December 30, 2004
How do you say "Fight the good fight" in Italian? (by guest blogger Peter)
Italy Cafe Owners Vow to Rebel Against Smoking Ban
I wish them well. Hopefully the Italians will fare better than my fellow New Yorkers who just rolled over and took it like a Frenchman when Mike Bloomberg handed down his smoking ban here. I could start my own blog just to enumerate all the reasons why I think Bloomberg's a terrible mayor, but I'll just bother you with one per post.
I was actually thinking about this earlier, does anyone know if any of these smoking bans have been challenged in the courts? I still don't see the legality in outlawing a legal activity from occurring within a private establishment.
Posted by Peter at December 30, 2004 12:09 AM | TrackBackTechnorati Tags:
Awww... poor, witty Peter -- do you also want the lead back in your paint, the asbestos back in your buildings and the polyester back in your pants...when you choose to wear them anyways.
Posted by: Dawn Summers at December 30, 2004 01:18 AMPeter, ask Doug, in an I-Hate-Bloomberg contest, I can out-hate him with the best of 'em. I really hope that little pr**k doesn't run and get re-elected.
Posted by: neighborgirl at December 30, 2004 01:24 AMthat was I; Ari :)
Posted by: neighborgirl at December 30, 2004 01:24 AMI love that Peter is a smoke-hater that is this opposed to the smoking ban.
Posted by: Karol at December 30, 2004 01:26 AMyou just love peter.
Posted by: Dawn Summers at December 30, 2004 02:30 AMI hate Bloomberg too. And the smoking laws are silly.
But he's not banning them in private establishments. He's banning them in public ones. Restaurants, nightclubs, etc. are public places. They're not private clubs. For example, if they didn't seat black people, they could be fined, lose their license, etc.
So the law is perfectly legal. Just dumb.
Posted by: Downtown Lad at December 30, 2004 02:34 AMI love that Peter is a smoke-hater that is this opposed to the smoking ban.
Yay! I'm not the only smoke-hating smoke-ban-hater.
Posted by: Joe R. the Unabrewer at December 30, 2004 08:19 AMI believe a couple of challenges were lost, on the grounds that the businesses involved were open to the public.
My favorite (or stupidest), the resolution of which I do not know, was from a town that allowed smoking only if the place had a liquor license. An AA chapter applied for a license so the members could smoke, but was turned down because, obviously, they did not intend to serve liquor.
The smoking ban is a labor regulation. The free marketeers lost the fight over the government's ability to regulate workplace safety a long time ago.
As a non-smoker also opposed in principle to the ban, I am not as upset as I used to be because so many of my friends - smokers and non - are so much happier. The doomsayers (including me) were wrong.
Posted by: ugarte at December 30, 2004 01:21 PMand it makes comedy clubs so much the more bearable.
Posted by: Dawn Summers at December 30, 2004 05:41 PM
