Thursday, October 11, 2007

But it's for the kids

Something to consider if you think taxing cigarette smokers to support child health care is a good idea:

From the San Francisco Examiner.
Belmont apartment dwellers who like to light up in their homes have 14 months to kick the habit, work out a compromise with their nonsmoking neighbors or get out of town.

Under the city's new smoking ban, among the toughest in the nation, apartment residents whose secondhand smoke invades their neighbors' units will be subject to fines of as much as $1,000.
The measure, which the City Council enacted Tuesday on a 3-2 vote, bans smoking in multiunit dwellings as well as in parks, outdoor restaurants and other public places. The apartment provision takes effect around New Year's 2009, while lighting up elsewhere is banned as soon as the law officially takes effect in about a month.
Among those voting "yes" was Mayor Coralin Feierbach, whose father died of cancer and who pushed hard for the law's passage.

"We're doing something no one else has done," the mayor said. "We're pioneers, and sometimes when you're a pioneer you get your head chopped off." Yes, and for a good reason.

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