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In your time walking the streets of NYC, how many horrific odors and substances have you been exposed to secondhand? Mystery sludge dripping off of fourth-floor air conditioner units; dematerialized Cheetos on the subway floor; hot steam rising out of manhole covers; and, of course, cigarette smoke everywhere. And while most of us don't bat a lash at the fumes anymore, Queens Councilman Peter Koo is attempting to take a stand with a proposed $50 misdemeanor ban on smoking while walking.
Koo explained his cause to NY Daily News: “It has happened to me many times—I'm walking behind someone who's smoking, and I'm suffering for five or 10 minutes. I see mothers with their strollers walking behind people who smoke, and they're exposing the baby to secondhand smoke.”
Current laws ban smoking inside restaurants, bars, stores, indoor public spaces and parks. But how would this one work? You would be able to smoke on a public sidewalk...so long as you don't move? It may be a bit tricky to enforce. That said, if they want to go after those dudes with those ostentatious, chimney-smoke vape cigarettes, have at them for all I care.
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