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Unite against Outdoor Smoke Ban in NYC
Author: Ray
Greetings to all cigar aficionados. My name is Ray and I will be bringing you news from the cigar industry as well as occasional reviews. Enjoy.
Recent news revealed that New York politicians are considering banning smoking in most of the outdoors area of the city. As a response, the premium cigar industry rallied and, with the Cigars Rights of America, International Premium Cigars & Pipe Retailers Association and the New York Tobacconist Association as official supporters, encourages you, as cigar lover, to sign petitions against the extension of New York’s smoking ban.
Michael Bloomberg, one of United States’ most high-profile critics of smoking and the mayor of New York, proposed banning smoking in the outdoors of the city, specifically in all of New York’s 1700 public parks and along the 14 miles of city beaches.
Even if you are not a New Yorker and this law will not directly affect you, put yourself in the feet of a cigar lover in the Big Apple. Imagine yourself strolling through Central Park, maybe sitting on a bench, with a fine cigar in your pocket. You would like to indulge in this fine cigar while basking in the afternoon sun, enjoying a quiet, peaceful time. However, this dreamy relaxation will be impossible, should the banning law pass in New York City.
As a gesture of solidarity with your fellow smokers, you can sign the petition created by the New York Tobacconist Association, which opposes the extension of the ban and suggests that decisions of this nature should be up to the individual.
Chris McCalla, the legislative director of the IPCPR, stated, “In public places like these, common courtesy should prevail, not heavy-handed, misguided legislation.”
5 thoughts on “Unite against Outdoor Smoke Ban in NYC”
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This is getting out of control. We have outdoor smoking bans in every unincorporated city within Los Angeles County. It’s horrible because there isn’t a single decent coffee shop where I can sit outside with a cappuccino and light one up. Even most Starbucks’ have banned patio smoking.
I have no issue with banning smoking inside of bars and restaurants and even certain public areas like playgrounds, but there needs to be a designated off-site smoking area, not a parking lot or a dirty alley, where smokers can sit on a bench and smoke. It’s bad enough to treat one group as second-class citizens, but at least Jim Crow Laws provided a separate bathroom and drinking fountain
All you need is one precedent to spark a trend. I would be interested to know when the first statewide indoor smoking ban went into affect and how rapidly that spread.
I will always vote for progress leaders. This ban, however, is insane. I can see the point of banning smoking on beaches, take a stroll sometime and count cigarette butts, but these idoits (I’ll grant you they’re acting like idiots Scott) need to think twice before they so carelessly infringe on our freedoms.
I’ll be signing the petition. I’m not a New Yorker (not even an American) – but I couldn’t bear the implications of a major city implemnting such a draconian law successfully.
The citizens of NYC readily vote “progressive” idiots to positions of authority while pointing a scornful condescending finger at the rest of the nations “lack of sophistication and understanding” . Let them deal with it themselves.