Glen Cove Mayor Wants To Ban Hookah Lounges

GLEN COVE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A city on Long Island wants to ban hookah lounges before any even open up in the neighborhood.

Glen Cove Mayor Reginald Spinello is seeking the ban for health reasons, saying hookah users inhale more smoke than they would with cigarettes, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.

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"This is all about smoking and the problems with smoking," Spinello said. "Hookah pipes ...when they start inhaling, they inhale higher concentrations of smoke and toxins and with these things there's usually other activity associated with them that is not the kind of activity that we want in our city."

So far, there are no hookah lounges in Glen Cove and Spinello hopes to keep it that way.

"I want to keep this a family-friendly community and whatever I can do to protect the health and welfare of our young people that's what I'm going to do," Spinello said.

If all goes as planned, Spinello believes the ban could go into effect by the end of June.

It would be the first such ban in Nassau County.

Last year, Patchogue in Suffolk County enacted a similar ban.

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