We Condemn the Politically Correct Attack on New York Citys Nightlife, Including The Anti-Smoking Law

We oppose the citywide and statewide anti-smoking laws that were recently put into law prohibiting smoking in all bars, all clubs, and all lounges, and even pool halls and bowling alleys in both New York City and New York State. We who have signed the petition (both smokers and non-smokers) condemn this blatant violation of civil rights and blatant pandering to political correctness that has corrupted both California and Massachusetts.

Banning smoking makes no sense when the city has its share of tens of thousands of drug addicts that need treatment; the city is still recovering from a recession that threw 210,000 people out of work after 9-11, and the threat of further terrorist attacks has not fully gone away. All these factors hurt the citys inhabitants much more extensively than second-hand smoke. Smoking is already prohibited in office buildings, public buildings, most indoor theaters, and public transportation lines, and these can stay. But to take the ban to restaurants, bars, clubs, lounges, bowling alleys, and pool halls (even those with adequate ventilation and fire safety standards) just because some weaklings complained about smoky rooms, is completely absurd and unjustified.

We also oppose this prohibition, because it could also encourage the city and state governments, and the politically correct forces backing the current law, to impose other laws against its famous nightlife, requiring strict noise ordinances that are impossible for any establishment to adapt to, limiting capacity at most establishments, effectively strangling them of revenue, and even a shutdown law that could require virtually all establishments to close as early as 1 AM. That means all concerts, musicals, and even restaurants could be forced to shut down right at 1 AM, even earlier. Even the Giuliani Administration crackdown on nightlife began only after people began overdosing on Ecstasy and other drugs, and club owners did nothing to stop it.

Such restrictive laws could constrict New Yorks famous nightlife and turn it into another clone of both Boston and Los Angeles, where virtually all establishments must close after 2 AM, sometimes 1 AM, there is virtually nothing, not even restaurants, to go to at those times, and where all retail places (except 7-Elevens) must shut down after 10 PM . This has the effect of stifling the city economy by limiting the number of night jobs available and driving away customers, restricting the creation of more vital jobs in a time when NY is still recovering from 9-11, is suffering a cruel budget deficit, and overburdening our police officers and firemen and health officials who are on high alert for more terrorist attacks and the possibility of a rise in crime.

New York is not Albany, its not Boston, and its not Los Angeles. It should be none of these three. Thus we call upon the New York City and New York State Governments to re-examine these absurd laws, rescind them as soon as possible, go back to the original restrictions (which work very well), and help keep it from becoming another 9-to-5 Boston clone.

Note: The person who created this petition is a non-smoker.