Smoking ban at beaches….

I’ve always wondered what sort of mentality people had to have that could allow them to rationalize the things that they do, and I have never been able to come up with a satisfactory answer. People take sandwiches, sodas, drinks, bottles, magazines, newspapers, and packaged items of all sorts into places like beaches and parks, but instead of disposing of the remains when they are done and have had a fun outing, they instead choose to litter. I wrote that we “choose” to litter, because we do have a choice. We can either be responsible and take the litter to the trash cans that are provided for us, or we can carelessly leave it behind, making something that we claim to enjoy look disgusting. I wonder what these people’s homes must look like if they treat a place they supposedly enjoy spending time in this way. With regard to smoking, yes, I do support the ban. Smoking is a terrible habit. I’ve never understood how something so dangerous, addictive, disgusting and harmful could be “enjoyed” by so many. Just consider this, most people who die in home fires end up actually dying of smoke inhalation. Granted, the types of smoke are different between house fires and cigarettes, but the effects are basically the same. Both paralyze, scar and damage the lung’s alveoli, but somehow it is cool to smoke cigarettes. I don’t get it.

I’m a smoker (though always trying to quit), and I was for the smoking ban in restaurants and bars. I’m also for the increased taxes on tobacco. But banning people from smoking in outdoor public places is ridiculous.

Yes, some smokers throw their butts in the sand, just as people of all walks leave their wrappers and garbage around. But packaged food is not being banned from the beaches. It’s illegal to litter, and those that do should be fined. There are laws on the books to deal with it. Banning cigarettes has nothing to do with litter or garbage, it’s just a bullshit attack on the perennial whipping boy of those who believe they have a right not to be annoyed.

if people want to pay 10 bucks for a pack of death that is there right
but others should not have to breathe gross second hand smoke from cancer sticks smoking in public should be banned everywhere!

What about the change this year to put all the litter baskets in a group of 12 rather than all along the beach so the people have to carry their litter practically to the boardwalk or promenade to deposit it. Do you think that was designed to discourage littering or just to make it easier for the sanitation guys? I say the latter. I think more people are just leaving their litter on the beach now rather than carrying it with them when they leave. It could only be justified if this new practice allows them to make more frequent pick-ups, but somehow I doubt that.

I am getting really tired of Nanny Bloomberg. I think it’s okay to smoke in the outdoors. The smoke is diffused by the air, unlike inside a restaurant, where everyone around is stuck breathing the smoke in.

Litter is a separate issue. I have been on the Coney Island boardwalk at midnight, and there are piles of garbage up to my hip. It’s horrific. I’m sure there are cigarette butts at the bottom of that pile, but they are not a significant amount of the total volume of refuse.

The litter habit is something parents teach to their kids. My parents taught me to respect my environment, and I teach my son.