Effective Monday, May 24, 2011, outside smoking will be banned in most public places in New York city. The law passed and signed in February, makes smoking illegal in New York City's 1,700 parks, on the city's 14 miles of public beaches and pedestrian plazas like Times Square. The law is intended to prevent second hand smoking and the violators could be fined $50. With this law, New York city joins 105 municipalities (in states including California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and New Jersey) to ban smoking on public beaches and 507 municipalities that ban smoking in public parks.
