No Smo King ~ Los Angeles
In another move by a power-mad city council designed to enhance their status while doing little for the residents of the city, the council has announced they are taking on the critical issue of outdoor smoking. The Los Angeles Times has the story, including choice quotes such as:
Councilman Tom LaBonge, chairman of the Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee, said it was getting easier to enforce the smoking bans because of cooperation by restaurant owners.
“The patrons are really demanding it,” LaBonge said after his committee directed city lawyers to draft the ordinance Wednesday. “One day we’ll be an absolutely smoke-free world as we move forward, but people still enjoy it, so we’re still allowing it.”
Thank you, SmokeMeister LaBonge for “allowing” us to engage in legal behavior. We’re so lucky to have such a kind, benevolent overlord watching out for people walking by patios.
Of course, Greig “the i is silent” Smith isn’t quite as forgiving:
The measure’s sponsor, Councilman Greig Smith, said he wrote the legislation after noticing that California’s ban on smoking inside restaurants was driving smokers just outside the establishments’ doors, exposing children and other patrons to secondhand smoke as they entered the venue or waited for tables.
“We needed to do something about it,” Smith said.
What is he smoking? Has anyone ever been subjected to massive blasts of smoke outside restaurants? Do people really see this as a pressing, legitimate concern? We needed to do something? The very concept is absurd, and the idea that this is important business for the council is a slap in the face to the taxpayers who have serious, critical needs.
Photo by SuperFantastic
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(5 tacos)
Hadley wrote:
I unfortunately work at the entrance of a nightlife establishment, and in the course of that torture, I breathe in hundreds of people’s cigs a night.
My fucking throat burns at the end of many nights and their butts litter the ground. I get into frequent arguments with drunk dickheads who won’t get 20 feet from the door, which I guess is the law. Damn, how I would like to get wasted and go to their work some day…
Nonetheless, I don’t support regulations on outside smoking, as cool as Tom LaBonge might be to party with.
But there are two sides to it, some smokers gotta realize there’s plenty of people who don’t want to breathe in Polonium 210 (a cigarette ingredient that was also used to poison that Russian dude in England) and all that other nasty material.
Posted on 08-Jan-09 at 11:09 am | Permalink
Erich Redson wrote:
Hmm I hadn’t really thought about that… they didn’t mention employees in the article.
The problem with this legistlation is that they’re saying it’s for entrances, but that’s already illegal– this law would affect outdoor patios, the last refuge of smoking.
Posted on 08-Jan-09 at 11:12 am | Permalink
Hadley wrote:
I hear that.
Bullshit Mr. LaBonge. Man, I love addressing that dude.
Posted on 08-Jan-09 at 11:22 am | Permalink
Dan wrote:
We need this law. People can’t even walk down the street (let alone get near an entrance to a building) without being subjected to this deadly shit.
It’s now a well-publicized fact that the primary health-risk to the non-smoker is increased chance of “heart disease” i.e. HAVING A FUCKING HEART ATTACK OR STROKE!
(some people, mainly smokers have no problem discounting this risk)
For anyone who already happens to have an elevated risk (due to AGE or WEIGHT for example) this risk is too great to take (it only happens if/when you breathe….I suppose we could help the poor discriminated-against smokers and simply hold our breath every time we come near them….smokers are so idiotic and clueless!).
2nd hand smoke is the #1 preventable cause of DEATH in this country (due to advances in science, we KNOW THIS NOW). In those cities that have banned smoking in public, the rate of people being hospitalized for heart attacks has dropped DRAMATICALLY—something like 30% or more!. Again this is MEASURE-ABLE. It’s a public health-cost issue (due to the enormous differences in health-care costs which taxpayers ultimately bear, in addition to the countless other issues). Also, CIGARETTE BUTTS are the #1 form of pollution that is ruining our beaches and coastline. Some ridiculous percentage (95%)+ of people who smoke outside/in public toss their (usually STILL BURNING) cigarettes on the ground (as though this number one litter source were INVISIBLE). These butts then continue to pollute; poisoning passersby often for 5-10 minutes after the smoker who put them there has long since gone away. They cause fires (Griffith Park last year) before they finally wash into the sea where they destroy our fish and sea life).
I wonder what effect there would be on smokers if they simply had to properly dispose of their deadly pollution? They’d have to start carrying butt’s (just as dog-walkers carry bags & scoopers) around until able to doing so. Just not being allowed to get a free pass on being litter bugs would probably stop a lot of people from smoking if people were willing to open up their eyes and do what is right.
Instead of this, though, we have people smoking in lines at bus stops, literally waiting to put them out until the moment they step onto the bus, EXHALING their smoke into the bus for everyone to breathe. I’ve even seen these idiots lighting up ON THE BUS, because it’s too much to wait until they actually get off.
The average smoker who smokes in public is exceptionally low in common sense; cannot be trusted and doesn’t deserve to be treated with the same dignity/presumption of respectability as a non-smoking adult.
(also, as Hadley points out, forget trying to work without suffering exposure on the job….the presumption has always been “oh they’re not suffering, they’re just lazy and trying to find an excuse not to work….”)
Posted on 12-Jan-09 at 9:10 am | Permalink
DannyBoy wrote:
Oh Dan Dan Dan, your whole life is just one big whine, isn’t it?
Posted on 12-Jan-09 at 1:07 pm | Permalink
Keef wrote:
I don’t know, it seems to me that pollution is much much worse then people smoking outside. Inside, the smoke can get to you, but out of doors it dissipates quickly.
Also, last I checked smoking is legal.
Posted on 12-Jan-09 at 3:17 pm | Permalink