so it's going to be enforced by the Parks Department people and the general public?
i wonder if the general public who feel it's their duty to apply public pressure to smokers will be 'selective' as to who they apply the pressure to? i'm sure they will be keen to go up to some mean assed looking dude and inform him of the ban :roll:
Smokers needn't worry about the city's new law banning smoking at beaches and parks - because Mayor Bloomberg said Friday the NYPD won't police it.
"The police will not be enforcing this. That's not going to be their job," Bloomberg told a caller to his WOR-AM radio show.
"This is going to be enforced by public pressure."
Bloomberg says police won't enforce new smoking ban for parks and beaches - New York Daily News
Excellent. Here's another outdoor concert anecdote, if I may.
It was about 10 years ago in Garland, Texas. I was sitting in a lawn chair next to my wife, a non-smoker, btw. It was a family type event so people of all ages were there, but the younger people were all milling around (There were amusements and rides, lots of activity.) It was not packed shoulder-to-shoulder, but it was a pretty good crowd. I felt comfortable, being outdoors on a mild, breezy evening, lighting one up. I did.
I was about halfway finished with the cigarette when a lady appeared before me, muttering something and pointing off to my left. I managed to make out, over the noise, that she was saying, "She can't be around cigarette smoke," or some such. I looked to my left. Then looked further, until I saw a group of people looking at me. One of them was a woman of her mid-30s or so, sitting on a motorized chair (and she was, I might add, a tad heavy, and quite rosy-complected.) She was probably 20 steps away. My smoke could not possibly travel that far and would certainly pose no health risk to her even if it did. I was stunned. I replied to her brave friend, "You have
got to be kidding me?" I put out my cigarette.
About ten minutes later, a group of teens, two or three guys and a couple of girls, appeared. They stood rudely in front of me and the others seated, completely obstructing our view of the stage. They were loud, boisterous and the guys were good sized, dressed . . . well, like rough teens.
I glanced over at the group that had just a few minutes before asked me to put out my cigarette. They were still there. They were still looking. They were completely silent.
As it turned out, the girls of the teen group, aware of how badly their boys were behaving, broke the disruptive behavior up themselves by announcing they were going to "get out of these people's way."
The guys were clearly acting tough in front of their girls, or for each other, but it was their blocking of the stage by standing in an area set aside for seating that was objectionable, not the cigarettes.
BTW, no need to preach at me about the evils of smoking each time this topic comes up. I get it: you hate smoking! Get this: I am a legal citizen and cigs are legal.
