Bloomberg Gets Tough On Ashtrays
New York City's economy is in what economists call the shitter. Overtaxed, overregulated and still reeling from a massive, state-sponsored terrorist attack, the Big Apple is stalled.
And what is Mayor Mike Bloomberg's prescription for economic growth?
Tax cuts? Nope.
Deregulation? Nope.
Fining New York businesses for having an ashtray in the office? Yep.
The New York Post
reports on the fate of bartender Lisa-Marie Dallas, another victim of Bloomberg's highly selective jihad against tobacco. (Cigar Aficionado functions and other high-brow smoking events are exempt from the snobby mayor's anti-tobacco wrath.) Dallas was fired from her job at a TriBeCa pub for twice ignoring a smoking-ban inspector. The Post reports that "Dallas didn't seem too disappointed with being fired because she, like many other bartenders in the city, has seen bar sales plummet since the smoking ban went into effect. 'Business is bad anyway and it's going to go down even more.'"
It's bad enough that Bloomberg's bullying bureaucrats are dispatched throughout the city to harass smokers at politically powerless businesses. (It's a certainty that you'll never see a report about the smoking-ban getaspo making busts at Nobu).
But now the presence of a mere ashtry is grounds for levying a fine. The Post reports:
Other restaurant managers and owners find many of the inspectors to be nit-picking when it comes to issuing tickets. "I don't disagree with the smoking ban," said Steve Lopez, 28, a manager of Upper East Side bar Tavaru. "But getting tickets for little things you didn't even know about is not fair." Lopez claims inspectors ticketed him for having an ashtray in his office, which is located upstairs from the public bar.
It boggles the mind . . .
New York City is in economic turmoil . . .
Every New Yorker is in the crosshairs of terrorists . . .
And New York's mayor is fining people for having ashtrays.
Does the city charter provide for a recall election?
