New York City Claims Drop in Number of Smokers

VOA News ^ | 12 May 2004

[Know your rights]

A city-sponsored survey says the number of adult smokers in New York City fell by more than 100,000 between 2002 and 2003. Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said the drop - which amounts to 11 percent - is the steepest decline of smokers seen anywhere.

Telephone surveys found that 19.3 percent of adults smoked in 2003, down from 21.6 percent in 2002. Overall cigarette consumption declined by 13 percent, suggesting that even those who continue to smoke are now smoking less.

Health officials credit the decline to a 2002 tax increase on cigarettes, which raised the tax from eight cents per pack to $1.50 per pack. A year later, New York City banned smoking in bars, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg began an aggressive anti-smoking campaign, which included programs helping people to quit.

[Know your rights]

people don't sell and move in large numbers over something as trivial as smoking in restraunts and bars.

Some agree that it's trivial and don't move, others disagree and do move (probably finding the ban to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back).

[Gabz]

Sorry - can't respond at the moment...............I'm laughing too hard!!!!!!!!

will get back to you a little later!

[HamiltonJay]

Again, show me your research that is anything more than your opinion that 1.25% of NYC's population has moved away because of the smoking ban.

ALl you are doing is the same nonsense the left uses... 1 in 4 women raped, 1 in 8 are annorexic etc etc etc... lies with no facts to back them up presented as facts.

[HamiltonJay]

Joe,

I would never suggest the black market isn't booming in NYC, hell the black market is booming for everything in NYC, you get 8 Million+ people together, many of which are immigrants and black market everything is there.

Frankly I know Bloomberg isn't very popular among freepers, general concensus I got was the the people I spoke to in NYC were generally pleased with him and base on that personally I suspect he'll get another term easily.

Not what some NYC citizens want to hear, but I'm sure many NYC citizens didn't want to hear the obvious when Rudi was shoe in for reelection either.

[Know your rights]

your opinion that 1.25% of NYC's population has moved away because of the smoking ban.

I never claimed that. Get a dictionary and look up "perhaps."

[Gabz]

We are wating for the first lynching of a smoker here abouts. I mean really, what would you say?

I don't know about lynchings, but it would actually be considered humane compared to what I have seen proposed by anti-smokers to rid the planet of smokers. And some of the suggestions have been proposed for me.

Being thrown off a bridge was about the humanest way of ridding the world of smokers I have seen.

[Gabz]

Sales is the better measure of smoking

Actually tD, it's not. In fact is really the worst way of measuring smoking.

Following the most recent increases in cigarette taxes in NY and NJ Delaware sales of cigarettes skyrocketted. Smoking in Delaware didn't increase, just the sale of the product.

The antis claim that a drop in sales is proof positive that smokers are quitting in droves yet turn around and run to the nearest jurisdiction with a lower tax to try to convince them to increase the tax.

Increased taxes absolutely and always will lead to less purchase...........less purchase in the higher tax venue does not equate to less use of the overly taxed product.

[Cincinna]

As a New Yorker, I can tell you it is true.

You are incorrect. Far from deriving people way, the anti-smoking bans have actually increased restaurant attendance and revenues have gone up.

For anyone who has ever had a special dinner at an expensive restaurant ruined by people at the next table blowing smoke in your face, you can understand.

Most NYers like the ban just fine, thgank you very much.

[Gabz]

I truly feel for your in-laws.

I left NYC long before he ever came about and no longer miss the city of my childhood.

[Cincinna]

I agree with you.

Mayor Bloomberg's approval ratings keep rising. He has a very tough law and order and anti-terrorism/national security program, following in the footsteps of his great predecessor, Rudy Guiliani. Hw runs a tight ship. I fully support him as Mayor.

Bloomberg deserves re-election if only for destroying the Board of Education, that bloated entrenched union controlled bureacracy that was responsible for the failure of the NY City school system. He totally supports the end of social promotion and accountability for teachers.

[Know your rights]

the anti-smoking bans have actually increased restaurant attendance and revenues have gone up.

What's your source for this claim?

[theDentist]

I see. Valid points to ponder...

... but I can't give it proper consideration without a Cohiba to accompany my musings.

[Gabz]

They may not be moving out because of the smoking ban..........but they sure as heck are not moving in because of it.

I didn't move out of Delaware because of the smoking ban (done before NY's)but it sure was another added incentive for us to get the heck out of there.

I did not attend my 25th class reunion in NYC specifically because of the the bloominidiot's smoking ban. It could have just as easily been held outside the city (NY state ban had not yet gone into effect at the time).

My family spent the money we would have wasted in NYC in places that are more friendly and open to all types of clientele. In other words, we stayed in Virginia.

[Just another Joe]

You are incorrect. Far from deriving people way, the anti-smoking bans have actually increased restaurant attendance and revenues have gone up.

Do you have numbers to back that fact up?
Do not point me to the study that says a 9% increase. That does not take numbers from only bars and restaurants, it uses fast food, takeouts, etc.

[Gabz]

Most NYers like the ban just fine, thgank you very much.

You and I must talk to different NYer's.

People I grew up with and folks I've known for more than 30 years (that weren't as smart as me to get out of there) tell me horror stories on a daily basis about how much this ban has hurt small businesses.

If there was really and truly such a mandate for smoke-free bars and restaurants these laws would not exist. Because of few well-funded loud mouths the rest of society has to suffer.

I didn't deal with it on a daily personal basis in NYC or NY state the way I did in Delaware, but I do know for a fact that the proponents of the smoker bans are very heavily funded and totally embraced by the leftist media.

[Gabz]

Enjoy!!!!!

I'm going to read the next few posts and then I am headed to the store to pick up all those evil things that us dirty smoker/trailer trash girls use for fixing dinner............lettuce, tomato, pepper, cucumber and mushroom..........I'm totally out of salad stuff.

[Gabz]

That does not take numbers from only bars and restaurants, it uses fast food, takeouts, etc.

They are using the same tactic they used after the Cali smoking ban.

The ban addicts absolutely refuse to look at honest numbers.

Several of the restaurants I used to frequent in Dover only survived the past 2 holiday seasons (Thanksgiving to New Year) because of their catering side lines.

One friend of mine, who actually has an outside deck. patio and bar, barely made ends meet last summer because the weather was so horrendous. The place is for sale and last I heard there haven't even been nibbles of interest.

Anti-smoker gnatzies do not start patronizing places that catered to smokers in the past, they were never there before and aren't there now. Yet they continue to promote the lie they will flock to these businesses. What utter hogwash.

[qam1]

Mayor Bloomberg's approval ratings keep rising.

Don't count on it. Baffoonberg's poll numbers work the same way as John Kerry's. When he is quiet they creep up but whenever he speaks they plummet and there is no way one term Mikey can't keep silent through the election and he just can't speak without pissing people off so he is toast.

If he survives a primary challenge, The Rat challenger beats him by at least 65-35

[HamiltonJay]

Well you are free to spend your money how you see fit, but the ban has not negatively impacted the cities housing or economic activity. That is just wishful thinking by people who don't like it.

City is as popular as ever, housing is still on an upward track, and supply cannot keep up with demand.

So, while you can stay away from NYC, claiming people aren't moving to the city is again propoganda and not fact.

[Gabz]

You ignored the point I made.

My point was they are not moving in BECAUSE of the smoking ban and nothing you have stated has proven me to be wrong.

The smoking ban can not be credited with impacting the housing activity in one way or another......and attempting to make that type of equation is beyond lame.

And while I will continue to stay away from NYC, you claiming that I said that people are not moving there is nothing short of an out right, blatant lie. go back and read my comment......I said people are not moving to NYC because of the ban. I never disagreed with the fact that people are moving to NYC, I only disagreed the ban had anything to do with it.

Most folks with the dollars to buy something more than a room in NYC probably have many more dollars than sense.

I was born and raised in Brooklyn and my parents still live in the house I lived in until I was 22. When I bought my first house a year after my brother bought his I paid only 1/3 of what he did, yet I had a house that was 3 times the size on a piece of property that was more than 10 times the size of his. The difference was he bought in Brooklyn and I bought in Delaware.