LETTER: Doomsayers wrong about smoking ban

Publication Date: 2005-02-28

• Author:KAREN CARPENTER-PALUMBO, Regional Vice President American Cancer Society, Loudonville
• Publication:Albany (NY) Times-Union

The soothsayers of doom and gloom again made their disastrous predictions. All restaurants would close and all bars would be empty. Waiters, waitresses and bartenders would all be thrown into the grips of poverty in the name of clean indoor air.

Looking back the dire warnings of Y2K seem about as silly as the forecasts surrounding the smoking ban. Smokers have simply adjusted their habits, some have even used the law as an excuse to give up cigarettes altogether. Albany's nightlife is as vibrant as ever, employment is up and many bar owners who opposed the law now see the wisdom behind it.

As the Times Union correctly observed in its recent editorial, the smoking ban is working just as its authors had intended.