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A Cultural History Faces Stringent
Smoking Laws "New York City"
By COREY KILGANNON
Published: March 9, 2004
The new yourk times |
Of the roughly 20 hookah bars in New York City, about
half are clustered along a short stretch of Steinway Street
in Astoria, Queens, known as Little Egypt. Here in the hazy
cafes, owned mostly by Egyptian immigrants, men smoke
fruit-flavored tobacco called shisha through water pipes
called hookahs as they banter in Arabic, play chess or
backgammon, or simply pass the day in a fragrant fog.
But big trouble has come to Little Egypt, causing the kind
of jitters more often associated with the cigarette habit.
Hookah shop owners say the city's Health Department has
begun sending agents to Steinway Street to aggressively
enforce the stringent smoking laws that took effect last
spring -- laws the owners had thought they could quietly
sidestep.
Ali Mohamed and Moustafa Elgohry, Egyptian immigrants who
own a shisha cafe on Steinway Street near 25th Avenue, said
they had received six summonses from the city in recent
months, one resulting in a $1,200 fine. ''We charge $4 for a
smoke,'' Mr. Mohamed said. ''Do you know how many shishas I
have to sell to make that back?''
When the smoking ban first took effect a year ago, the two
men said, they received sporadic summonses, several of which
were dismissed by the Health Department's administrative
tribunal. ''But they've been very aggressive lately,'' Mr.
Mohamed said. ''Two weeks ago, they sent their guys to every
shisha shop on the block. It's harassment.''
Mr. Elgohry said enforcement agents had warned customers in
his shop that they, too, would be ticketed if caught
smoking. ''They've scared some of our customers away,'' Mr.
Mohamed said. ''We're hard-working people trying to earn a
living. I worked 20 years driving a cab for the money to
open this store. Now they're trying to close us down.''
The owners have enlisted the help of their councilman, Peter
Vallone Jr., who wrote to the city's health commissioner
last week arguing that the shisha cafes are no different
than the cigar bars that qualify for a legal exemption from
the smoking laws. Mr. Vallone said that city law allows
smoking if the bars draw at least 10 percent of their
revenue from the sale of tobacco. Most of the shisha café
owners say they earn well over half their revenue from
tobacco.
But a Health Department official said yesterday that the
cigar-bar exemption applied only to places that sell
alcohol.
Elliott S. Marcus, an assistant commissioner, said, "Hookah
establishments may apply for an exemption as a tobacco bar
-- which by definition is an establishment where the sale of
food is incidental, at least 40 percent of gross receipts
are from the sale of alcohol, and at least 10 percent of
gross receipts are from the sale of tobacco products or the
rental of humidors.
"To date, the department has not received any tobacco bar
applications from hookah establishments," he said, adding
that they were therefore subject to the city smoking ban.
The cafe owners said they would not serve alcohol because
most of their customers were Muslims, who do not drink.
''I've asked that the city give them exclusion from the
smoking laws because they fit into a cigar bar exemption,''
Mr. Vallone said last week. ''The only difference is that
they don't serve alcohol, but should they be punished for
that?''
The cafe owners contend that hookah smoking is a vital part
of their culture. And their shops were instrumental, they
say, in transforming what was a downtrodden block several
years ago into a bustling commercial strip where shops stay
open late at night and people mill about on the street the
way they do in downtown Cairo.
Many of the cafes draw their largest crowds well past
midnight. Egyptians, Algerians, Tunisians and others, mostly
men, sit next to tall ornate water pipes, sipping juices,
coffee or strong tea between puffs. Some like the tobacco
dipped in molasses or flavored with fruits or spices. A full
pipe usually costs $4 and can last an hour.
Muhamed Bashir, who owns a restaurant on Steinway Street
that offers shisha smoking, said: ''We get customers from
all over -- Long Island, Connecticut, New Jersey. But they
would not come if we didn't have smoking.''
Of the roughly 20 hookah bars in New York City, about half
are clustered along a short stretch of Steinway Street in
Astoria, Queens, known as Little Egypt. Here in the hazy
cafes, owned mostly by Egyptian immigrants, men smoke
fruit-flavored tobacco called shisha through water pipes
called hookahs as they banter in Arabic, play chess or
backgammon, or simply pass the day in a fragrant fog.
But big trouble has come to Little Egypt, causing the kind
of jitters more often associated with the cigarette habit.
Hookah shop owners say the city's Health Department has
begun sending agents to Steinway Street to aggressively
enforce the stringent smoking laws that took effect last
spring -- laws the owners had thought they could quietly
sidestep.
Ali Mohamed and Moustafa Elgohry, Egyptian immigrants who
own a shisha cafe on Steinway Street near 25th Avenue, said
they had received six summonses from the city in recent
months, one resulting in a $1,200 fine. ''We charge $4 for a
smoke,'' Mr. Mohamed said. ''Do you know how many shishas I
have to sell to make that back?''
When the smoking ban first took effect a year ago, the two
men said, they received sporadic summonses, several of which
were dismissed by the Health Department's administrative
tribunal. ''But they've been very aggressive lately,'' Mr.
Mohamed said. ''Two weeks ago, they sent their guys to every
shisha shop on the block. It's harassment.''
Mr. Elgohry said enforcement agents had warned customers in
his shop that they, too, would be ticketed if caught
smoking. ''They've scared some of our customers away,'' Mr.
Mohamed said. ''We're hard-working people trying to earn a
living. I worked 20 years driving a cab for the money to
open this store. Now they're trying to close us down.''
The owners have enlisted the help of their councilman, Peter
Vallone Jr., who wrote to the city's health commissioner
last week arguing that the shisha cafes are no different
than the cigar bars that qualify for a legal exemption from
the smoking laws. Mr. Vallone said that city law allows
smoking if the bars draw at least 10 percent of their
revenue from the sale of tobacco. Most of the shisha café
owners say they earn well over half their revenue from
tobacco.
But a Health Department official said yesterday that the
cigar-bar exemption applied only to places that sell
alcohol.
Elliott S. Marcus, an assistant commissioner, said, "Hookah
establishments may apply for an exemption as a tobacco bar
-- which by definition is an establishment where the sale of
food is incidental, at least 40 percent of gross receipts
are from the sale of alcohol, and at least 10 percent of
gross receipts are from the sale of tobacco products or the
rental of humidors.
"To date, the department has not received any tobacco bar
applications from hookah establishments," he said, adding
that they were therefore subject to the city smoking ban.
The cafe owners said they would not serve alcohol because
most of their customers were Muslims, who do not drink.
''I've asked that the city give them exclusion from the
smoking laws because they fit into a cigar bar exemption,''
Mr. Vallone said last week. ''The only difference is that
they don't serve alcohol, but should they be punished for
that?''
The cafe owners contend that hookah smoking is a vital part
of their culture. And their shops were instrumental, they
say, in transforming what was a downtrodden block several
years ago into a bustling commercial strip where shops stay
open late at night and people mill about on the street the
way they do in downtown Cairo.
Many of the cafes draw their largest crowds well past
midnight. Egyptians, Algerians, Tunisians and others, mostly
men, sit next to tall ornate water pipes, sipping juices,
coffee or strong tea between puffs. Some like the tobacco
dipped in molasses or flavored with fruits or spices. A full
pipe usually costs $4 and can last an hour.
Muhamed Bashir, who owns a restaurant on Steinway Street
that offers shisha smoking, said: ''We get customers from
all over -- Long Island, Connecticut, New Jersey. But they
would not come if we didn't have smoking.''
Resource :
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E6DB173EF93AA35750C0A9629C8B63&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=1 |
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