Results tagged “smoking”

Now this is our kind of Muni bus driver. Travis Jensen, who snapped this shot, reports, "This San Francisco MUNI driver was spotted smoking a cigarette on the bus yesterday, Tuesday, November 10, at approximately 5:05p.m." Read more about this harrowing tale here.

If you're heading down to Santa Cruz this weekend to buy and take illicit drugs -- a common practice in a city that seems to have crashed into the side of California -- remember on thing: you won't be able to smoke outdoors starting today. IN certain areas, at least. Santa Cruz's outdoor smoking ban went into effect today. According to KTVU, "[a] new ordinance, approved by the City Council on Sept. 22, prohibits smoking on Pacific Avenue, Beach Street between the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf and Third Street, and West Cliff Drive." Over the last ten years, Pacific Avenue -- once a bastion of unwashed, methed out looking for a tuppence or two -- has turned into more of a boutique street.

This man us standing close enough to the bus stop that everyone -- including some kids -- cam smell him. If he reeked of garbage or beets, it would be considered rude, and he'd be embarrassed to know that everyone is edging away so they don't have to breathe him in. Smokers? Not so much.

This morning, a fresh new ordinance went into effect: cigarette addicts now must pay 20 cents extra per pack "in order cover the costs of cleaning up discarded cigarette butts throughout the city." The very first tax of its kind in the U.S., KTVU says, "The fee will be collected from retailers and will go specifically to city departments that conduct street cleanup of cigarette butts."

UPDATE: The artist is Hugh Leeman, and he'll be showing his work at White Walls on August 8th.

There's nothing worse than the smell of a fresh cigarette stub on Muni (aside from the less frequent bodily functions or a burrito in the process of being eaten).

Anti-smoking gestapo are asking President Barack Obama to "provide a teachable moment and become the 'First Quitter,'" by getting help for his nicotine addiction. While not a pack-a-day kind of guy, Obama bills himself as a part-time smoker. Still, according to Dr. Joseph DiFranza, Professor of Family Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, "There are a few people who really truly are social smokers, who aren’t addicted, and they just smoke for whatever pleasure they can get out of the cigarette. They might just do it once a year, or when they’re in a bar for instance ... I wouldn’t call them recreational smokers if they’re having a hard time quitting. Anyone who has a hard time quitting is addicted by my definition.” We think waiting a year would be a better idea of the President Obama; we'd hate for him to have to focus on recovery while trying to get through his first year in the Oval Office. If you recall, President Bartlet also had trouble chasing the nicotine dragon. He smoked two cigarettes a day but did it outside.

Initiating one of the toughest city college smoking bans, San Jose City College has kicked off an extreme no-smoking ban. In addition to the typical smoke-free rules inside of all buildings, the ban also includes all areas outside of classrooms and in student gathering areas. That is to say, you can't light up anywhere at San Jose City College. Ever. This tough ban on cancer-causing delight was sparked after San Jose City College administrators received numerous complaints from whiny students about "having to endure clouds of smoke coming from smokers near the classrooms."

Gone are the days of free love, free LSD, and freedom to eat whatever you want. After last week's historic decision to make San Francisco the first in the country to ban the sale of cigarettes in pharmacies Walgreens and Rite Aid stores, City Hall isn't stopping there. The Board of Supes also wants to bar you from lighting up in city parks, ATM lines, and common areas of apartment buildings; voted for chain restaurants to post nutritional information on menus; have shunned delicious trans-fats (which is semi-ridiculous since high fructose corn syrup is the real enemy, but that's an entirely different post altogether); charge restaurants a fee for selling sugary sodas (which is good since Diet Coke tastes better); and close down city streets in an effort to get you to participate in mass jazzercise.

The entertaining/controversial Chris Daly, who seems a bit quiet as of late, has a new target now: wafts of cigarette smoke. We're told that his latest push of legislation "calls for a smoking ban outside of restaurants, in waiting areas, within 20 feet of nonresidential buildings," and in common areas of apartment buildings. That is to say, you might have to look elsewhere to spark up that Capri or Virgina Slim while eating out. The Board of Supervisors will vote on the measure come Thursday.

Although we're only occasional smokers (read: when we're drunk or feeling awkward at a party), we sympathize with the need to have a cigarette. And while the smoking ban at bars and everywhere else has kept everyone relatively secondhand smoke free, the constant browbeating smokers receive from non-smokers is enough to make the anarchists in us want to light up in front of all the naysayers.

Congratulations, Oakland (29th), Fremont (32nd), and San Francisco (34th) -- you made it on the top 50 drunkest cities in the U.S. list. At least, according to the December issue of the body dysmorphia-inducing rag Men's Health Magazine. The rankings are based on alcohol-related liver deaths, "binge drinking data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," FBI-culled drunk driving arrest numbers, death-related auto accidents that involved booze, and "grades given to cities...

-- Ross Mirkarimi, sole supe against Clear Channel. [SFBG]

Photo of people smoking in the park

The city of Belmont -- a most magical place somewhere along this place called the Peninsula -- banned smoking in "multiunit dwellings" yesterday. Breaking the law could result in a $1,000 fine.

We used to think we couldn't stand Sean Penn, but he never really did anything to deserve our ire. He's talented; seems to have similar political to ours; married to her, wonderful her; surfs; from Southern California; lives in the Bay Area; and above all else, is attractive. Then we figured it out: we didn't hate Sean Penn, we feared him. He seems like the kind of guy who could and would kick our ass right-quick if he ever encountered us.

One day we're planning a going-away party there, and then -- ta-da! -- it's gone. Wired workers' favorite watering hole and one of the last dive's around the Eastern SOMA area, the Eagle Drift-In Lounge was a good place for cheap booze, comfy booth seating, playing a game of darts, or to catch our favorite pregnant smoking bartender making a drink, waiting for that call from CPS.

-- Norman Nsu to return to Redwood City. [ABC7]

Today, the Oakland City Council voted to ban smoking in "ATM lines, parks and other public places," which is smurfy, health-conscious, makes the bitch behind you at the ATM line stops her self-righteous fake coughing, will result in animated birds singing on your shoulders, etcetera.

Seeing as how the Summer of Love was the single most important event in the history of time and space, we thought it would be delightful of us to review a smattering of Summer of Love anniversary reviews for you. In no particular order, discover the music, elderly genitalia, and abundance of ATMs you missed.

There's big legal news concerning the Barry, none of which involves Curt Schilling or Grand Juries. Oh no. Barry has just been slapped with a lawsuit by an inmate in a South Carolina prison, Jonathan Lee Riches (aka "the White Suge Knight), for fraud. No, not for breaking the record while on the juice, but for perpetuating a "Fraud Against Mankind," which Lee Riches calls "Batman and Identity Robbin." The Smoking Gun has the details, but from a quick perusal here are some of the claims made:

arlyck, following-sean, pov, pbs

, the documentary we saw at the Roda Theatre in Berkeley on Sunday for the SF Jewish Film Festival, was billed as a "wry and hilarious" examination by filmmaker Duki Dror as he follows kids on their daily journeys to and from school. "Dror has the same wondrous gift of bittersweet nostalgia that cartoonists Charles M. Schulz and Lynda Barry have," said the catalog description. To that we say: are you smoking crack?

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a picture displaying the woes of cruising in a tacky limo on the streets of San Francisco.

Star Wars-ish stuff sometimes seems done to death, but we fondly remember this PSA. What we forgot, though, was the pillow talk at the very end of this anti-smoking propaganda. It's very moving. And kind of sad.

When not fending off rumors that he's been horking lines, Gavin has lately been running around proposing ideas to fix Muni, spurred on by the latest SPUR report and the Transit Effectiveness Project.

premiered at the Another Hole in the Head horrorfest on Friday June 1st at a midnight showing. Well, an 11:45 p.m. showing. Whatever, it was late for old fogeys like us, but the allure of Crispin Glover was too much to ignore.

Assembly Bill 684 seeks to legalize the growing of hemp for industrial uses -- rope, cloth, oil, all that good stuff. It's not for smoking, okay? Okay?! In fact, the bill. which passed the assembly and heads for the state senate shortly, defines "industrial hemp" as "an agricultural field crop limited to the non-psychoactive varieties of the of the plant Cannabis sativa L."

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to!