N.Y. Mayor Seeks Full Ban on Bar Smoking

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.

“It’s not going to happen,” Trincanello said. “There is too much politics from restaurant owners and the fear of losing customers.”

“You have the right to do what you want,” chimed in lunchtime patron Nicky Polak, a social smoker who believes smoking should be allowed in the bar area.

Brendan McCormick, a spokesman for Philip Morris, said the company supports “reasonable restrictions” but thinks “business owners should have the flexibility in how they deal with smoking in their establishments.”

Bloomberg pointed to California as proof that there would be no economic loss. “All of the evidence suggests that in California, where they did this, that actually the patronage of restaurants and bars--the amount of money spent in them--goes up, not down.”

Most states have some level of restrictions on public smoking. In addition to California, Delaware and several municipalities, including El Paso, Texas, enforce total bans in bars and restaurants.

Maine, Utah and Vermont ban smoking in restaurants but not bars.