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Hookah lounges banned in Lynbrook

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Any Lynbrook residents who had aims on opening a hookah bar in the village will have to set course for a different location after the Village of Lynbrook Board of Trustees voted at their Nov. 17 meeting to ban the smoking of hookah pipes in bars located in the village.

Hookahs are water pipes used to smoke tobacco, which is often combined with other herbs and flavors in order to produce a pleasing taste and aroma. While the tobacco smoke passes through water before being inhaled, the Centers for Disease control warns that the smoke produced by a hookah pipe poses many of the same risks posed by cigarettes and cigards.

“While many hookah smokers may think this practice is less harmful than smoking cigarettes, hookah smoking has many of the same health risks as cigarette smoking,” the CDC says on its website. “Water pipe smoking delivers nicotine—the same highly addictive drug found in other tobacco products. Because of the way a hookah is used, smokers may absorb more of the toxic substances also found in cigarette smoke than cigarette smokers do.”

There are currently no hookah bars or lounges within village limits, and the board plans to keep it that way. This restriction strengthens already passed anti-smoking laws that ban the smoking of cigars, cigarettes, e-cigarettes and other tobacco products in the village. Residents who wish to consume tobacco products in their homes, including hookah pipes, will remain able to do so.

“There are local laws around the state regarding hookah use and their ban,” explained village attorney Peter Ledwith, “so there is precedent for passing something like this.”

Hendrick acknowledged the village’s lack of hookah lounges, and said he was pleased that none would be springing up. “I know we don’t have any of these establishments now, so this may seem a little unnecessary,” Hendrick said. “I also don’t want to see any open here.”

Landscaping limitations

The Board of Trustees also passed a pair of local laws regarding lawn care at the meeting.

Private landscaping companies will no longer be permit-

ted mow lawns on Sundays. Residents will still be able to mow their own laws after 10 a.m. on Sundays.

Hendricks said the village, with the aid of the Lynbrook Police Department, would enforce these laws, and other landscaping laws, vigilantly.

“The village and the police will always do our best to ensure that landscapers follow our codes and that they are licensed and insured,” Hendrick said. “If they don’t want to follow our codes and laws, they are not welcome here.”