I had the plesaent experience of visiting LA over the summer and loved it so much that I’m seriously considering moving there once I get my degree. Only thing about LA that I wasn’t enthused with was the no-smoking anywhere indoors law, even bars. I have no complaints with it mind you, why should people be subjected to my second hand smoke? It seems fair to me, and I wouldn’t have a problem if smoking indoors was banned nation wide (except in private homes of course).
But now they are taking things too far. Now they are talking about banning smoking in outdoor areas. WTF? Do you honestly believe that someone will get sick from second hand smoke outdoors? I mean for cryin’ out loud, that city has one of the highest rates of smog in the country, and they’re worried about a few errant whiffs of tobacco smoke? Look at this picture. The smog is so damn thick it hangs like a cloud over the city. Do they really think that my smoking outdoors is going to increase the problem. Sheesh.
I think that LA needs to chill out a bit. Anybody else have an opinion?
Note: I dropped this in IMHO because I’m not trying to do a rant, I honestly feel that LA is taking their anti-smoking kick a bit far and would like to hear other peoples thoughts on this.
Smoke outside is even nastier than smoke inside, I think, because it’s harder to avoid. You can be five yards away from a smoker, and if there’s a nice little breeze, you’ve got a lung full of smoke. And then there are the times when it’s not possible to get away from it - if you’re unfortunate to be stuck walking behind a smoker, or waiting for a bus or whatnot. People think that just because they’re outside, their smoke doesn’t bother anyone, but it still travels and though it isn’t as concentrated as it can be inside, it’s still enough to disturb someone who does not wish to smell it.
I am all in favor of a law banning smoking in any place where people may be without having the option to avoid someone else’s smoke.
As far as smoking being a nasty filthy habit (which, I must admit, it is) which bothers other people, I have to wonder why don’t people just move away from the smoker when outdoors (or conversely if you were there first, you should have the right to ask the smoker to move away). Putting aside the health issues for just a moment, and concentrating on how smoking irritates other people is it really any more of a public nuisance than people who don’t bathe, or people who have their car stereos cranked too loud? Those are things that irritate people as well, yet there are few or no laws regulating them, and when there are they are poorly enforced. As far as people who smoke at bus-stops and other places where people may HAVE to be, I wouldn’t be against a law stating you have to be so many feet away, kinda like the law in CA regarding the entrances to public buildings.
As far as the health issue goes regarding the inhalation of second-hand smoke in outdoor areas I was always under the impression that it was negligible, especially in a place like LA with notoriously poor air quality. As an anecdotal bit of evidence I know several people with asthma who have been smoking for years, some for decades, and have not shown any ill effects (I know they’ll get cancer, etc. eventually, but I’m questioning how the occasional whiff of second-hand smoke will kill someone). However if someone can give me a cite that shows people can have a realistic chance to get a disease (or worsen an existing one) from the second-hand smoke of people smoking outdoors I’ll shut my piehole. Smoking is admittedly a pretty stupid habit, and I don’t want someone to die due to my poor willpower.
Ultimately it looks to me that this is another PC deal: smoking is going out of style so quickly that it’s in style to slam smokers, and the LA city council seems to be jumping on the bandwagon IMHO.
By the way BobT, did they really ban drinking at your seat at ballgames? Cause if they did I’m pretty damn lucky not to be serving a life sentence after the amount of drinking I did at a Dodgers game.
There is no smoking in Davis (California) by city ordinance in any business establishment or within 20 feet of any business establishment. Virtually the only place that you can smoke unmolested is in a private home.
I imagine that many of our California cities will follow suit.
See, I don’t have too much of a problem with that; so I have to go around the corner into an alley? Fine, it’s all good. But if I’m in a park that has plenty of open space then why can’t I light up?
So does perfume. Many people get quite sick from the smell of it; I wouldn’t suggest banning its use. Banning smoking out of doors is, frankly, a little extreme, (and I’m all for the no-smoking-in-restaurants-at-all law.)
I have no problem with smoking in restaurants. I have no problem with smoking outdoors. If the smoke bothers you, so fucking what.
If you have asthma, avoid the things that will make it worse. If you were allergic to blue, you wouldn’t expect a law that makes it illegal for me to wear blue.
If smoke filled bars bother you, don’t go to bars, just as you already don’t go to bars where drug use is open and rampant. If the smoking section at Denny’s bothers you, stop going to Denny’s. If enough of you stop, Denny’s will eventually create a better separation or eliminate the smoking section.
Personally, I find that loud noises make my ears ring and probably cause permanent damage. I would like laws making it illegal to play loud music in enclosed buildings or within 1,000 feet of an enclosed building.
I find the odor of coffee to be very annoying and yet Starbucks is allowed to put a shop on every corner. The bastards! Why can’t somebody pass a law making it illegal to annoy or otherwise bother obfusciatrist! I want my hand held so I can enjoy the world in which I live! ME! ME! ME! ME!!!
Well, if as many people wanted the “Don’t Annoy obfusciatrist Law” as evidently want the no-smoking laws, I’m sure it would be on a petition tomorrow, and the law of the land (or California) after the next election!
They didn’t ban drinking beer at your seat at sporting events. It is just against the law for vendors to sell it in the seats. You have to get up to buy one and bring it back.
Since I don’t drink or smoke, I have never found these to be enormous hardships.
In that the ambient temperature of water is almost always lower than that of land, I would like to humbly suggest that the whole damn state drop into the ocean as quickly as possible, thereby resulting in the desired “chill out”.
Gods, I hate California. Yes, I’ve been there. Lots of time. Yes, there are lots of cool people there. Yes, I wish they would have the opportunity to evacuate before the drop off.
Still, the state culture is a mix of hippy dippy granola huffing earth-farting drivel combined with a fanatical socio-totalitarian governmental sense of entitlement that foists its own particular kind of trendoid nightmare upon anyone and everyone who dares cross the border and then tries export that same nightmare to other jurisdictions.
As Andrew Vachss said, “The only thing California ever contributed to culture was the drive-by shooting.” It can’t go away soon enough for me.
I am all for a total smoking ban. Seeing as it has no positive health affects I know of, just make it illegal. I know, it’ll never happen because of all the money in the tobacco business. But I would still like to see it nonetheless. For anybody thinking about alcohol and its positive health affects, it can help your heart if not taken in huge quantities.
When I moved to San Diego from Philadelphia, every time we went to a restaurant and they asked, “How many?” I would say, “Two, non-smoking.” And they’d look at me funny.
I agree - smoking bans outside is ridiculous. I’m no smoker and I detest it, but I’ll still go out into the open-air areas to chat with people to - get this - get a breath of fresh air, 'cause there’s air outside.
I’m just glad I can come home from the clubs and my clothes don’t reek of cigarette smoke.
Though an occasional smoker myself, as others have said, I’m glad it’s gone from bars and restaurants. I hated that stale cigaratte smoke smell. I’ll even go further and line up with those who think smoking should be prohibited in outdoor venues such as stadiums. AFter all, stadiums by their nature hold vast numbers of people at close quarters, and you have to stay pretty much where you are. But in parks, now, I think that’s going a tad too far. Unfortunately, I think tobacco’s going down in the next decade or so. The anti-smoking propaganda here in CA is so reminiscent of the anti-alcohol propaganda of a century ago that it’s downright scary. Whereas booze was mockingly personified by a tubby bottle of hooch with a face and crown
(= “King” Alcohol) in the old days, we now have
Big Tobacco characterized by a fire breathing dragon.
What’s more, soon you may not be able to smoke in your own home, at least not if you’re renting. I understand that the City of West Hollywood was considering an ordinance that would allow landlords to ban smoking in their apartments.
These laws weren’t really meant to protect the patron of an establishment so much as the people who work there, the people who don’t have an option on being there. I can tell you that if my girlfriend (who doesn’t smoke and works as a chef in a high end restaurant/bar) got emphysema or lung cancer because smoking was allowed where she works, I would be sorely pissed off and would probably sue the restaurant to cover the medical expenses (The restaurant has no medical benefits for employees by the way, which pisses me off to begin with). It would be easy to say “let paying customers smoke wherever they want to”, but when a person’s livelyhood is at stake, the issue becomes infinitly more complicated.
On the issue of banning smoking outside, however, I think that is a little over the top. I have nothing against smokers, and they do need a place to smoke. If not outside, then where?
No it doesn’t. If you don’t want to be around smokers, don’t go into a profession that will put you into constant contact with them. She does have a choice to be there, just because she doesn’t want to have to choose doesn’t make it less of a choice.
