Oakland Bans Outdoor Smoking

Crime is skyrocketing in Oakland, California. But the city council has a plan. Ban smoking! That way residents can flood the 911 call centers with reports of rogue smokers. Its not like the cops are doing anything about the rapists and murderers anyways, so they can at least write tickets to people who light up at a bus stop.

From NBC11 here:

Officials in Oakland have passed new rules putting restrictions on where smokers can light up. The Oakland City Council unanimously approved an ordinance Tuesday that makes it illegal to smoke in outdoor dining areas, ATM lines, parks and bus stops.

Smoking will also be banned in child care centers and municipal golf courses.

Besides prohibiting smoking in some areas, the new rules will require landlords and condominium owners to notify prospective tenants and buyers of the smoking status of units they intend to move into. The new law will go in effect on Oct. 23.

Oakland’s ordinance follows a new law adopted last week in Belmont that will ban smoking in parks, other public places and inside apartments and condominiums.

The Oaklandnews Blog notes that something is terribly wrong with Oakland when it comes to crime.

The FBI released preliminary crime statistics for 2006, with grim results for Oakland. The figures compare the first six months of 2006 with the first six months of 2005.

Take a look:

Violent crime up 38 percent
Murder up 78 percent
Robbery up 48 percent
Aggravated assault up 33 percent
Arson up 20 percent
Auto theft up 20 percent

The only “bright spots” were forcible rape, which was down 12 percent and burglary, which was down 5 percent.

Meanwhile, violent crime around the nation increased 3.7 percent. Something in Oakland is clearly terribly wrong.

Keep hiring Democrats to lead your cities. That way the gang members that gun you down will at least not cause lung cancer by smoking on the golf course.