It will cost you $1000 to smoke outside in Great Neck New York. Is it worth it to you?

If you plan on visiting Great Neck New York in the near future I hope you don't smoke. As of this past Wednesday the 5th it has become officially illegal to smoke outside in certain areas in Great Neck. This law began with Residents complaining to Great Neck Mayor Ralph J. Kreitzman who is a previous smoker himself. They were complaining that second hand smoke from smokers standing outside stores was flowing back inside the stores.

According to the new law you cannot smoke within 125 feet of Middle Neck road in front of commercial businesses. Middle Neck road in Great Neck is a major road with many business sprawling along side of it. The law also states you cannot not smoke in the Village Green which is a public park , the local public housing and park benches leading up to Middle Neck road. The total non smoking area is 1.3 miles in the center of Great Neck. If you are caught smoking illegally you can face up to a $1000 fine or 15 days in jail. The first sidewalk smoking Ban in the U.S. was in Berkley California in 2008.

Is this new law going too far or not far enough in your eyes? When is enough enough? To me our society is slowly turning into all those classic sci-fi movies like Clock work Orange , Minority Report, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and so on.


Newsday - Great Neck Village smoking ban takes effect.

Ny State Governor Cuomo winks Goodbye to Unions with a proposed one year freeze on state workers pay.

In keeping with his word newly sworn in Ny Governor Cuomo has begun finding ways of slashing Ny states $9 billion defecit. One of the fist places is going to be the once untouchable state union workers. Gov. Cuomo has proposed a one year salary freeze on all state workers. The proposed freeze in pay is meant to show the state is in serious financial trouble, also that the Governor is willing to make hard fiscal decisions. The pay freeze would be a savings of $200 to $400 million for the year.

Governor Cuomo has two things going for him, in March the unions contracts are up for negotiations and also both Republicans and Democrats or shying away from unions right now with all the major deficits that have to be paid for. Ny State has 190 thousand workers in the union system the vast majority of them are represented by the Civil Service Employees Association. The CSEA has said that they are willing to negotiate with the state but they don't want to feel like the are being backed into a corner.

It once was dream for many getting into any type of union. The union represented security, health care , pensions and consistent raises. Now Unions represent big expensess over bloated pension funds and major health care bills. Over the past few years look at all the big blows Unions have taken. To be a Teamster these days it cost more then you get paid , Uaw got wiped out with Gm , Ford renegotiated and now State unions are starting to get a economic reality check.

Ny Times - Cuomo Plans One-Year Freeze on State Workers’ Pay