Keeping a jaundiced eye on the corporate media.
Jun 22nd, 2006 at 9:27 am by Susie
City Council has passed the bill, but Mayor Street has to sign it in order for it to become law. Click here to sign a petition that will go to the mayor.
You don’t have to live in the city; the metro area is okay. After all, a lot of people who spend money in the city would come more often if they didn’t have to breathe smoke.
You are a Working Class Warrior, also known as a blue-collar Democrat. You believe that the little guy is getting screwed by conservative greed-mongers and corporate criminals, and you’re not going to take it anymore.
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And a lot of us in the suburbs will stop coming into the city and spending our money if this passes.
What I’m saying is that a lot of my gay and lesbian friends, for whatever reason, still smoke and for them, smoking in the gay bars and restaurants we frequent might soon become the only place allowed after a long train or car ride into the city. Forget the fact that the bar owners and restauranteurs are the ones who should be making policy within their own establishments, and their decisions shouldn’t be made by well-meaning citizens and politicians, this reeks of the very same thing that State and Federal representatives are trying to do with other rights.
Susie, I understand your concern and your health issues on this topic, but I can guarantee you that the outcome of this vote will directly determine whether I pick up the phone and cancel reservations to establishments I frequently go to, and start looking for someone out here in the “Burbs” to do my hair. Forget all the money I spend on card shops, clothing stores, record stores, bookstores, hotels, etc. It won’t be happening if this bill passes.
Good luck to you and everyone else pushing this bill. If it’s really in the city’s best interest to lose customers, so be it. I’ll be waiting on the outcome as well, and will start making cancellation calls when it happens.
I can gaurantee all the people that sign this petition drive cars, expelling pounds and pounds of chemicals into the air every day. HYPOCRITES
Ben, I understand what you’re saying - but it’s a worker’s issue, period. No one should have to inhale toxic fumes as a condition of their employment. Both of my kids were waiters (one still is) and I hate it that the only places they could work and earn enough to live required them to steep themselves in second-hand smoke. If it were any other substance, would you be so indifferent to the workers? Do you really think there are so many jobs, they have other options?
Not to mention musicians, myself included. A lot of people’s careers got short-circuited because the only venues that pay enough to live on are smoky bars. Yeah, I can play in a coffeehouse and pass the hat - but that won’t pay the bills.
I understand your points, Susie. Yes, no one should have to inhale toxic fumes as part of their workday life. You just posted an article “The IKEA Factor.” Sounds pretty bad to me. We should legislate against all toxic chemicals in our lives, right? Think it will happen anytime soon? I sympathize with everyone who is for banning smoking. I completely understand all the concerns of waiters, musicians, ordinary people, non-smokers.
I don’t understand why people continue to smoke, knowing the health concerns, you would think they’d stop immediately. Guess what? It’s easier to kick a heroin addiction. Should the U.S. Government pay to help smokers stop smoking? Yes. Should they be required to pay to help smokers stop smoking more than one time? Yes. As many times as it takes. Also, any day now, they can stop subsidizing tobacco growers. Think it’ll happen anytime soon?
I do appreciate the opportunity to post my thoughts here. More often than not these days, bloggers are deleting comments they don’t agree with. I still enjoy reading your blog. I have for a long time. We’ll just have to agree to disagree on this issue I suppose.
It’s unfair, I realize, to say I will pull my money as a response to this bill passing. The world is unfair. I’ve learned to live in it. Everyone else can too.
Ben, I’m glad you post your thoughts here, especially when they dissent. Open dialogue is important. Please don’t ever stop.
It’s totally okay if you want to stop going to Philly if it becomes smoke free - nobody here is going to lambaste you for it (I don’t think?). I imagine you’ve stopped going to NYC for the same reason. But it’s up to you if you choose to limit yourself. Just as it’s been up to many, many nonsmokers to limit themselves for so long. Don’t forget how many of them will come out of the woodworks and replace your business.
But jeez, you’d think we’d asked smokers to lick the sidewalk, not just step out on it for a quick smoke.
Sure there are toxins everywhere. Sure we’re a bunch of car-drivin’, electricity-usin’, food-eatin’ hypocrites. However, if you ask me, it’s worth it to take one step in the right direction rather than continue to stand still. Did emission controls on smokestacks help? Yep. Do they still pollute? Hell, yes. But it’s an improvement. Will getting Bush out of office fix corruption in government? Same thing. Progress, not perfection.
FWIW, I believe the ban excludes places that get more than 90% of their revenue from alcohol. That means chances are pretty good that dance clubs are exempt.
Thanks, Maya. I’ve gotten caught up by Susie’s spamtrap occasionally but I’ve never gotten the feeling that a comment of mine was intentionally prevented from posting. I tend to agree more often than not with almost all of what Susie posts and what other commenters have to say. It’s only this one occasion I can think of, where I felt strongly against Mr. Nutter’s Nutty Proposal that I felt even though I know it will go against the grain, I had to leave a comment of dissent about this.
I probably won’t stop visiting Center City. I certainly haven’t stopped visiting New York City. The ban on smoking really won’t cause me to limit myself, as so many nonsmokers have done for so long, because it won’t affect me in the first place. I may still patronize non-smoking establishments as I always have, but if in the company of smoking friends, I’ll also let those establishments know the business they lost due to their ban on smoking. True, the non-smoking business will come out of the woodwork and replace mine. No problem. Good, in fact.
I can’t recall the number of times when I’ve planned outings with friends and family and when told there’s a no smoking rule in force, politely told the management that I’m sorry but I’ll take my business elsewhere. It’s never a problem. They’re quite apologetic, especially after they do the math and realize the amount of business they just lost. There’s always somewhere else to go and usually a good time is had by all.
Most people work in non-smoking environments. I go all day without having to breathe second-hand smoke yet when I take a break I often go outside and talk with people who smoke and their smoke might blow in my face or on my clothes. I wish they would stop their smoking, but I don’t proselytize on the dangers. We’ve all read the studies. We all know the dangers.
Some might ask me, why all the fuss? I fuss because I care about people’s feelings, smokers and non-smokers alike. Yes, we could shun smokers like the plague until they stop their filthy habit, or we can hope one day they see the light and include them in the meantime.
It must seem like one of life’s little ironys that people so vehemently against smoking oftentimes have plenty of friends and family who smoke. It also must seem an irony, (it does to me, at least), that a bill to ban smoking is proposed, yet an exclusion is given to facilities that get more than 90% of their revenue from alcohol. What’s that all about? Why that exlusion? Why allow smokers to step outside for a quickie even though we don’t ask them to lick the sidewalk while they’re out there?
Excuse my language; let’s not be chickenshits! Totally ban smoking outright in public, no exlusions. If people want to smoke they can do it in their own homes. I would also exclude smoking during the car ride to and from the store where they bought their cigarettes. Does that sound familiar? The right-wing’s desire to ban abortions comes to mind.
In the meantime, the government should stop funding the tobacco growers and support monetarily those people who need help to stop smoking. For whatever reason they smoke, as I said before, quitting for some of them would be like a heroin addict trying to stop by going cold turkey. Stop subsidizing tobacco growers, help the smokers stop smoking, THEN propose bills to ban smoking. Till that day, I’ll walk right past non-smoking establishments with my smoking and non-smoking friends and my wallet full of cash and credit, but I’ll also let the establishments know what they lost as I walked by.