A San Francisco lawmaker is hoping to stomp out the nasty and dangerous habit of smoking cigarettes by enacting more stringent rules to keep people from lighting up in public places.
It's already banned in workplaces, bars, taxicabs and city parks and if new legislation is approved, smoking will be off limits in areas near the doors, vents and windows of restaurants, shops, offices and housing complexes, the Chronicle reports.
It would also be a much easier breathing experience at outdoor dining tables, farmers' markets, lines for movies theaters, concerts and sporting events, near cab stands and ATMs.
San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar introduced the legislation to protect the City's, "most vulnerable residents from secondhand smoke," he told the Chronicle.
If Mar has his way, smoking will also be a no-go in common areas of shared housing units, such as courtyards, elevators, hallways and laundry rooms. Anyone smoking in their own apartment would have to keep their doors shut.
Smokers won't have much luck polluting areas in other Bay Area cities either if the ban is passed. Belmont, Palo Alto, Hayward, Novato and Berkeley also have similar rules against smoking in public places.
Some of the strictest smoking bans in the Bay Area are in Alameda County, Contra Costa County, Dublin, Emeryville, Hayward, Healdsburg, Los Gatos, Marin County, Martinez, Newark, Novato, Oakland, Pleasanton, Richmond, Ross, San Anselmo, San Jose, San Ramon, Santa Rosa, Union City and Windsor.
While the possible ban is likely good news to those opposed to smoking, it will no doubt have the "cancer stick" addicts thinking like Cedric the Entertainer, who told the audience on The Original Kings of Comedy, "You can't smoke on Earth anymore."
