Lesson 13 Ban Sparks Smoking War
Sleepers are mad at bar patrons, and owners are mad at city
By Charisse Jones
1. NEW YORK-David Rabin doesn’t do cigarettes. In fact, he can’t stand smoke.
2. But the co-owner of Lotus, one of the hottest night spots in Manhattan[1], says he now spends a good part of his time fighting a law that prohibits lighting up in bars and pushes smokers onto the street.
3. “This is supposed to be the city that never sleeps,” says Rabin, 42. “It’s now the city that never sleeps because smokers are huddled beneath a four-story walk-up talking. Where else are they going to go?”
4. New York City is still coming to terms with smoke-free night life[2] three months after a ban took effect outlawing smoking in nearly all work-places, including restaurants and bars.
5. Five states—New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine and California—have passed similar smoking restrictions that include bars and taverns. New York State’ s ban, which echoes the city’ s anti-smoking law, goes into effect July 24.
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6. Just last week, Maine’s governor signed into law a ban on smoking in taverns, pool halls, lounges and some off-track betting[3] sites that goes into effect Jan. 1. Smoking is already outlawed in restaurants. On May 23, Connecticut’s governor signed a measure that will prohibit smoking in cafes, taverns, restaurants and public facilities by April 2004.
7. On Tuesday, Florida began a smoking ban that’s slightly less restrictive. It bans smoking in all enclosed workplaces, including restaurants and bars where food sales make up at least 10% of their business.
Business is off来电铃声歌曲
8. New York City’s law has sparked a million “butts” jokes in the tabloids and turned celebrities such as Britney Spears into alleged scofflaws for illegally puffing away.[4] And i
t has stirred fear and loathing among some residents and businesses that say customers don’t want to drink and nosh where they can’ t light up.
9. One New York City councilman recently called on the city and state to consider amending the anti-smoking laws—a move other city officials say is unlikely. Owners and managers of cafes and bars from Queens[5] to Manhattan say that business is off as much as 40% and that they have been forced to lay off employees. Some community representatives say noise complaints have risen since pub denizens began lighting up on the sidewalk.
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10. “If what I’m hearing is correct, this is having a devastating effect on the city’s economic recovery,[6]” says Queens councilman Tony Avella, who says he reluctantly voted for the ban but thinks the council should revisit the issue[7].
11. His office is receiving a dozen complaints a week about litter, noise and occasional rights among smokers outside neighborhood bars. “We need to find out if there’s a way to preserve public health and allow people to drink and smoke at the same time,” he says.
12. Those who have studied the impact of anti-smoking measures say such laws protect the health of bartenders, waitresses and patrons and also bring in customers who were reluctant to socialize where smoking was allowed.[8]
亚当兰伯特好听的歌13. “What the data show is that no smoke-free air acts have ever hurt business,” says Tom Frieden, New York City’ s health commissioner. He says four out of five New Yorkers do not smoke.
那双眼动人笑声更迷人14. In a city of apartment dwellers, where people live above restaurants and pubs, some say long-standing tensions between businesses and residents have only risen since smokers were forced to congregate outside.
15. “We have found that our number of complaints have increased regarding noise on the street, particularly when it conies to smokers,” says Kyle Merker, chairman of one of Manhattan’s community boards. “Realistically, are they going to repeal the law? No. But maybe we can refine it.”
Earlier closing time?
16. Some club owners fear that anger about the excessive noise could make it harder for businesses to get liquor licenses, or it may lead to forcing businesses to close at rather than 4, which Rabin fears would make New York no different than other cities.
17. “This has brought about a civil war between night life and residents, both of whom have a legitimate right to exist,”[9] says Rabin, president of the New York Nightlife Association.等你下课歌词
18. Ciaran Staunton, owner of O’Neill’s in Manhattan, says business is off 20% as former patrons head home to Connecticut or New Jersey, where they can still smoke in a bar.
19. I’ve met some of my patrons coming out of liquor stores with six-packs[10] saying, “We’re going to drink where we can smoke,” he says. “The original legislation was put in to help employees, to provide them with clean air…. Well, we’ve laid off three employees because of the smoking ban.”