NYC Bans Smoking in Parks, Beaches

Council vote follows Bloomberg's request
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 3, 2011 3:00 AM CST
NYC Bans Smoking in Parks, Beaches
Howard Yourow, from New York, and lights a cigaretteto smoke in City Hall Park on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010, in New York. The city has banned smoking in bars and restaurants and propose to completely snuff out cigarettes in public parks, on beaches and in pedestrian plazas.   (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

The New York City Council voted to ban smoking in parks, beaches, and public plazas, the Daily News reports. Amid speeches on friends lost to smoking and arguments for civil liberties, members were divided, 36 to 12, in favor of the ban. Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a call for the ban in September after the Daily News published photos of vast numbers of cigarette butts littering Coney Island.

“Parks and beaches are places where people sit and talk and they deserve to be smoke-free,” said the bill's sponsor. The ban will be mostly self-policed.
(More New York City stories.)

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