Smoking Ban Faces Little Protest (???) Boston

Yahoo News ^ | 16 October 2002

[SheLion]

A proposal to ban smoking in all workplaces in Boston has not met with much controversy.

NewsCenter 5's Kelley Tuthill reported that since Mayor Thomas Menino proposed the ban three weeks ago, there has not been much of a response, according to city officials. The ordinance would make all workplaces smoke free, including restaurants, bars and clubs.

The ordinance will be voted on by the Public Health Commission.

"We haven't received as much input as we expected we would," commission member John Auerbach said. "We received a number of letters -- scores of letters -- and the letters are running about 10-to-1 in favor of the regulation."

Currently in Boston, smoking is relegated to certain sections of restaurants and allowed in bars in clubs.

"We are part of a trend of cities that are going smoke free," Auerbach said. "All the large cities in California are currently smoke free in all workplaces. New York City is debating virtually an identical regulation to ours."

Some Boston bars are starting a petition drive against the ordinance, but at Whiskey's on Boylston Street, managers said that they have no problem going smoke free, as long as their competitors have to.

"It'll hurt business originally, but then people will get used to the non-smoking thing, and business will pick up as usual," manager Austin Eichelberger said.

Cigar Masters owner Steve Saloman said that he is worried that his cigar bar would go out of business if the ordinance is approved. He spent $300,000 moving his 6-year-old cigar bar to Boylston Street.

"We feel that we fall in a gray area," Saloman said. "Everybody who comes in here is here to smoke, so they're not offending anybody."

The commission said there may be an exemption that would allow Cigar Masters to stay open. A public hearing is set for Wednesday night from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Roxbury Community College. The commission could vote as early as Nov. 6.

[metesky]

Within a few years all restaurants will be nonsmoking and will be a distant memory.

You are correct, madame, in a few years all nonsmoking restaurants will be a distant memory.

We flew recently and my kids wanted to know what the ash trays were in the seats.

Really? What did your husband tell them?

[metesky]

rogue with a brogue

LOL! Been a long while since I heard that one.

I'll stick to Cambridge, thanks, even though Southie has a lot of new arrivals who were paying over 500K for a triple decker.

Yeah, Southy has gone to hell since Whitey flew the coop. NOT!

[swarthyguy]

Forgot to mention that he was deported for being serious IRA type. But he was a great bartender and we had some good times badmouthing the Britishers together.

[swarthyguy]

I love it how Boston and Bloompuck in NYC are using workplace safety instead of secondhand smoke as a reason to ban smoking.

[A2J]

While I abhor smoking and tobacco companies, neither do I appreciate government telling private businesses that their patrons cannot smoke in their establisments.

[swarthyguy]

Restaurants are already non smoking. This is going after the bar areas.

[swarthyguy]

>>My one girl friend

Oy! Another SheLioness! I'm a Leo - nudge nudge, wink wink!

[Sloth]

While I abhor smoking and tobacco companies, neither do I appreciate government telling private businesses that their patrons cannot smoke in their establisments.

Uh-oh... SheLion doesn't want your support for her legal rights unless you vigorously agree that smoking is a wonderful thing. Your personal dislike of it is a thoughtcrime, you see.

[lodwick]

Idiots and bttt

[metesky]

But he was a great bartender and we had some good times badmouthing the Britishers together.

Picking the easy targets?

[Just another Joe]

Wrong answer, Sloth. We don't mind if another person doesn't smoke. We don't really even mind if another person doesn't like smoke. All we ask is that the business owner be the one to decide the question and not the nanny government or a majority of people that will never see the inside of that business.

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

Well you obviously wouldn't be spending your time discussing the part the Irish played in defeating Hitler. :-)

[swarthyguy]

No, just a general denunciation of the Brits in general. LOL!

Britishers suck -- yea! ---effing a****les --- Hey can i have another drink for my friend --- Please don't make'em too strong...

He had a heavy hand.

[swarthyguy]

Easy Targets. Yes...

Who else could we both badmouth in the language of the oppressor, no less?

While pumping the jukebox for Clash records?

Helped with the mixology, too.

[swarthyguy]

Such an eminently sensible solution. Puzzling why it hasn't been pursued.

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

Well I do like the Irish attitude to drink which seems to involve quite a lot of "oh go on, why wouldnacha?".

[metesky]

The Clash, one of the last bands I really got off on. Still pump 'em up once in a while.

[swarthyguy]

I'm not too uptodate on a lot of the new stuff, but one guy who's done some real good cuts is KidRock.

[MacDorcha]

nice to know you think its a good idea to support somebodies righs to oppress other people, especially the vast majority, just like a liberal would. im sickly by no means, i just cant breathe amonia like its a natural thing. im sorry im actually normal and was brought up like a human living on a planet rich in oxygen that i was meant to breath. carbon dioxide gives me no troubles, just buring cleaning fluids and something about wasting money on useless and even harmful things piss me off in general. the government shouldnt have total control over us by any means, but smokers(a minority that puts the majority and themselves at risk) shouldnt have controll over anyone at all. government is for regulations. its for a slap in the face or a kick in the teeth when we do wrong. smoking, a habit that actually KILLS people whether they chose to smoke or not, is BAD. like it or not, my voice is actually the biggr voice, and its also the voice of the child of an ex-smoker. so stick THAT in your pipe...

[MacDorcha]

im reading more of your comments, im noticing something about your attitude, its less "lion-ess" more "she-dog"