Last spring, the city's Smoke Free Air Act—which prohibits the act of smoking in public parks among other places—went into effect, although it was immediately ignored for all intents and purposes. Even reporters who tried to goad officers into ticketing them couldn't get it to happen. But it seems the dam has finally broken on the issue: a tipster tells us she got a $50 ticket for smoking a cigarette in Washington Square Park recently. "I really feel like this news should be out there because IT IS RIDICULOUS & people should know. I did some research into this and no one I know has heard of this happening," she writes. Read her whole account of the ticketing below:
I got a $50 ticket for smoking in Washington Square Park. I really feel like this news should be out there because IT IS RIDICULOUS & people should know. I did some research into this and no one I know has heard of this happening. I was sitting with a girlfriend on a bench on the north side edge of the park at lunch, not many people were around (So I know it was not reported by a passerby). A parks guard (i don't even know what they are called) approached me, told me I was not allowed to smoke and took out his ticket book thing right away. I was respectful, as I always am to working people who are doing their job, and asked him to please not ticket me.
I put out the cigarette, holding it (I normally throw the butts away when I am in a park) and told him I that while I had heard of the smoking ban, I thought it was enforced by civilians, and that I certainly didn't know it was ticketable. He said he'd "been giving warnings since May" and has now started ticketing. I said that I had not been warned and would he please consider this a warning. He began to write the ticket.
At this point I congratulated him on using me to fill his quota, to which he responded "there is no quota," as he literally smiled while writing the ticket. Then I told him I was pleased to see he was enjoying himself so much, to which he assured me there was no enjoyment. The worst part about is that when I pointed out to this asshole parks guy (nope even a cop!) that a large number of the chess touts in the NW corner of the park, who, incidentally, were looking on in amusement, were also smoking he ignored me. It was enraging.
I was later surrounded by the neighborhood biddies who could not understand why I was ticketed. "Police state!" one yelled when I told her. Real fucking talk. "Fight it!" they said. I promised I would. When I called 311 the operator was slightly flabbergasted but trying to keep her professional cool when I called to find out about how to fight it. It was nice to have her be sympathetic. A friend told me to postpone as much as possible and then show up in court. I don't know. But what I do know is I'm not paying this fucking ticket. I thought I should put this out there because this is some BULLSHIT. Although this happened on 1/24, I heard some stats today on the radio how Bloomberg's made more weed busts than the previous mayors put together. He's gone mad with power.
Those regular chess players of the park have been notoriously defiant when it comes to the smoking ban, as one man told The Villager last year: “You could ask me to put it out and if I like the way you ask me, I might put it out. I’m just out here enjoying myself. I’m not a criminal so I don’t care what they do.” We've contacted the Parks Department for comment on whether that has been an uptick in ticketing people for smoking in the parks.
