Posted on 12/11/2002 6:26:27 PM PST by SheLion
Boston will become smoke-free next spring, after the Public Health Ban approved a sweeping ban on smoking in all workplaces Wednesday.
NewsCenter 5's Janet Wu reported that Boston will become the 70th community in the state to ban smoking in virtually all restaurants, bars and other workplaces with more than one employee. The ban begins May 5, 2003.
"I congratulate the commission members. I congratulate the staff," Public Health chairman David Mulligan said. "It's a great day for the health of people in Boston."
Restaurants and bars that don't stop patrons from smoking will face fines of $100 for the first offense, $500 for the second and $1,000 for the third and subsequent offenses.
"Cigarettes are available," Mulligan said. "People can smoke them outside. People can smoke them in their own homes. But in licensed establishments, people shouldn't be able to smoke and expose others to their carcinogenic products."
East Boston bar and restaurant owner Eric Javelli said that about 25 percent of his business is from smokers. He said that he expects all of them to leave.
"I know a lot of bars around here that will go out of business completely," Javelli said.
The only businesses that can continue to allow smoking are cigar bars, which derive 60 percent or more of their business from the sale of tobacco products.
Mulligan said that surrounding communities will likely follow suit and also ban smoking.
"The future is with the banning, and I think that it won't be long before most of our sister communities surrounding Boston will adopt similar kinds of bans," Mulligan said.
Boston's decision came on the same day that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he and the City Council had come to an agreement on a similar smoking ban in that city.
Bar owners said that they are considering legal action to stop Boston's ban from going into effect.
This is not the first time Boston has banned smoking. In 1840, city leaders banned smoking because of fear of fires, not cancer.
So they say! I just wonder why they don't just ban the darn stuff. All the control, bans and restrictions put upon 25-30% of Americans, just because we choose to smoke a legal commodity. Yet, the states are trying to legalize pot. It's mind boggling. But listen! We put these dorks in office, didn't we? 
Who needs Osama? The US has plenty of him already here!
Puritanism just keeps on morphing. Control! Control! Control! The "Liberal" taliban! They never quit.
What happens if you smoke? You have to wear a scarlet S or something?
The lawmakers can't balance state budgets without the taxes on cigarettes. Yet, they scream they want a smoke free everything.
Just remember: The Tobacco Settlement money is being paid by SMOKERS who pay TAXES on cigarettes. NOT the government and NOT the Tobacco Company. The SMOKERS. Smokers are paying for all the control, bans and restrictions. Isn't it time Smokers stood up for their rights? Why are the people who choose to smoke a legal commodity so eager to always bend over for lawmakers. I just can't understand this.
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Gee, I'll take the risk of "exposure to carcinogenic products" before exposure to this fool. Less toxic.
When did the government start considering granting an establishment a license to operate equivalent to license for governmental control?
(Somebody file that lawsuit, and quick.)
I wonder why BIG government wants to regulate HIS business, maybe HE knows better how to run HIS business. Maybe HE dosen't want to purchess a license for HIS business (at a god awlful price) to allow HIS coustomers to smoke in HIS business.
I get a little upset at people here saying regulating peoples behavior is bad, unless its smoking..........
yCertainly its not a coincidence the major cities are doing this at the same time. Its a calculated risk that will prove to work. The surrounding towns will follow suit. Besides, most of NY and Boston business is commuter. The folks have to eat there.
This is how it works folks, First NY jacked their tax up to 1.50, next CT plans on jacking theirs up to 1.51 and it has the support of something like 705 of the people in CT. The smoker is an easy mark for taxes.
Which reminds me: Boston Health Department set up a call-in number, for the anti's to call in and report if they see or smell signs of smoking in an office.
One anti went into a small business, that housed an apartment over it. The person upstairs was a smoker. The office workers were not. However, just because this person "smelled" smoke, he called the call-in number and reported this business. I never head of the out-come. Probably banned the tenant from smoking.........ugh!
What? You lost me....
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