Mayor Bloomberg yesterday predicted that the furor over the city’s tough indoor smoking ban would soon peter out and that everyone would just get used to it.
The law went into effect yesterday, but pub-crawlers kept lighting up, taking advantage of a one-month grace period before fines begin.
“Remember, a number of years ago you could smoke in movie theaters, you could smoke in Yankee Stadium and in Shea Stadium, you could smoke in Madison Square Garden,” Bloomberg said at the Greek Independence Day Parade along Fifth Avenue.
“We stopped that because nobody wanted to go and view an event in a smoke-filled environment. There were the same stories in the paper, and after a week the stories went away and so did the smoking.”
But some bar patrons insisted that Bloomberg was just blowing smoke.
Grace Garcia, 58, who was sipping some brew at the Playwrights Bar in Midtown, said the ban “sucks.”
“Considering the stress level in the city, this restricts us from going out and relaxing.”
Renee Calisano, 37, of Queens, concurred. “I think it’s awful,” he said. “Once you open the door for the government to take away your rights, they keep taking.”
On the other side was Patrick O’Connell, a bartender at Rosie O’Grady’s Irish Pub. “I think its great because I don’t have to deal with the cigar or cigarette smoke,” he said.
Still, he sympathized with patrons. “For my customers it’s a bad idea. They’ve been asking for ashtrays all day and we just can’t give them out.”
The mayor has said the law is in place to protect workers like O’Connell. He also he pointed to the recent vote in the state Legislature to abolish smoking indoors throughout the state as proof that those who wanted to smoke in restaurant and bars are in the minority.
Bloomberg, who also toured the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum, said he saw no one smoking outside the building as the throngs lined up for the show.
He said he did not expect to see smokers outside the movie he was headed to yesterday afternoon, either.
“Nobody stands outside and smokes. This is going to be exactly the same thing. In the end people will look back and say, ‘You mean they did allow smoking back then? How archaic,’ ” Bloomberg said.