Smoking Ban Passes in NYC
This was emailed to me from a friend who owns my favorite bar in NYC:
Well they finally did it. The City Council of The City of New York,
our elected representatives, passed the Smoking Ban for all bars,
restaurants,and bowling alleys in NYC. Once the bill is signed by the
Mayor it will go into effect 90 days from that point.

So light up now while you can. One of your personal liberties is
about to disappear( go up in smoke). I know that I've been barraging
you all with e-mails about this for the past few months and for that I
apologize. When I started this e-group it was intended to put out
announcments about which dj was playing on which night.

I just want to thank everybody who sent e-mails out. At least you let
your views be known. They say "you can't fight city hall". Well you
can fight city hall, sometimes you don't win, but you should never
give up trying. This is not the end of this. Lawsuits will be filed
challenging this law and there will be a movement to have this thing
repealed, just like prohibition in the 30's.

I want to ask you not to abandon us and all the other bars in the city
in this difficult period we are about to go through.

What follows is the e-mail I sent to City Council. We at Raven want
to wish all our friends a happy and healthy holiday and all the best
for the new year.

Dear Members of the City Council;

I hope that you all realize what you have just done to me and
thousands of other small businessmen and women like myself. While you
are patting yourselves on the back for passing this bill which will
save no one, you have made our lives much more difficult. Indeed you
have condemned many of us to failure.

We all expected so much better from the city council. We expected
you to stand up for the small business owner who has no power. We
expected you not to cave in to a billionaire Mayor with the lowest
popularity in years. We expected just a little respect for our
business, for the huge taxes we pay to the city,
and for the vital role our businesses play in our neighborhoods. And
lastly, we expected you to have some respect for the thousands of men
and women whose jobs you just put in jeopardy. Yes the very same
workers you sought to protect. Breathing smoke free air is all well
and good but it ain't gonna pay the bills if they're breathing that
air in an empty bar.

So go ahead and enjoy your holidays with family and friends. It
doesn't matter that you just ruined the holidays for thousands of New
Yorkers.

God, we expected so much better.

Sincerely
Harold Kramer
Raven Bar