THE SMOKING BAN
In accordance with our policy to remain strictly neutral and objective in regard to local issues, AlbanyCentral does not normally take a stand on thorny questions facing our city. However, in the case of the proposed “no smoking” ordinance being crafted by the City Attorney, we feel compelled to throw our full support behind it.
As we understand it, the ordinance will prohibit smoking by pedestrians in the “better parts of town” such as Solano Avenue, as well as parks, and near other sensitive facilities such as schools, doctors’ offices, medical marijuana dispensaries, and nail salons. Bicyclists would also be prohibited from smoking while riding sections of the Bay Trail that run through Albany, including along Pierce Street.
Why is all this necessary? Mainly because there’s no getting around the fact that second hand smoke is a serious health hazard. Studies have shown that the mere thought of second hand smoke can cause mental disorders in many people, and the recently identified FOSHS (Fear of Second Hand Smoke) Syndrome (first described 8/12/07 in the Journal of Psychiatric Medicine), has now been found to be much more widespread than first supposed.
Evidence of this syndrome has even been observed in the Albany City Council where the fear of an occasional exposure to even a few parts of secondhand smoke per million parts of fresh air along Solano Avenue has caused some council members to advocate behaviors that are—while bizarre may be too strong a word-- at the very least unusual.
Pending the formal adoption of the ordinance one council member suggests that upon seeing an approaching smoker, one should simply hold one’s breath until the danger has passed. This, of course, is not a rational solution. Consider encountering three smokers in a row. Holding one’s breath that long can result in oxygen deprivation, commonly known as "turning blue" (a serious health concern often requiring 911 intervention).
The same council member suggests that another way to avoid smokers on Solano is, upon seeing one, to simply to cross the street. Here again, this course of action is deeply flawed. What happens when there is another smoker lurking at some point across the street? Cross back again? Only to encounter yet another smoker on the first side? By now, completely rattled, the avoider may fail to look both ways, creating a serious health problem of yet a different sort.
Of course, all these problems will be dealt with by the forthcoming ordinance, which we fervently hope will be soon. For those smokers who protest, we are reminded of Marie Antoinette's comment (made shortly before the guillotine relieved her of her head during the French Revolution). When she was told that the people of France had no bread, she famously replied: “Let them eat cake.” Since the ordinance will apparently designate San Pablo as a "smoker friendly" avenue, our advice to smokers concerned about restrictions on Solano is simply this: just slip on over San P for your cigarette break and no problemo.
Back