A recently implemented smoking ban in New York City is aimed at improving the health of restaurant and bar employees, but after a recent bar fight left a bouncer dead Sunday, many are wondering if this is truly a step in the right direction.

The new law, which went into effect at the end of last month, prohibits smoking in all the city’s public places, including bars and even some outside portions of bars. By the end of July, the entire state will fall under this ban.

Scott Wexler, the executive director of the Empire State Tavern Association, has said this law is infringing on the rights of small-business owners and has serious implications for business.

Wexler said governmental regulation in this area was unnecessary and that these decisions should be left up to individual owners, especially with the current state of business.

“Business is not good in general,” Wexler said. “The economy is not helping, the war is not helping, and this law is certainly not helping.”

Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said the law was intended to improve employer safety and that it was the city’s obligation to provide a safe workplace.

“Thousands of New Yorkers die each year due to the dangers of second-hand smoke,” Barowitz said. “People would not be allowed to work in areas contaminated with other carcinogens or asbestos.”

Wexler said he did not think a smoking ban would have much of a health benefit because most of the harm done by second-hand smoke occurs in the home of smokers.

“Studies have shown that 85 percent of exposure to second-hand smoke is in the home,” Wexler said.

While most bars in Madison currently do not have to worry about becoming entirely smoke-free, some bars and restaurants will in the future.

Last fall, a city ordinance was passed requiring establishments that do not make more than 50 percent of their revenue from alcohol to become smoke-free within the next two to three years. Popular student hangouts like Spices Kitchen, Angelic Brewing Company, White Horse Inn and the Orpheum Theater will be affected by this ordinance.

New Yorkers are also adjusting to another new law. As of last Sunday, cell phones can no longer be used at concerts, plays, lectures, museums and movie theaters in New York. Offenders can receive a $50 fine if caught. However, the measure has been criticized as unenforceable.

Barowitz said the measure was “deeply problematic” and that there would be serious enforcement problems. Barowitz said legislation should play a worthwhile role in society, and thought this law was of no value.

“This is not a good law,” Barowitz said. “You shouldn’t pass laws that cannot be enforced. It creates a cheapening of the legislative process.”

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, also disagreed with New York’s new law, but for different reasons. Verveer said the government should not be involved in this aspect of people’s lives.

“There must be a line drawn at where government micromanages the lives of its citizens,” Verveer said.

Verveer also said bans on cell phones have been talked about in Madison, but were never formally proposed.