Replies

It's a shame there hasn't been a story about the Maryland establishments that are close to the Delaware line - they are BOOMING!!!!!! But there won't be such a story, because the papers that do cover those areas already have editorial positions in favor of smoking bans and will never do a story that shows the harm the Delaware ban has done in Delaware or the good it has done in Maryland.

The same with New Jersey, All the stories about how New Jersey is benefiting from the New York Smoking ban are from New York sources, None of the New Jersey papers have a word to say about it.

Actually the worst thing of all was Bloomberg calling the Delaware ban a big success in Sept. and Oct. of 2002 even though the ban didn't go into effect until that Thanksgiving and no one in the press called him on it.

heck after the ban went into effect in Delaware most of the money my husband and I normally spent when we went out started going to Maryland. and let me tell you - those bartenders and waitstaff in Maryland LOVE the ban in Delaware.

Same here but my money stays in NJ, After the ban went into effect in NYC I stopped going. Before the ban I was there all the time. New Jersey has a lame bar closing time of 2 or 3am depending on the town while NYC never sleeps and after the bars closed in NJ we used to get on the bus (Which convienately the bus stop is outside the bars in my town and it's a short 10 minute ride and it runs all night) and head into the city and there was always a few other groups who did the same. Not anymore I go to the diner or just go home and everybody else seems to do the same and that bus is now always empty. The only time I go into the city is when I have to pass through it when visiting family/friends on Long Island and even then I will go out of my way and take the 59th street bridge instead of the Queens-midtown tunnel just to deny Bloomberg the toll.

The same when the ban went statewide, I haven't spent a cent in any of the bars/restaurants whenever I go back to my other location upstate. When I have wanted to go out I have taken a boat across Lake Champlain to the bars in Vermont or drove up to Montreal (Yeah, Wonderful I have to go to a foriegn country because America isn't free anymore).

I'm so happy I don't live in Delaware anymore.... But they are not rid of me. I'm only an hour away from the southern line and only 2 hours from the capitol. After being there for better than 20 years I've got too much history to just walk away. And my friends in the hospitality industry know I won't forget them.

I am happy I don't live in New York anymore, Before the ban I worked and lived in both NJ & NY after the ban I switched permanetly to NJ, Not just because of the ban but it was the last straw. I still go back often because of family and friends (though because of the way NY is just going to hell they are also leaving in droves) and because the Adirondack Park is just the most beautiful place in the world to give up.