Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Shhh! No cell phones during New York City shows, council says

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 00:08:35 -0500

Shhh! No cell phones during New York City shows, council says
Thu Dec 19, 8:24 AM ET

By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - The City Council approved a bill that would ban the use of cell phones at
public performances in New York —
from Broadway shows to highbrow art galleries to Madison Square Garden concerts.
The legislation, which would create one of the nation's strictest cell phone bans, passed
the council 40-9 on Wednesday. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he would veto the bill,
but the council has enough votes to override him.
The ban would include concerts, movies, plays, lectures, dance performances, museums,
libraries and galleries. Cell phone use
would still be permitted at sporting events, such as basketball arenas and baseball
stadiums.
The legislation requires venues to announce the ban to audiences before each performance
or to post signs stating the prohibition. Cell phone use would be allowed in emergencies.

No other large city in the nation has imposed such a ban, and it was unclear whether a
municipality of any size had done so, City Council staffers said.

Talking on a cell phone, listening on one or even having one ring during a performance
would constitute a violation — and a $50 fine. But it hadn't been determined how the
prohibition would be enforced.
"We would expect this legislation to be essentially self-enforcing," City Council Speaker
Gifford Miller said. "It's common sense. It's courtesy."

The City Council members who voted against the bill said they did so because it would be
impossible to enforce or because they believe it is not the panel's role to make such
laws.

Bloomberg will veto the bill because it's not enforceable, a spokesman said. The Cellular
Telecommunications & Internet Association, an international organization for wireless
service providers and manufacturers, maintained that cell phone etiquette should not be
legislated.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=524&u=/ap/20021219/ap_wo_en_po/na_gen_us_cell_phone_ban_2&printer=1

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/