SF's Smoking Ban Extended, But Not Far Enough For Some

Now Obama will never visit SF again. :(

A person who smokes has no right to pollute the air. Pick up those butts, too.

I don't think the tobacco industry cares about all this anti-smoking legislation in the U.S., being that if you don't smoke in places such as Asia, there's something wrong with you.

I'd like to see what Zeitgeist looks like without the smoking.
All premature schadenfreude aside, this is ridiculous. Do the supervisors have any other bright ideas to cripple local business before they get to the more urgent job of FIXING THIS BROKEN CITY?

Next they'll hold a unanimous vote to give each other congratulatory handjobs for being so frikkin awesome at ignoring actual problems.

Why not simply bans the sale of cigaretes in California. Problem solved.

Why such a paranoid, pro-smoking slant behind this piece? I'm incredibly glad to hear this news. For far too long people have seemed to believe that outdoor seating at cafes was put there just for them to smoke. If anything it's simply a legislative clarification that "no smoking in restaurants" means the entire place.

If history proves anything though there will still be plenty of rude, inconsiderate smokers who fail to take others into consideration.

Speaking of which, as was said earlier, stop throwing your butts on the ground wherever you happen to be standing. You wouldn't do that for anything else so why are cigarettes so magical?

What an absurd lack of priorities this board continues to show. We live in the age of the nanny state; I am sure a city-wide lights out policy is coming.

Far Enough? How about crowding the corners of sidewalks, which is where the legislation allows for the smokers to go. For some districts with corner bars on alleyways, and sidewalk which aren't wide, this means a whole lot of crowding, on the sidewalks, of smokers, in the cold.

There was nothing wrong with the indoor patios. What they've done here is crafted bad public policy. Nice intent, lousy implementation. Disallowing new indoor patios, means new and old bars can't create spaces which work for both their smoking patrons & the safety of their non-smoking patrons.

The financial loss to these businesses is great enough, that I think we need to craft the correct details for how these patios should be done correctly, rather than outlawing them, or we're facing down a lawsuit the bars and their patrons are likely to win.

In general, I find smoking people to be extremely considerate. The more expensive and illegal it becomes, the more people will desire it. Weed as an example. So, you know, nuff said.