Smoke gets in your eyes, and it gets in your lungs, and other people’s lungs.
By Henry J. Stern
December 30, 2002


    Today may turn out to be a very important day in New York City history, even if it is not immediately perceived that way.  It is the day that Mayor Bloomberg signed what is likely to become Local Law 47 of 2002, which essentially bans smoking in restaurants, bars and cabarets.  No more smoking indoors will be allowed at places where people eat, drink and dance.  Hallelujah.
 
    Over the years, this bill will save more lives than were lost at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the darkest day in our city's history.  But the lives will be saved one by one, in different places at different times, and we will never know the names of individuals who were saved from death by lung cancer or heart disease at their workplace, or at their place for pleasure and recreation.  It can also be anticipated that people, unable to smoke in these circumstances, are less likely to become addicted, or will smoke less than they otherwise would.  And people trying to break the habit will find it easier when they are not surrounded by clouds of smoke from other diners, dancers or barflies.
 
    The bill was passed over the opposition of tavern owners, who feared a loss of business, and smokers, who naturally prefer to enjoy their habit at their pleasure, without regard to the health of others or themselves.  It was supported by trade unions on behalf of their members who were exposed to the smoke all day in order to earn a living, and public health organizations, like the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association.

    A mayoral hearing on a bill-signing provides an occasion for public testimony, although City Council consideration of a bill does not necessarily involve the public.  On this bill (Intro 256-A), several marathon hearings were held, presided over with firmness and tact by Health Committee Chair Christine Quinn. (When the property tax increase was approved by the Council on November 25, no public hearings were held, possibly since the opinions of the taxpayers were well known to the legislators.)

    A personal note: In my testimony today, I called myself  "the Ghost of Christmas Past", and recalled that I had introduced predecessor legislation, the Clean Indoor Air Act, in the Council in the fall of 1982, when, in an earlier life (1974-83), I was a Councilmember-at-large for Manhattan.  When Mayor Koch appointed me as Parks Commissioner, Councilmember Stanley Michels took over the bill.  It was later sponsored by Speaker Peter Vallone, adopted in 1995 under his leadership, and signed into law by Mayor Giuliani.  Seven years later, Speaker Gifford Miller was  indispensable in getting the new bill agreed to and adopted.

    Some of the opposition to the bill was emotional, based on the feeling that any governmental intrusion on smoking was a violation of individual rights (the libertarian position, although they would allow more substances to smoke).  Mayor Bloomberg’s outspoken support of the bill probably cost the Mayor some percentage points on the periodic popularity poll that the papers publish.   But when human life is at stake, as it unquestionably is here, the right decision is clear.

    It is also more practical to pass controversial bills like this in the first year of an administration, when the voters will have three years to get over it.  There will be City Council elections in 2003, but the great majority are (is, you can choose) assured of re-election, in part because of carefully manipulated district lines (no worse, however, than the State Legislature’s personal gerrymanders).  Also, we talk about the limited power of the City Council; but this is one issue where the Council and the Mayor do significantly affect the daily lives of many people (addicts, restaurant and bar employees as well as nonsmokers), in this case the change is for the better.

    Those who want to read Mayor Bloomberg's remarks at the bill signing today can click Mayor.  The full text of the legislation, which has a number of minor exceptions reached as part of a compromise between the Mayor and the Council, can be found by clicking Legislation.

    In conclusion, it has been said that the two things no one should see are the making of legislation and the making of sausage.  The saying has the ring of truth.

 

Henry J. Stern is the director of NYCivic.