The sleepy town of Westminster, Massachusetts made waves this week when it proposed a ban on the sale of tobacco products, including cigarettes. That got Greater Boston host Emily Rooney thinking: what else needs to be banned in Boston? She joined Jim Braude and Margery Eagan this week for another installment of her weekly list of obsessions and observations, “Emily’s List,” and gave us her thumbs-up or thumbs-down on some of the most notorious bans in the area.
- Cigarettes sales: thumbs-up. “Until tobacco is illegal, you got to be able to sell it,” Emily said.
- Plastic bags: approved. “I don’t like seeing the bags in the trees. For the same reason, I approve the ban on Styrofoam cups.”
- “Party Bikes,” or bikes with one person pedaling and multiple seats: thumbs-down! ”I used to get into a tussle with Mayor Menino about this all the time, because he hated those party bikes,” Emily said. “Boo! Are you going to ban anything that’s dangerous?”
- Haystack, the parking app: thumbs-down. “It’s innovative! It’s creative!” she protested.
- Certain noisy brush-clearing appliances: “I could be convinced to ban leaf blowers,” she said.
To hear more from Emily Rooney on Boston Public Radio, including her take on the probation trial and the future of talk radio, tune in to the audio link above.
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