(no subject)

[desh]

After long delay, Philadelphia city council suddenly passes smoking ban legislation

I practically jumped out of bed when I heard the news. Finally! Assuming the mayor signs the bill (and smart money is that he will), then starting in 2007 I'll be able to go out with my friends without feeling sick for the rest of the day! Congrats to city council for doing the right thing, and congrats to Michael Nutter for finally getting this through, and probably earning a few thousand votes for mayor at the same time.

I know some of you disagree with this, or think it makes me a bad liberal or something. And you're probably right, but dammit, I just want to be able to go out at night without spending the whole time counting the minutes until I can jump in the shower. I don't think that's too much to ask.

Comments

[myq.livejournal.com]

It's one of those laws that I don't agree with (at least for private businesses), but I'm glad it exists for personal reasons.

[desh]

Yeah, exactly.

Thinking about it, I think the ideal way would be financial incentives permitting smoking. That is, every bar is given X shares of smoking per month (I'm thinking around 5, but it's negotiable), with each share permitting them to allow smoking in their establishment on one day. The shares would then be bought and sold on the open market. (In reality, it would probably be more complicated, based on square footage or something.) But I think this would suck in practice, because I can't imagine the bar owners would want to deal with that stuff.

[desh]

Though to be clear, I think it's perfectly legit for the city to regulate this, as long as it's under the guise of workplace safety. I'm just not sure if, philosophically, it's the best way to handle the situation.