Posted on 06/05/2004 9:26:57 AM PDT by The Mayor
Dear Friend of New Yorks Hospitality Industry
IT'S TIME TO TAKE ACTION TO AMEND THE SMOKING BAN!
URTO, along with the New York Nightlife Association, The Empire State Restaurant & Tavern Association and the Amusement and Music Operators of America, is inviting you to attend "Lobby Day" in Albany next Tuesday, June 8th, to help us lobby the state legislature for a reasonable amendment to last year's statewide smoking ban.
Legislation has been introduced in both the Assembly and Senate to allow smoking once again in bars, clubs and taverns that install state-of-the-art air filtration systems. We think this is a very reasonable compromise to the ban, since it will only impact bars and clubs - the establishments that got hit the hardest by the ban - yet will still keep the air inside clean, since the air filtration devices will only be approved by the State if they meet very strict Health Department standards for clean air.
There is a REAL CHANCE to pass the Meier-Destito Amendment - THIS YEAR!!
The time to act on this legislation is NOW!!!
The legislature is planning to wrap up their legislative session on June 22, so we only have a few short weeks left to let them know how bad this ban has been for our business. We need owners, employees, customers, suppliers up to come up to Albany next Tuesday to let our representatives know how important it is that they amend the smoking ban before they come home to seek re-election.
We will be gathering in Albany next Tuesday, June 8th at 10:00 AM. Our plan is that we will be congregating in the Assembly Parlor, which is Rm. 306 of the State Capitol. The Capitol is on State Street between S. Swan Street and Eagle Street.
If you are planning on attending, please RSVP by sending me an email at Brian.nolan@urandto.com or calling me at 212-557-5200 and I will update you on our schedule for the day.
Again, this is our last chance to amend the smoking ban this year. We need to see you up in Albany next week! Car-pools are available. Thanks again for your help.
Sincerely,
Brian Nolan
Exec Director
United Restaurant & Tavern Owners of New York, Inc.
305 Madison Ave, Suite 1946, New York, NY 10165
URTO-NY Phone 212 557 5200
PS. Cannot Make it..then write, fax, call or e-mail your Senator and Assembly-member.
New York State Legislature
NY State Assembly
NY State Senate
Send a short note indicating your hope for their support of the MEIER – DESTITO Bill now being considered in both houses, in the Senate and Assembly Health Committees.
Who said that, CSM?
I love that graphic!!!!!!!!!
I'm running late. I was working on another thread then had to get out for grocery's and the Post Office.
Sorry! I'm running a bit behind here.
So you can smoke in the subway and the officials don't get fined,but you smoke in a bar and the owner gets fined and could lose his license.Should I just smoke in the subway when I go to New York in August.What are they going to do,throw me in jail?
If you smoke under awning OUTSIDE the owner can get fined? I thought this was a health issue,you know,smoking in an enclosed space etc. Who would be harmed smoking under an awning?
These idiot politicians should be run out of town!
Bumpity, bump!
:^D
cyberjet31.
You probably still have a nastygram or two in your mail box.
School seeks smoking waiver
Albany-- Officials want to build concealed shelter outdoors for employees
By CAROL DeMARE, Staff writer
First published: Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Bars, restaurants and bingo halls across the Capital Region and the state have lined up to apply for a smoking ban waiver, citing financial hardship.
Now add an educational facility to that list.
In a twist to those seeking relief from the ban, Albany County health officials received an application last week from Parsons Child and Family Center.
The school and child care facility on Academy Road wants to provide its employees with an outdoor designated smoking area, possibly including an open-air shelter, that is out of sight of kids arriving and departing on buses and the public in general.
"What happens now is we have about a 20-acre site and we have a school on it, but we also have our offices and other facilities as well," Parsons Executive Director Raymond Schimmer said Tuesday. "All our people right now have to smoke out on the sidewalk on Academy Road. It's just ugly. The kids in the school buses go in and out of the parking lot and the staff is out there smoking, and I don't think that's the spirit of the law."
The state Clean Indoor Air Act prohibits smoking in all schools, including on school grounds.
Parsons' application, received June 7, is pending before the Albany County Health Department's Division of Environmental Health Services, said county spokeswoman Kerri Battle.
If the school gets permission, the shelter "would be off in one of the corners of the campus," far from the school and the children's residence, Schimmer said.
Thomas Luzzi, Parsons' chief financial officer, said in the application that smoking in front of the facility, creates "an environment that many of the neighbors find objectionable. Furthermore, smoking on Academy Road is so highly visible that it is difficult to discourage the children we care for from smoking."
Parsons school serves about 160 special needs students in grades 3 through 12, of which 110 come on buses from various school districts. The rest live at the facility.
Parsons also provides foster care and adoption services and family mental health services. There are about 120 people on the educational staff and another 100 to 150 employed at the facility.
The smoking ban took effect last July 24. Since the county began issuing applications for waivers in February, Parsons is only the third site to apply.
VFW Oppenheimer Post 1019 applied in March for its bingo games, but the application lacked sufficient information, Battle said. The post hasn't reapplied.
In April, the Shell Inn in Rensselaerville applied but the documents didn't meet the criteria that called for a separate smoking room, she said. Shell Inn hasn't reapplied.
What a joke!
the State run Nursing Home in Delaware was denied a waiver for it's smoking pavillion.
Mind you the pavillion was built by the state health department, the nursing home is run by the state health department.............and it was the state health department that denied the use of the pavillion for residents who smoke.
Great graphic.
Your commentary is 100% correct.
I guess it depends on where you live and how much money is being spent.
Funny how Washington D.C. just shot down a smoking ban recently, isn't it? Then other not so prestigious states have to cow-tow to these idiot health departments.
The Government workers in the Capitol can keep on living the good life while other states economies are being gutted from 25-30% of the people being stepped on........
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