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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNew Orleans goes smoke-free: a breath of fresh air or a blow to its character?
As of today, you can no longer legally smoke a cigarette inside a bar in the worlds drinking capital, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Perhaps you gasped upon reaching the very end of that sentence. City after city have dealt Big Tobacco the harsh blow of banning indoor smoking. But other cities dont lure in tourist dollars by aggressively advertising a do watcha wanna, laissez les bon temps rouler, attitude. An indoor smoking ban here which also forbids vaping will reap consequences as unique as New Orleanss cultural ecosystem itself.
You just opened up a can of whupass on lots of neighbors in the city, says Nick Scramuzza, one of three owners of Lost Love Lounge in New Orleanss Marigny neighborhood. Scramuzza doesnt look forward to the new noise complaints hell receive when half of his customers end up spending their time five feet outside his door (the legally mandated distance) enjoying that holy trinity of smoking, drinking and carrying on. Nor is he necessarily in favor of the government bossing everyone around in such a sweeping manner. But I wake up with a hangover just from working around the smoke, Scramuzza shrugs. So Im excited about the ban.
As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, New Orleans city government has, since Hurricane Katrina, begun trying to prune some of its cultural shrubbery, turning down the volume a bit. Abetted by uptight neighborhood groups, the city has begun policing bars and nightclubs more strictly, while at the same time fighting a protracted battle to implement a new noise ordinance (read: music ordinance) while also debating an impending Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for the entire city that, to some residents dismay, creates more permissive music laws in some instances.
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http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/22/new-orleans-smoke-free-unique-character-smoking-ban
Zorra
(27,670 posts)non-smokers will be able to breathe inside without increasing their chances of getting emphysema.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)I know at first a lot of clubs and bars close because smokers don't drink as much but non smokers buy another drink in a smoke free environment. It would be interesting to do a study. If I was a PHD candidate I'd do my thesis on that. I never had the desire to continue school after my MBA, but maybe some smart DUer would want to take it up.