the levels of airborne chlorine, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter destroying my lungs instead?
I appreciate your artwork and your opinions, but please do some research first. I noticed you had nothing to say about my comment that smoking outdoors puts no one at risk of lung cancer (except the smoker, of course).
Hey, if everyone smoked American Spirit cigs, I might be amenable to second hand smoke. At least they're clean-ish cigs. Maybe we should just ban all cigs that aren't clean. That would be a start!
And I didn't say I didn't like it here. I love it here. I love my dog, too, but I don't deny he has bad breath. I can say what I like about New York, since I'm paying a heck of a lot of taxes to live here. I earn the right!
I love how commenters have a love affair with saying 'if you don't like it here get out".
Hey, if you don't like it here go back to.... uh, forget it. It's no fun.
If passing smokers outside bothers you so much, hold your breath for a
few seconds as you pass them.
That's what I have to do when I pass people who smell like they have
showered in perfume or cologne, or haven't showered at all.
"Field studies of environmental tobacco smoke indicate that under normal conditions, the components in tobacco smoke are diluted below existing Permissible Exposure Levels (PELS.) as referenced in the Air Contaminant Standard (29 CFR 1910.1000)...It would be very rare to find a workplace with so much smoking that any individual PEL would be exceeded."
-Letter From Greg Watchman, Acting Sec'y, OSHA, To Leroy J Pletten, PHD, July 8, 1997
Maybe non-smokers should just eat lots of beans and fart outrageously in the workplace till the smokers go nauseous and teary-eyed, and then they'd know how it feels. Hey. That's an idea....
Also, I am unable to ride subways or buses because the fumes make me sooooo
nauseous, to the point that I actually have to hold my breath as a smokey bus or truck
passes byl
Maybe Bloomberg can ban all these things for me and cut down all the trees & plants that cause my allergies to act up.
I too am an upright citizen, paying taxes and contributing to society.
That said, we cannot and should not outlaw smoking. I would rather get rid of the coal plants.
its a health scare created to impose fear so that smoking prohibition laws could be enacted...........I saw it comming the day I saw smoking sections hit the public venues.............now in states that dont have smoking bans you will find smoking thru out the venues and signs that state such........thats what smoking prohibition has caused a total return to the days before smoking sections..........
If someone has a sensitivity to cigarette smoke -- especially when it goes with somethng serious, like asthma -- walking through the gauntlet of smokers outside a 'nonsmoking' building means you have it in your hair and on your clothes all day.
I am in favor of making smoking areas DOWNWIND of doorways, as far away from normal traffic paths as possible.
It's true--there are a lot of other pollutants you cannot help but inhale. But the sensible thing is to eliminate as many health hazards as possible. If someone wants to endanger his or her own health, it should not put others at risk.
Having grown up with a chain-smoking mother... I think smoking with young kids in an enclosed space or in a car should be considered child abuse.
Quit wearing so much dam* perfume, cologne, aftershave, hair products, lotions.
To all you alcoholics causing bodily harm by bumping into, smashing, falling, driving while intoxicated, being loud and obnoxious in the presence of my children - stay home.
To all you users of environmental hazardous materials, i.e., aerosols, non-hybrid cars, freon in your air-conditioners, etc. - you are killing our environment, so stop.
By smoking outside, I have never caused someone's allergies to go kablooey. I stand downwind or go out alone. However, pesticide concoctions, mosquito repellents/foggers and plant foods have caused several episodes of asthma attacks in my children (not on my lawn or in my yard). Should that be considered child abuse?
It has become "the thing to do" to complain about cigarettes, but give me a break; the world is full of pollutants, cigarettes a small portion. And it is your choice to go outside when someone is smoking, to go near a designated smoking spot. There are a million and one places to go where no smoking is allowed - maybe, just maybe, the reason you are there is because you like to complain!
We should eliminate /methods/ of using various substances that cause harm to others without their consent; if someone inhales, absorbs, swallows, or injects, others do not suffer harm. People will get the substances themselves one way or another, so we should create an environment where the fewest people are harmed.
But wait, we're on the comedy page....