Battery Park City Esplanade (Credit: saitowitz/Flickr)
Finding a place to smoke is becoming a real drag. After banning smoking in bars and restaurants, Mayor Bloomberg has announced plans to introduce legislation making it illegal to smoke in public areas.
The legislation will be introduced in City Council today, and if approved will go into effect in approximately 3 months after being signed into law.
Violators of this proposed law will be fined $50 by either a Police or Parks Department official.
The pedestrian plaza at Times Square, Central Park and other major public  parks and areas, conceivably even the Battery Park City esplanade could be part of the smoking ban.
Some of the candidates on the ballot for tomorrows primary
Tomorrow is primary day citiwide, where several candidate seats are up for grabs.
For our district, candidates will find out who makes the ticket for the Governor, Senate and Attorney General seats in November’s general elections.
The candidates for these positions are:
Democratic Primary Ticket Attorney General – Citywide
Richard L Brodsky
Sean Coffey
Eric R Dinallo
Kathleen M Rice
Eric T Schneiderman United States Senator – 2 Year Unexpired Term – Citywide
Kirsten E Gillibrand
Gail Goode
Repulican Primary Ticket Governor – Citywide
Rick A Lazio
Carl P Paladino Lieutenant Governor – Citywide
Gregory J Edwards
Thomas V Ognibene United States Senator – 6 Year Full Term – Citywide
Gary Berntsen
Jay Townsend United States Senator – 2 Year Unexpired Term – Citywide
Bruce Blakeman
Joseph J DioGuardi
David Malpass
Independent Primary Ticket Governor- Citywide
Rick A Lazio
Ralph C Lorigo Attorney General – Citywide
Richard L Brodsky
Sean Coffey
Eric R Dinallo
Kathleen M Rice
Eric T Schneiderman United States Senator – 2 Year Unexpired Term – Citywide
Kirsten E Gillibrand
Gail Goode
Another new addition at the polls are the voting machines themselves.
Don’t expect to pull the levers of your voting’s past as new electronic voting machines are being rolled out for tomorrow’s primary.
Introducing new voting booths have been notoriously rocky nationwide, but New York is the last state in the nation to implement the new machines as part of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) responding to Florida’s presidential voting debacle.
Polls open at 6am to find out your exact polling location (as our neighborhood as several) Visit the official NYC Board of Elections site.
As mentioned previously, Queen Elizabeth II will be in our neighborhood today. Although poignantly not visiting the United States during our Independance Day holiday from the British — Queen Elizabeth II will be in New York City today, which includes an address to the United Nations General Assembly and a visit to Ground Zero. This would be the first visit of the site by the Queen since the September 11 attacks.
The Queen is scheduled to lay a wreath at the site of the World Trade Center construction today with her husband, Prince Philip — also in town.
Families and relatives of victims of the attack as well as first responders will also have a chance to meet her highness, who is in town to formerly open the British Memorial Garden at Hanover Square here in Lower Manhattan. The Garden is dedicated to 67 British citizens who had lost their lives during the World Trade Center Attacks.
Queen Elizabeth has a history of visiting Lower Manhattan. Her first trip to our area was in 1957 where she made her first visits to the Statue of Liberty, rode on the Staten Island Ferry and was even greeted with her very own ticker tape parade on the Canyon of Heroes. Her last trip to our area was in 1976, where she marked the Bicentennial of America’s Declaration of Independence from Britain — part of an six day tour of the East Coast.
Her slated visit to Ground Zero is scheduled for “late afternoon” so be wary of closings and extra security in and around the World Trade Center during that time.
