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Smoking Ban Begins Today For NYC Parks And Beaches But Common Courtesy Would Be Better
Should smoking be banned outdoors if there's no one around?
Just in time for the Memorial Day weekend, the law that bans smoking in New York City’s parks, beaches and pedestrian plazas officially goes into effect today. If caught lighting up, you may be subject to a $50 fine. The goal is to de-normalize the idea of smoking in family friendly places and show children that smoking is unhealthy and not accepted.
While I definitely agree with the indoor smoking laws, I wonder if the outside smoking ban is a little overboard. On one hand, the city is filled with bus fumes, factory smoke, and various other pollutants floating around in the air that our kids ultimately breathe, so we really don’t need to breathe in any more hazardous particles. Yet, if a person is alone at a park, is it really that bad if he has a cigarette (as long as he disposes of it carefully)?
Like other laws, I don’t even think it would have needed to be conceptualized if people just had common courtesy.
It’s only common decency that if you are next to a child in a park or on a beach that you don’t blow smoke in their face. If you want to smoke, I say go right ahead, but I really don’t want your carcinogenic smoke in my child’s lungs or your filthy cigarette butts strewn across public places where children play. It’s common courtesy. Just as I wouldn’t have my child go over and sneeze in your face while you’re sunbathing or spit on your lunch while you’re eating, I don’t want to be subject to your smoke. It’s that simple.
Speaking of courtesy and regulations, the NY Daily News reports that many people plan to ignore the smoking ban anyway. Here is what some said:
“It’s ridiculous. It’s the most idiotic law they ever made,” said Bill Saar, 52, of Harlem. “I’ve been a smoker for over 20 years. I’m not going to stop. …You’re saying you can’t smoke in an open park?”
Many smokers said they planned to flout the ban and doubted it would be enforced. Violators could get slapped with a $50 fine, but it will be mostly self-enforced since there are few Parks Department officers around to crack down.
“I guess I’ll get a ticket. I’ll take the risk,” said Ramon Martell, 28, of the Bronx, as he puffed a cigarette in Union Square.
Of course, there have been other laws that regulate public behavior for many years, such as making public urination and loud radio playing illegal, which again would not be necessary if courtesy prevailed. If we considered the other people around us, we wouldn’t need these laws but they are a fact of modern life. Not all people are willing to make a small sacrifice for others, not even our children.
Do you think the smoking ban will work? Does it bother you when people smoke around your children outdoors?
Image: MorgueFile
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12 Comments
goddess commented on May 23 11 at 7:53 amUm, we live a mile from a coal-burning electricity plant. Second hand tobacco smoke has never been my first crusade. If you saw the fly ash and crap they belch out when blasting the smokestacks to clean them, you’d understand.
However, I am far more concerned with the fragrances worn by people that trigger migraines in the males of my family. Since we can ban smoking everywhere but our homes, I’m on board with a public fragrance ban ;-) After all, migraines are now being considered as progressive neurological disease with risks factors for cardiovascular events with the focus on TOTAL prevention as opposed to treating symptoms. So now that’s a public problem I will see addressed too.
lam commented on May 23 11 at 9:00 am@Goddess – did you see the rider in the budget banning the EPA from regulating coal ash as hazardous waste? Also, have you tried nitrous oxide for those migraines? Clears them right up in about 2 breaths.
Smoking around the kids does bother me, but not if we’re in a large enough open area. I just don’t like legislating things that ought to be managed socially. I do also really detest the butts everywhere. Particularly in parks, playgrounds, and grassy areas where you might otherwise sit down and play. Even so, making laws like this make me feel as though we’re throwing in the towel on finding ways to get along and be courteous to one another in shared spaces.
Danielle Sullivan commented on May 23 11 at 9:21 am@Goddess That’s interesting. I suffer from migraines too and do have a problem with certain fragrances, especially in cars. Don’t you think a public fragrance ban would be incredibly difficult to enact? As it is, most say they will ignore the smoking ban already.
Danielle Sullivan commented on May 23 11 at 9:22 am@Lam I feel the same way. Why is it so hard to be courteous and respectful in public places? It says a lot about our society.
Rosana commented on May 23 11 at 9:24 amI wouldn’t mind if somebody smokes in an open park. It is a public place and I can always take my kids to another part of the park. What really pisses me off is when people smoke in playgrounds. This weekend I was at the local playground with my kids and had (along with my 16 month old daughter) to endure 5 minutes o smoke from an idiot that did not know better than to to the end of the park, where there are not kids or stay in his car and inhale all that crap himself. I gave him a few nasty looks but I think he was also drunk from the little birthday party he was at at the same playground.
Rosana commented on May 23 11 at 9:26 amThe tought made me so mad that I stuttered during my comment, LOL
goddess commented on May 23 11 at 9:38 amLam- the hubster has tried high concentration oxygen. It worked until he’d take the mask off. Hadn’t heard about nitrous though. Will definitely look into that.
goddess commented on May 23 11 at 9:39 amDon’t think I’d want my 10 yr old using nitrous though, especially when removing fragrances works to remove one trigger.
kikiriki commented on May 23 11 at 10:21 amGiven that many of the public beaches in NYC (like Jacob Riis park) pretty much exist as gigantic ashtrays, I’m all for this ban, since common courtesy is in very short supply in the Big Apple. So many smokers are all about their rights as smokers, and I get that, but too many of them seem to believe that the entire world is okay not only with the smoke, but with their excessive littering. The problem with expecting common courtesy is that too many people are too stupid or lazy or selfish to think about anyone or anything but their own convenience, hence social laws. That being said, it’s going to be a hard road for this new law. Anti-littering laws have been in place forever and I still see jackholes every day throwing trash from their cars or finishing a candy bar and tossing the wrapper behind them.
And Goddess, I’m right with you on the fragrance ban, especially since so many people think that the only way to wear fragrance is to douse yourself in it. Blech.
Bunnytwenty commented on May 23 11 at 12:38 pm“Um, we live a mile from a coal-burning electricity plant. Second hand tobacco smoke has never been my first crusade. If you saw the fly ash and crap they belch out when blasting the smokestacks to clean them, you’d understand.”
This is one of the things that bothers me the most about laws like this. The government is happy to regulate the behavior of regular people like you and I, but the people who are really destroying our environment, polluting the air kids breathe and the water they drink, are getting away scot-free.
As for the smoking ban – I’m just glad I don’t live in NYC. I love smoking on the beach! But if I’m smoking a cigarette anywhere in public and I see a baby, a child, or a preggo lady, I get as far away from them as possible, and I always make an effort to smoke away from people. It’s my choice to screw up my body, I’m not going to impose that on anyone else.
Jeannie commented on May 23 11 at 3:17 pmThey recently banned smoking in Vancouver parks and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Not because of the second hand smoke, but because I want to enjoy the beach with my kids without them picking up every stray butt around. If people would realize it is a beach, not an ashtray, we wouldn’t need the ban.
goddess commented on May 24 11 at 7:56 amThe condoms and tampon applicators always bugged me more than butts at the beach.
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