VTMBH Article: Body
Irish bar owners are hopping mad and banding together citywide to tell New Yorks mayor to butt out of their businesses and not to impose a smoking ban on their premises.
Last week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced plans for a tough new law banning smoking in bars, company cars and all restaurants.
This is something that you really have to move right up to the front of the list, and I think the public will see any delay for exactly what it isan attempt to injure people, the mayor told reporters this week.
Form Tribeca to Riverdale, however, bar owners are in an uproar over the mayors plans to ban cigarette smoking in bars. Its a disappointing case of a billionaire businessman, a limousine liberal, telling the little people how to live, said Joe Gillespie in PJ Hogans, an Irish bar in Queens.
Terry Connaughton, originally from Co. Roscommon, owns the Riverdale Steakhouse in the west Bronx and said he was devastated by the news. Its a sad day when you cant have a cigarette at a bar, he said.
One of Connaughtons main worries is his proximity to the Westchester county border where smoking is allowed. I am only four blocks away. My customers could go four blocks to have a cigarette indoors, and that will hurt my business, he said.
In Desmonds on Park Avenue South, owner Hughie Connolly complained that most of his customers smoked. The city should not be able to tell people if they can have a cigarette or not, it should be a matter of choice, he said. Advocating the use of signs to advertise a smoking bar, Connelly asked that the mayor let the market, instead of the city, decide who can smoke.
In ONeills on Third Avenue, owner Ciaran Staunton said the future for small businesses was gloomy. Already we have suffered in a depressed economy. This may mean the demise of small businesses already floundering, he said.
Staunton compared New York to California, pointing out that similar legislation on the West Coast saw the closure of many businesses and huge losses for others. He says it could be even worse here.
ONeills serves many commuters who drop in for a drink and smoke before going home from Grand Central. I think I can see them come in, have their drink, go outside to light up and just keep going, he said.
As it stands, New Yorkers can smoke in bars, on streets, on beaches and outdoors. With this new legislation, New York will become smoke-free with tougher anti-smoking laws than those in California. About 14,000 bars will be affected.
Downtown, Danny Traynor in Tribecas Due South feared his business would suffer with the passing of the legislation. Traynor already suffered because of his proximity to Ground Zero. I think people will go back to their homes and skip the bars, he said. I am a member of the New York Restaurateurs Associations and Ill be talking to my city councilman.
Together, the bar owners are preparing to rally for a fight against the legislation, and in all cases are seeking support from their local representatives. Councilmen for the two Irish enclaves hardest hit by the proposed legislation, Woodside and Woodlawn, are already fielding calls from their constituents seeking support against the bill.
In the Bronx, however, Councilmen G. Oliver Koppell is firmly behind the mayor, according to a spokesperson, and will be pushing the bill into law. In Queens, Councilman Eric Gioias offices refused to comment on the legislation without seeing it, but sources in Queens politics point him as a staunch anti-smoking advocate.
We may not get the support from the city, or from the Health Department but we will be making our voices heard at the citys hearing, said a depressed Gillespie.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the bar, some customers are raising arms in anger at the prospect of empty bars with little or no atmosphere when smokers are banished.
Ive been to California and to be honest, the atmosphere is very different there, a bit too clean, said Queens resident David Kyne, 28. I like the dingy bars in New York where you can have a cigarette with your drink. If I were to be completely truthful I am trying to give up smoking myself anyway so this would help, but the atmosphere inside pubs may change for the worse, he feels.
Bronx resident Mary Allen said the ban would not make her kick the habit. I would take myself across city limits to Yonkers where I could enjoy socializing, she said. I dont live in California by choice and I will drink by choice. That choice will be influenced by my comfort.
According to Bloomberg, the legislation is being fast-tracked to prevent injury to workers in currently smoky atmospheres. The American Cancer Society has wholeheartedly backed the move and has stated that a poll they commissioned showed that 73 percent of those surveyed agreed with the ban, and that seven in 10 New Yorkers would go to bars more often if smoking were prohibited.
It is exactly what New Yorkers want, said Rob Kugler, president of the American Cancer Society of New York and New Jersey.
Elena Deutsch, director of tobacco control at the American Cancer Society, agreed. New Yorkers will no longer have to go out for a drink and come back with their clothes and lungs filled with smoke, she said. Bartenders and wait staff will not have to breathe second hand smoke, a Class A carcinogen, in order to hold a job.
Last week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced plans for a tough new law banning smoking in bars, company cars and all restaurants.
This is something that you really have to move right up to the front of the list, and I think the public will see any delay for exactly what it isan attempt to injure people, the mayor told reporters this week.
Form Tribeca to Riverdale, however, bar owners are in an uproar over the mayors plans to ban cigarette smoking in bars. Its a disappointing case of a billionaire businessman, a limousine liberal, telling the little people how to live, said Joe Gillespie in PJ Hogans, an Irish bar in Queens.
Terry Connaughton, originally from Co. Roscommon, owns the Riverdale Steakhouse in the west Bronx and said he was devastated by the news. Its a sad day when you cant have a cigarette at a bar, he said.
One of Connaughtons main worries is his proximity to the Westchester county border where smoking is allowed. I am only four blocks away. My customers could go four blocks to have a cigarette indoors, and that will hurt my business, he said.
In Desmonds on Park Avenue South, owner Hughie Connolly complained that most of his customers smoked. The city should not be able to tell people if they can have a cigarette or not, it should be a matter of choice, he said. Advocating the use of signs to advertise a smoking bar, Connelly asked that the mayor let the market, instead of the city, decide who can smoke.
In ONeills on Third Avenue, owner Ciaran Staunton said the future for small businesses was gloomy. Already we have suffered in a depressed economy. This may mean the demise of small businesses already floundering, he said.
Staunton compared New York to California, pointing out that similar legislation on the West Coast saw the closure of many businesses and huge losses for others. He says it could be even worse here.
ONeills serves many commuters who drop in for a drink and smoke before going home from Grand Central. I think I can see them come in, have their drink, go outside to light up and just keep going, he said.
As it stands, New Yorkers can smoke in bars, on streets, on beaches and outdoors. With this new legislation, New York will become smoke-free with tougher anti-smoking laws than those in California. About 14,000 bars will be affected.
Downtown, Danny Traynor in Tribecas Due South feared his business would suffer with the passing of the legislation. Traynor already suffered because of his proximity to Ground Zero. I think people will go back to their homes and skip the bars, he said. I am a member of the New York Restaurateurs Associations and Ill be talking to my city councilman.
Together, the bar owners are preparing to rally for a fight against the legislation, and in all cases are seeking support from their local representatives. Councilmen for the two Irish enclaves hardest hit by the proposed legislation, Woodside and Woodlawn, are already fielding calls from their constituents seeking support against the bill.
In the Bronx, however, Councilmen G. Oliver Koppell is firmly behind the mayor, according to a spokesperson, and will be pushing the bill into law. In Queens, Councilman Eric Gioias offices refused to comment on the legislation without seeing it, but sources in Queens politics point him as a staunch anti-smoking advocate.
We may not get the support from the city, or from the Health Department but we will be making our voices heard at the citys hearing, said a depressed Gillespie.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the bar, some customers are raising arms in anger at the prospect of empty bars with little or no atmosphere when smokers are banished.
Ive been to California and to be honest, the atmosphere is very different there, a bit too clean, said Queens resident David Kyne, 28. I like the dingy bars in New York where you can have a cigarette with your drink. If I were to be completely truthful I am trying to give up smoking myself anyway so this would help, but the atmosphere inside pubs may change for the worse, he feels.
Bronx resident Mary Allen said the ban would not make her kick the habit. I would take myself across city limits to Yonkers where I could enjoy socializing, she said. I dont live in California by choice and I will drink by choice. That choice will be influenced by my comfort.
According to Bloomberg, the legislation is being fast-tracked to prevent injury to workers in currently smoky atmospheres. The American Cancer Society has wholeheartedly backed the move and has stated that a poll they commissioned showed that 73 percent of those surveyed agreed with the ban, and that seven in 10 New Yorkers would go to bars more often if smoking were prohibited.
It is exactly what New Yorkers want, said Rob Kugler, president of the American Cancer Society of New York and New Jersey.
Elena Deutsch, director of tobacco control at the American Cancer Society, agreed. New Yorkers will no longer have to go out for a drink and come back with their clothes and lungs filled with smoke, she said. Bartenders and wait staff will not have to breathe second hand smoke, a Class A carcinogen, in order to hold a job.