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Full Smoking Ban in Parks Stubbed Out by Bloomberg
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 16, 2009
Modified Sep 16, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 16, 2009
Modified Sep 16, 2009
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Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg stepped back from a plan to make smoking in public parks and beaches illegal, cautioning that the proposal would stop short of completely outlawing smoking on Parks Department property. Bloomberg boasted at a press conference, "Nobody is more of a believer in saving lives and stopping smoking. In fact, we already ban smoking, for example, in playgrounds." However! "There's also the practical aspect of how we can enforce it. Our Police Department has enough to do. They can't be going around giving tickets." Not with all those photographers and superheroes on the loose, anyway. The mayor explained that the ban would not cover entire parks, only select areas where large crowds might gather. He also acknowledged that if you, the embattled smoker, are "sitting in the middle of Sheep Meadow and you’re the only one there, are you doing any damage to anybody other than killing yourself? Probably not." At the same time, Bloomberg reaffirmed his tough anti-smoking stance: "Make no mistake about it. This city is not walking away from our commitment to make it as difficult and as expensive to smoke as we possibly can." So smoke 'em while you can still (barely) afford 'em.
Tagged
beaches
bloomberg
nyc
parks
public
smoking ban
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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