New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the country’s foremost nanny-staters, recently opened up a new front in the food wars, advocating a ban on the use of food stamps to purchase soft drinks.
However, it is one of his other pet nanny-state initiatives threatening to become a reality for New Yorkers that has many residents of the Big Apple irate this week: Bloomberg’s proposal to ban smoking outdoors– in parks, on boardwalks and on beaches.
Last week, it was reported that that proposal may have just enough support to clear New York’s City Council, with advocates of the ban apparently seeking to restrict smoking to individuals’ cars and homes.
Proponents of the ban say creating separate smoking sections in parks would not do enough to protect passers-by from the menace of smokers.
But others– apparently in the minority– think the outright ban on smoking in outdoor, public spaces goes too far.
David Goerlitz, the former “Winston Man,” said in a media availability before the Council’s hearing that smokers are treated like “lepers and second-class citizens.”
No doubt food stamp recipients who want their Orange Crush agree.
It however remains to be seen whether Bloomberg and his allies will prove successful in their quest to nanny New Yorkers.