Pyramid Malls banning all forms of smoking on properties INCLUDING E-Cigs and vendors

[Kresh]

15 Pyramid Malls to Go Tobacco Free

​

For media inquiries, contact:James L. Soos, Director of Asset Management, Pyramid Management Group, LLC, 315-422-7000
Sue Casanova, BRIDGES to Prevent tobacco, (315) 697-3947, suec@preventtobacco.org>
Angela Pause Smith, American Cancer Society, 518-454-4039,518-339-6330, Angela.Pause-Smith@cancer.org


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 20, 2012
15 Pyramid Malls Go tobacco-Free in New York and Massachusetts
All Pyramid Mall Properties Become tobacco-Free on May 31st
(Syracuse, NY) – Officials at Pyramid Management Group, LLC, owner and operator of 15
shopping malls throughout New York and Massachusetts today announced that all of their
properties will be 100 percent tobacco-free on May 31, 2012. Pyramid has been working with
regional tobacco control partnerships funded by the NYS Tobacco Control Program and the
American Cancer Society on implementation of the new policy.
“We strongly believe this new policy will not only support our employees and guests who are
sensitive to secondhand smoke or are trying to quit smoking, but it also will provide a more
enjoyable and healthier shopping experience to the millions of visitors who come through our
doors each year,” said James L. Soos, Director of Asset Management, Pyramid Management
Group.
The tobacco-free policy includes any and all tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars, pipes,
chewing tobacco) and any other similar substances or instruments that are lit or burning such
as electronic cigarettes. This tobacco-free policy is inclusive of entire properties, both inside
and outside, including all entry points, hallways, sidewalks, loading dock areas, parking lots
and construction areas. It applies to all mall associates, tenant employees, vendors, delivery
people, contractors, subcontractors and guests.
"The Carousel Center has been smoke free for almost 5 years now and thousands of visitors
and their children have been protected from secondhand smoke,” said Sue Casanova,
Project Coordinator, Bridges to Prevent Tobacco. “Pyramid is showing once again that they
are leaders in the industry. We encourage other mall owners to implement a tobacco free
property policy as well."
New York State malls covered by the new tobacco-free policy will include:
Aviation Mall - Queensbury
Carousel Center – Syracuse (became smoke-free in 2007, will be tobacco-free)
Champlain Centre - Plattsburgh
Crossgates Mall - Albany
Galleria at Crystal Run - Middletown
Palisades Center – West Nyack
Poughkeepsie Galleria - Poughkeepsie
Salmon Run Mall - Watertown
Sangertown Square – New Hartford
The Shops at Ithaca Mall - Ithaca
Walden Galleria - Buffalo
Massachusetts malls include:
Berkshire Mall - Lanesborough
Independence Mall - Kingston
Hampshire Mall - Hadley
Holyoke Mall at Ingleside - Holyoke
“This policy means shoppers and their kids won’t have to walk a gauntlet of harmful
secondhand smoke just to enter a mall,” said Alvaro Carrascal, Senior Vice President of
Cancer Control, American Cancer Society of NY & NJ. “Secondhand smoke is a known
carcinogen with no safe level of exposure. Mall employees who smoke also will benefit from
on-site resources that will help them quit.”
Pyramid will be providing opportunities for mall employees to obtain smoking cessation
information and counseling. Signage provided by the local tobacco control coalitions will be
posted around mall property to alert employees and shoppers about the new policy.
The first mall in the Pyramid family to go smoke-free was the Carousel Center in Syracuse in
2007. Successful implementation at that facility led to the corporate-wide expansion of the
policy. With implementation of the new policy, Carousel Center will become tobacco-free.
For more information about the new policy, go to pyramidmg.com.
For information on how to quit smoking, call the New York State Smokers’ Quitline at 1-866-
NY-QUITS (1-866-697-8487)
For cancer information anytime, call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345 or log
onto cancer.org.
###
About Pyramid Management Group, LLC:
Pyramid Management Group, LLC, headquartered in Syracuse, NY, is the largest privately owned shopping center owner and developer in the
northeast. The portfolio consists of 17 properties in New York and Massachusetts. With over 40 years of continued innovation, their ongoing
success can be attributed to the unique combination of geographically centered sites, tremendous highway visibility, and an unmatched mix of
new and exciting retailers. Additional information regarding Pyramid can be found at Pyramid Management Group - Home.
About the NYS Tobacco Control Tobacco Control Partnerships
New York State Tobacco Control Community Partnerships work with local governments and decision makers, local businesses and employers
(including tobacco retailers), community organizations, health care institutions and providers, and schools and community groups to address
tobacco company advertising, sponsorship and promotion; implement effective tobacco-free policies in the outdoor environment; change public
opinion about tobacco and tobacco use; and promote access to evidence-based cessation services. Community Partnerships engage local
stakeholders and decision makers, educate community leaders and the public, and mobilize the community to strengthen tobacco-related
policies to restrict the tobacco company presence in the community, reduce the use and availability of tobacco products in the community, and
limit opportunities for exposure to secondhand smoke. Community Partnerships take a policy advocacy approach to creating communities that
support and reinforce the tobacco-free norm and dismantling the community policies and practices that promote and support tobacco use.

New York State malls covered by the new tobacco-free policy will include: Aviation Mall - QueensburyCarousel Center – Syracuse (became smoke-free in 2007, will be tobacco-free)Champlain Centre - PlattsburghCrossgates Mall - AlbanyGalleria at Crystal Run - MiddletownPalisades Center – West NyackPoughkeepsie Galleria - Poughkeepsie​

 

[TennDave]

I love that they see e-cigs as being on fire....I think I might try that...
Problem is, I don't think I can get my Reo to catch on fire... What a shame.

 

[Kresh]

One vendor in Watertown, NY sells Egos and 510s and e-liquid all for reasonable prices. I don't understand it other than "It's NY".

 

[gheebee]

People still shop at malls? Seems to me they should be more accommodating seeing as how not having to deal with this BS is yet another reason why internet shopping is superior to going to a mall...

 

[DietSalem]

It says lit or burning.. Well, my ecig isn't lit or burning. So.. I'd do it anyway. Outside, mind you, but I'd do it anyway.

 

[Uncle Willie]

PV or not, if you blow what looks like smoke, someone will at some point try and bust you .. whether it be Paul Blart, Mall Cop or some other patron ..

Having dealt with a Statewide ban now for some time, that includes prohibition within 15 feet of a doorway, you end up just getting used to it even with the use of my PV .. sad, but true ..

 

[Vocalek]

Their malls must be doing a lot better than the malls around here. There are so many stores closed that they could not afford to kick out a paying tenant.

 

[VapApe]

So I can put some black tape over the LED and I am good to go LOL

 

[Thulium]

Having dealt with a Statewide ban now for some time, that includes prohibition within 15 feet of a doorway, you end up just getting used to it even with the use of my PV .. sad, but true ..

Living in a state that pretty much banned all indoor smoking except in private residences several years ago, and with properly sheltered smoking areas being reduced rather than INCREASED to reasonably accommodate people displaced by the indoor ban, here's what I do: I only "pretend to smoke" when I am around other smokers in designated smoking areas or anyone who already knows that I vape (including coworkers, but not around customers). Otherwise, in areas where I would have had to go outside to smoke, I practice the art of ninja vaping...Not so stealthy that I don't get to privately enjoy a nice big fluffy cloud of nommy vapor, but sometimes even unconsciously I will often avoid letting anyone actually see me vaping right in front of (or behind) them. Why? Not because I am ashamed or don't want other smokers to catch me vaping and maybe learn how they can find a way to stop smoking too, but because I just get tired of what is basically giving a "sales pitch" for products that I don't have available for sale.

 

[sailorman]

The tobacco-free policy includes any and all tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars, pipes,
chewing tobacco) and any other similar substances or instruments that are lit or burning such
as electronic cigarettes. This tobacco-free policy is inclusive of entire properties, both inside
and outside, including all entry points, hallways, sidewalks, loading dock areas, parking lots
and construction areas. It applies to all mall associates, tenant employees, vendors, delivery
people, contractors, subcontractors and guests.

Yeah....Right. They're going to stop you from smoking in your car in the parking lot? They're going to do a search of your mouth to find that piece of Snus between your lip and gum? Lord knows, we got to protect the children from that secondhand snus.
These mall tenants aren't going to play nanny-cop with their employees. They'll either ignore this rule and employees will go out back to smoke cigarettes, just like they go out back to smoke anything else, or they'll institute employment qualifications that say you can't work at some crappy minimum wage job because you smoke analogs or you vape. Likely they'll do the latter.

 

[popsec]

That's totally ridiculous! We're within 45 minutes of the Aviation Mall but I'll never set foot in that mall again because of their ridiculous ban on e-cigs. I'll also pass the word to other vapers to steer clear

 

[Petrodus]

Since they can't ban the sale of tobacco...
They will just ban using tobacco products and that would include
banning anything that might even remind someone of smoking.

Banning use of E-cigs is just a Political Correctness thing

Political Correctness is tyranny with a happy face.
Charlton Heston

 

[EJH]

Hmm, I wonder if they'll kick out the Nuvo e-cig kiosk in the Poughkeepsie Galleria. Though that kiosk doesn't do much business from what I've seen.

 

[DC2]

Looks like this happened about 10 months ago?

 

[sailorman]

Since they can't ban the sale of tobacco...
They will just ban using tobacco products and that would include
banning anything that might even remind someone of smoking.

Banning use of E-cigs is just a Political Correctness thing

Political Correctness is tyranny with a happy face.
Charlton Heston

Why do people insist on attributing things to "political correctness" when they have absolutely nothing to do with political correctness? Has that term just become a catch-all to label anything that seems to have a motivation that escapes instant recognition?

Political correctness is just a term invented to deride any attempt, silly and over-reaching or not, to refrain from insulting or demeaning someone elses beliefs, culture, race or religion. It has no application to the issue of e-cigs and I'm getting weary of hearing it used in that way.

Banning the use of e-cigs is a result of intellectual laziness. The same laziness that compels people to refer to vapor as "smoke". The same laziness that is exhibited each time someone insists that you still smoke cigarettes but they're electric. The same laziness that makes people lump all tobacco under the same level of harmfulness. And it's the same intellectual laziness that results in people labeling everything, the motivations for which they don't understand, as political correctness.

And Charlton Heston is a simpleton.

 

[sailorman]

Hmm, I wonder if they'll kick out the Nuvo e-cig kiosk in the Poughkeepsie Galleria. Though that kiosk doesn't do much business from what I've seen.

I doubt it. That would interfere with their profits. They'll probably just prohibit them from demonstrating their wares. The kiosk will have to demonstrate using videos or something. I wonder if the ban covers videos of vaping or smoking? Wouldn't surprise me.

 

[EJH]

I doubt it. That would interfere with their profits. They'll probably just prohibit them from demonstrating their wares. The kiosk will have to demonstrate using videos or something. I wonder if the ban covers videos of vaping or smoking? Wouldn't surprise me.

They already do use video. They wouldn't want to waste a $5.00 rinky-dink cartomizer on demonstrating.

 

[Thulium]

Political correctness is just a term invented to deride any attempt, silly and over-reaching or not, to refrain from insulting or demeaning someone elses beliefs, culture, race or religion. It has no application to the issue of e-cigs and I'm getting weary of hearing it used in that way.

The best way that I've learned to refrain from insulting or demeaning someone without becoming silly or over-reaching, is to simply remember to always put the PERSON before the belief, culture, race, religion or disability. Every human being is a lot more than whatever arbitrary category they happen to fit. I am not my race, religion or disability...I am a person who HAS a race, religion, and like everyone else I have my disabilities: Everyone has limits to their physical and intellectual abilities that would be perceived as a disability if society required or expected more. (ie. having only one eye is not a disability if everyone else is blind, but having 2 natural eyes and "only" 20/20 vision might be considered a disability in a future where most people have bionically enhanced vision)

 

[sailorman]

The best way that I've learned to refrain from insulting or demeaning someone without becoming silly or over-reaching, is to simply remember to always put the PERSON before the belief, culture, race, religion or disability. Every human being is a lot more than whatever arbitrary category they happen to fit. I am not my race, religion or disability...I am a person who HAS a race, religion, and like everyone else I have my disabilities: Everyone has limits to their physical and intellectual abilities that would be perceived as a disability if society required or expected more. (ie. having only one eye is not a disability if everyone else is blind, but having 2 natural eyes and "only" 20/20 vision might be considered a disability in a future where most people have bionically enhanced vision)

I agree 100%. In some quarters, those sentiments would be derided as "political correctness" because they appear as an attempt to discourage or de-legitimize demeaning or discriminatory behavior and attitudes. That's what the term was invented for, to give a sense of legitimacy and self-justification to people who think nothing of demeaning other people who they consider inferior to themselves. It attempts to linguistically turn the perpetrator into the victim and the victim into the perpetrator, the bullied into the bully and the bully into the bullied. It has nothing to do with intellectual laziness and consequently has no application in determining the motivations of ANTZ. Terms such as blind hatred, bias, zealotry, absolutism, puritanism, authoritarianism, control-freakism and plain old ignorance are sufficient for the task.

 

[sailorman]

They already do use video. They wouldn't want to waste a $5.00 rinky-dink cartomizer on demonstrating.

OH NOOOOOO.... Isn't anybody thinking about the children??? Those videos need to at least be rated "R" and only shown in a private booth with a curtain!!