The recent proliferation of hookah shops in Little Egypt might be harmful to children’s health, even if they are just passing by on the sidewalk, parents say.
While some restaurants in “Hookah Central,” on Steinway Street between 25th and 28th avenues, require customers to smoke indoors, other venues have set up chairs in front of entrances, where people enjoy smoking while sipping coffee. And while the smell of apple and mango flavored smoke gives the area its unique character, some parents say the air has become unhealthy.
“It’s not good for the baby,” said Selna Ael, who on Tuesday afternoon was walking outside the hookah shops with her 6-month-old son, Ali. An Iraqi immigrant, Ael said even though hookah smoking is popular in her homeland, she often avoids Steinway Street to protect her newborn from too much smoke.
Mustakin Khondkir, 34, a father of two children, ages 4 and 6, agreed about the potential danger. “I quit smoking for my kids, but now they have to inhale all this hookah smoke,” added Khondkir, a cab driver, who has lived in the area for 17 years. “In the last two years the situation has been out of control.”
A spokeswoman for the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said hookah lounges are not subject to smoke regulations as long as the hookahs are tobacco free. A police source confirmed the 114th Precinct receives numerous complaints about smoke from a growing number of hookah venues on Steinway Street, especially during summer. The source added that it is illegal to place chairs outside without a permit.
15 comments:
Oh, but it's so cool, hip and multicultural! YIBRANT! DIVERSE!
There are pollutants other than tobacco
that can do worse damage to your lungs.
LOL...
word has it that Osama Bin Laden was too busy puffing on his hookah, that he didn't see that US Navy Seal about to blast him into "paradise'.
I'm going to open up a new lounge.
It will be called "Hookahs & Hookers".
This will be Flushing's first fusion Asiatic-Arabian joint.
You should see my architect's renderings
of the luxurious "Rub 'n puff" salon contained within.
It is! It is! Crap County, USA.
That part of Astoria was spinned off by the immigration service run by Moloni who is Vallone's hand picked home boy replacement.
Walked down Steinway St yesterday - full of grim men sitting on the sidewalk illegally, burka clad women looking like something out of 1400, and the stench of hookahs that are doing a good job of driving out the older tenants and filling the building with apolitical immigrants - a pols dream.
The really outrageous part of this heartwarming scene are the hipsters with cameras excitedly running about with the bemused expressions of the locals.
So move aside Flushing. Step back Elmhurst. There is a new tourist spot in town.
Meanwhile back to the blog that shows the robust civic culture of Vallone's Hermit Kingdom:
http://www.astorians.com/community/index.php?topic=23516.0
Sahria Law sign on Steinway. Wonder what Molini the Phony has to say about this?
We should crack down on people placing chairs on the sidewalk without a permit. But the air in NYC is some of the most polluted in the U.S., according to the American Lung Association. That a real health threat, not the small amount of smoke we inhale passing by a business.
The 114 gets plenty of complaints, but if one cop ever dares to confront these business owners, they will find themselves guarding landfill in STaten Island.
On one hand:
"Hookah smoking - it's part of our vibrant Egyptian culture!"
On the other hand:
"Hookah smoking is harmful! Pay my lung cancer bill, Whitey!"
Heads we win! Tails you lose!
Ain't diversity grand!
When Julian Wager ran the Steinway Street BID,
this kind of crap would not have been tolerated.
Unfortunately he's gone and the area shows it
in spades!
It will continue to degrade even further
until it becomes Flushing's sister nabe but with a different ethnic mix.
Don't make a fuss or they'll call you bigoted, islamophobes.
The really funny thing is that smoking is against the teachings of the Prophet.
If we can't take a single street back from people who refuse to become part of our society, we are truly lost.
It's pathetic our SOS would say “how could they do this to us when we helped liberate them”.
Some of our leaders are so far out of touch with reality.
We have allowed this cancer to creep into our country, our city and our neighborhood. We were warned. We are pretty much at the point of no return, and there is no sign of righting our course. Hang on folks, things are only going to get worse from here on.
Against the teachings of the Prophet?
Maybe they're profiting from The Prophet.
Post a Comment