Feelings Mixed in N.Y. as No-Smoking Signs Go Up

“No Smoking” signs began going up in offices, restaurants and other public places today as a new city ordinance that strictly limits where smokers can puff went into effect.

Mayor Edward I. Koch inaugurated the city’s new ban on smoking in enclosed public areas by visiting a restaurant and putting up the first sign showing a red apple and a burning cigarette with a white slash through it.

“If you want to commit suicide, that’s your business,” the mayor said at a restaurant news conference. “When you want to commit suicide by smoking, you endanger the lives of people around you.”

The law will give nonsmokers “preferential treatment. It used to be the smokers got preferential treatment because they could light up anywhere, but not anymore,” the mayor said.

Not everyone was pleased with the city’s Clean Indoor Air Act, which limits or bans smoking in most enclosed public areas, including taxicabs, restaurants and places of employment.

“If everyone is understanding, the month of April will be a time for experimentation,” said Cynthia R. Darrison, head of the Restaurant League of New York. “But this is New York. You could have fistfights in restaurants.”

“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.

“You’re talking about a complex social change in a city of 8 million people,” said Dr. Stephen Joseph, the city health commissioner. “You don’t expect a social change to take place at the stroke of midnight.”

A pack-a-day smoker, Bill McMullen, said the new law, fought over by the City Council for six years, was unfair. “There are a bunch of nerds and wimps behind this,” he complained.

Officials conceded that it will take months to sort out how exactly the law will be enforced. The city said it will allow a two-month grace period before issuing fines of up to $500.