Starting May 23, No More Puffing on the Promenade

By on May 11, 2011 8:21 am in Environment, Health

A city-wide ban on smoking in parks, including the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, goes into effect Monday, May 23.

NBC New York: In two weeks, the parking lot — whether at Yankee Stadium or outside one of the city’s numerous parks — becomes one of the last legal escapes for cigarette smokers. Central Park will be off limits. So will the Brooklyn Heights promenade, Coney Island boardwalk and the pedestrian plaza outside Macy’s.

According to the NBC report, enforcement of the ban will be left up to citizens, “who will ask people to follow the law and stop smoking.” Violators may be fined $50, but will a citizen’s arrest be necessary?

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  • Ari

    Oh the irony considering that folks on the promenade are subject to such inescapable high levels of exhaust from cars and trucks above two decks, six lanes, on one of the busiest expressways in the country.

    Or how about the lack of studies on the personal health effects on patrons of both parks along both edges of Manhattan. Which are adjacent to the FDR/Harlem River combo or the West Side Hwy respectively.

    Do people realize how being in such close proximity to very high levels of pollution/exhaust can be so detrimental to their health.

    Far far worse than fleeting clouds of smoke that smokers release into the air.

  • David on Middagh

    @Ari: You might as well point out the irony of radios not being allowed on the Promenade. Sure, plenty of noise comes from the expressway below, but it’s experienced mostly as an ignorable, ambient blend, even though it may be doing its part to raise our blood pressure.

    The smoking is just sparse enough to be really annoying.

  • Wrennie

    Good point, Ari.

    However, I do think that smoking around other people is inconsiderate. I strongly dislike walking behind people who are smoking, both because of that foul-smelling cloud that follows them around, or because they ash and then it blows onto me somehow. Then, there’s the litter from it. I have no idea how long it takes a cigarette butt to biodegrade, but it doesn’t really matter–it’s still litter, and it’s disgusting.

    You’re absolutely right about the irony of sitting atop a major highway with tons of auto-related pollution. However, I don’t think that the sole concern with these smoking bans is personal health. I think quality of life (I can’t tell you how much it bugs me when I’m sitting on a bench, minding my business, and some disgusting person sits downwind from me on the other side of my bench, blowing smoke at me) is, and should be, considered.

  • NY2Brookyln

    …don’t forget the litter.

  • Linda

    I have never been bothered by anyone smoking on the Promenade as I am usually too busy trying to keep out of the way of the bicycles. If they don’t enforce a ban on bikes on the Promenade can anyone really believe that they will enforce a ban on smokers.

  • Remsen

    no more cigars at sunset…. :-(

  • JM

    Right on Linda. Just the other day I was on the promenade and a child and an adult (whom I assumed was his father) were practicing skate board tricks on the ‘nade. Sure enough the board got away from the kid who was trying to replicate the move his dufus “guardian” was doing and the board shot across the promenade and hit an old man from behind almost knocking him over. I’ve seen the same close calls with bike riders (who evidently still don’t have enough lanes to cycle in).
    What is wrong with these so called adults?

  • Wrennie

    Good point, Ari.

    However, I do think that smoking around other people is inconsiderate. I strongly dislike walking behind people who are smoking, both because of that foul-smelling cloud that follows them around, or because they ash and then it blows onto me somehow. Then, there’s the litter from it. I have no idea how long it takes a cigarette to biodegrade, but it doesn’t really matter–it’s still litter, and it’s disgusting.

    You’re absolutely right about the irony of sitting atop a major highway with tons of auto-related pollution. However, I don’t think that the sole concern with these smoking bans is personal health. I think quality of life (I can’t tell you how much it bugs me when I’m sitting on a bench, minding my business, and a smoker sits downwind from me on the other side of my bench, blowing smoke at me) is, and should be, considered.

    The enforcement plan doesn’t seem like it’ll work too well, though. I’ve tried the same with bike riders–they don’t care.

  • Topham Beauclerk

    @JM

    “What is wrong with these so-called adults?” you ask. They’re American parents of American children – they can’t help themselves.

  • Big Dave

    Where o where can we
    Cigar smokers be?
    Sometimes laws for my own good
    Suck.

  • David on Middagh

    Big Dave: Not for your own good, for mine!

  • Gerry

    I know people who smoke 420 on the Promenade because they do not want the halls of the Brownstone smelling like the stuff do not want the neighbors to know that they are smoking.

    Many an evening late at night I know a guy to step out walk up the ramp at Remsen Street light up and ponder.

    Smokers are treated like second class citizens.

    Just like the bikes and skateboards I suspect that the law will not be enforced.

  • bklyn20

    I think Squibb is open on Saturdays, or will be soon, for use as a skateboard park. Maybe that can help with skateboarders. As for smoking — I usually (theoretically) don’t mind the odd outdoor smoker. BUT if they end up smoking right next to me I do mind, since I will leave the promenade wearing Eau de Ashtray.

  • Y

    I use to walk the promenade in the evenings to get my second hand smoke pot high… Too bad, now I have to buy the stuff myself instead of getting it for free in an inhale-by.

  • Jorale-man

    I tend to find the exhaust fumes from the BQE pretty minimal compared to the cloud of smoke the follows around a cigarette addict.

    This is a minority view but I predict that the smoking ban in parks will be largely observed over time. There’s a strong element of peer pressure involved in this: the vast majority of people hate having to breathe second-hand smoke and it will become increasingly less acceptable as it catches on.

  • Whatever

    I’m smoking my stogies there anyway. Looking forward to telling complainers to mind there own business. And, even if park police catch me, a $50 fine isnt enough to deter me from doing it again.

  • nabeguy

    Full disclosure, I’m a smoker (cigarettes, not cigars). I abide by the laws in place and restrict my habit to the dwindling spaces provided for us nic-addicts.I am cognizant of and supportive of the research regarding the deletorious effects of second-hand smoke. I still think this law is a ass when it comes to the Promenade.
    1. The pollution from the BQE is much more harmful, even if you can’t smell it
    2. The wind off of the river, even on a calm day, dissipates ambient smoke almost instantly.
    3. The Promenade is not a stage set from Sartre’s “Huis Clos” If you see somebody smoking in your vicinity, either move away or tell them to go to hell.

  • Teddy

    When I was a kid in the 80s, there were far more smokers walking on the Promenade than now. I don’t believe the law is necessary for the Promenade, but I might change my mind if I ever encounter a group of chain-smoking European or Chinese tourists next to me.

  • Jeffrey j Smith

    Well, at least I dont have to walk through zones of pot smoke
    mostly after 9 PM. But teddy is correct there has been a visable
    reduction in smoking and the pot is greatly less that the 70’s
    or 80″s. But I dont think anyone wants “other substances” to
    be part of the Promenade.

  • Andrew Porter

    I’m wondering what will happen to the guy who practically lives on a bench in the Fruit Street Sitting Area, puffing away on a fat cigar, cell phone in hand, newspaper spread out next to him, apparently conducting business there, rain or shine. I happily reminded him of the impending law, a couple of weeks ago. He told me to go somewhere very warm.

    The most trash generated in NYC, by number, not by weight? Cigarette butts. Check out Remsen Street opposite the college.

    Whatever, I expect to encounter you on the Promenade. You’ll know me by my bright orange super soaker.

    Of course, this is all moot if the world ends on the 21st.

  • Wrennie

    @Whatever: are you really intent on being that immature, rude, and inconsiderate? Why? What’s the point in that? If someone politely asks you to abide by a law, maybe you should just respect the fact that YOU’RE BREAKING A LAW, and go somewhere else. We’re allowed to not appreciate when someone breaks a law, and we were always allowed to not appreciate when someone has no respect for others–so, just be nice, okay? Thanks.

  • AmyinBH

    Cigarette filters don’t degrade and are one of the biggest pollutants in the world. It would be nice if smokers at least broke off the filter and put it in a trash bin. (But, then I might as well ask for the moon.)

    My experiences with smokers on the promanade are usually negative. I find a seat, a smoker comes and sits next to me up wind even though there are many other empty places for them to sit. The smoker can tell I am disturbed as I unfortunately start coughing (smoke does that to me) and they don’t care. I move. Not very nice of the smoker. I wouldn’t go sit next to them and fart.

  • Mickey

    Bicyclists, skateboarders, Euro & Chinese tourists … but no one mentioned the Stroller Nazis that take over the place in the afternoon, clogging up the walkway with other people’s kids (they’re mostly nannies) like human cholesterol. We should have a law banning them, but at least if they’re on the promenade they’re not jamming up the sidewalks of Henry Street!

  • Big Dave

    Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar
    But oftentimes a knee jerk is a reaction
    When the wind blows the cigar cradle will rock
    Since when are the Fruit Street benches on The Promenade?

  • Mickey

    @Big Dave: I’m pretty sure that the Fruit Street Sitting Area is maintained by the Parks Department and although technically not part of the Promenade would still be subject to the new law.

  • rupebier

    I’m an ex-smoker who has’nt turned militantly against smokers..
    How about a designated smoking area on the promenade?(Preferably downwind?)..Can’t we be more tolerant?
    They would need to be ‘considerate’ smokers; take their spent butts and ash with them…….?
    Yea I know…keep dreaming

  • bornhere

    Since when are the fruit street(s) called Fruit Street(s)?

  • NY2Brooklyn

    @Whatever or anyone else that feels their sad habit is above the law – I’ll be the one that will sit right next to you with 50 of the worst smelling burning incense sticks. Hope you enjoy.

  • nabeguy

    Okay, so does this mean that every entryway to the Promenade is going to be littered with butts? By solving one problem, you may create another. As a smoker, even I can’t defend the likes of Whatever or those who are oblivious to their surroundings. However, as a nicotine addict, I also know that legislation like this is not going to make me change my habits, as harmful to me as they may be. If anything, it will make folks like Whatever dig in their heels that much more.

  • Whatever

    Should we organize a smoke-in demonstration?

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