NYC Mayor Seeks Full Restaurant Smoker Ban

The city said Friday that it will try to ban smoking in all bars and restaurants by focusing on the potential health threat to hospitality workers.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will ask the City Council next week to outlaw smoking in the roughly 13,000 establishments not covered by the current law, which permits smoking in bars and in restaurants with fewer than 35 seats.

It would be the second time in as many months that the Bloomberg administration has targeted smokers; in July, it raised the cigarette tax from 8 cents to $1.50 a pack.

“If you are a bartender or a waiter or waitress and work in an establishment where there is smoking, in an eight-hour day it’s the equivalent of you smoking half a pack of cigarettes yourself,” said Bloomberg, who quit smoking 18 years ago.

“No employer would allow their employees to work in a place with asbestos in the air,” he said. “This is just as dangerous and that’s why we should stop it now.”

Elena Deutsch, director of tobacco control at the American Cancer Society, said the mayor’s proposal would protect workers.

Not everyone shared their concern.

“Being subjected to smoke is part of my job,” said bartender Tony Trincanello, leaning on an ashtray-strewn counter at Milos’ Greek restaurant in midtown Manhattan.

In July, the New York State Restaurant Assn. dropped its long-standing opposition to the current smoking law after a survey showed most members were in favor of it.

The association will now poll members about whether they support a full ban on smoking, said E. Charles Hunt, executive vice president of an association chapter.