New Yorks stadsbestuur overweegt rookverbod auto’s
Terwijl wekelijks drommen rokers en horecaeigenaren de straat opgaan om te protesteren tegen de recente rookverboden in bars en restaurants, overwegen de wetgevers in die staat nu ook het roken in auto’s te verbieden.
Maar de protesten lijken steeds meer succes te hebben.
Het is de typische anti-rokers taktiek om na elk succes zo snel mogelijk andere wegen te vinden om roken nog meer te ‘denormaliseren’. Want ze hebben haast. Roken moet zo snel mogelijk, wat de schade ook is, uit het publieke leven worden verbannen…
“I think we’re winning the battle of the press and public opinion,” Scott Wexler, ESRTA executive director, told CNSNews.com. “Watching the news clips, both electronic and print, we seem to be getting our message across. I think they’re presenting our message as a more credible message than our adversaries.”
Speaking to the Buffalo News last week, Patrick Hoak, president of the New York Innkeepers Association, said the law caused five western New York restaurants to shut down completely and estimated a 20 to 60 percent loss in business among those remaining open.
According to a New York Nightlife Association (NYNA) poll taken prior to the law going into effect, 21 percent of club and bar patrons said they would spend less time there if smoking were banned. Nine percent said they would cut off all visits to bars and clubs affected by the ban.
“This ban is the first step in the death of nightlife entrepreneurship,” David Rabin, NYNA president, told the New York Post. “Why don’t we just change our name to Cleveland and call it a day?”