A “Blunt” Message In Times Square: No Smoking

The Times Square Alliance isn’t afraid to put it bluntly: smoking — of any kind — isn’t allowed in Times Square’s pedestrian plazas. In mid-December, the nonprofit began posting signs advising residents and visitors of this law, in response to complaints that it wasn’t being adhered to, according to Tom Harris, the alliance’s president.

There’d been “a lot of confusion about what’s legal, what’s not legal,” he told Chelsea News. “The signs were meant to remind people that while [the state has] legalized smoking marijuana, if you can’t smoke cigarettes there, you can’t smoke weed.”

He said the group will continue to add to the dozen-or-so signs that are already up, focusing on pedestrian plazas.

Part of the impetus came from enforcement efforts, which Harris explained have sometimes been met with skepticism. “Well, where does it say that?” people would ask, according to Harris, when told they couldn’t smoke. While some continue to puff away, he said others are “appreciative” of the signs — and have taken note of the absence of an odor from marijuana, one primary cause for complaints.

“As a tourist attraction, it really puts you off from visiting the area,” Harris said.