NEW YORK -- A sweeping ban on smoking in New York City's public places took effect today amid grumbles from the business community and praise by city officials.
The city's Clean Indoor Air Act limits or completely bans smoking in most enclosed public areas, including taxicabs, restaurants and places of employment. Mayor Edward Koch signed the law in January.
'We're not going to be restaurateurs anymore, we're going to be policemen,' said Mario Maccioni, assistant manager at Le Cirque, a posh dining landmark on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Maccioni said the requirement that at least half the seating be designated for non-smoking could leave some areas crowded and others empty. In the past, he said, management always accommodated customers' smoking preferences.
The new law will 'absolutely' hurt business, he said.
At the popular Gallagher's Steakhouse on West 52nd Street, general manager James Clare complained, 'I don't think its going to hurt the business so much as it's going to hurt the customer. Our business is a service business. I don't think people should be subjected to this, especially in a restaurant.'
While expected to comply immediately, restaurants and other businesses will have a 60-day grace period before any fines will be levied for infractions, city officials said.
'We haven't found any smoking law in the country that's tougher,' said city Health Department spokesman Barry Adkinson, adding enforcement will probably depend on citizen support of the measure.
'Most smokers I've talked to think the law is fine. They don't want to intrude on anyone's right to clean air,' he said.
Although New Yorkers typically resist restrictions on their behavior, Adkinson said, 'I think the trend is going the other way with this particular issue. I think this will become the social norm within a matter of months.
'We're basically going into education mode at first and want to help employers and businesses comply with the law. We don't want to scare people away from this law. We want people to like this law, which we think they will,' Adkinson said.
The most difficult area for the law is expected to be the work place, where employers of more than 15 people must provide smoke-free work areas for all non-smoking employees. More than 100,000 work places fall into this category, Adkinson said.
A Chemical Bank spokesman said the bank will go beyond the law, providing smoking lounges but banning smoking everywhere outside of individual offices.
The bank, which is offering seminars to help smokers quit, issued the wider ban because of the law's requirement of 8 feet of smoke-free space around each non-smoking employee.
'We feel the law is extremely vague and from a practical standpoint, you can't reconfigure the area based on who smokes and who doesn't smoke. Whoever drafted the law didn't think much about working in a corporation,' the spokesman said.
Cancer experts have said that smoke-free environments protect non-smokers from involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke, while helping others quit smoking or at least cut down.
People for a Smoke-Free Indoors, a local non-profit group that promoted the measure, said 400 municipalities and 15 states already regulate smoking.
