Markeshia Ricks Photo
Bella Vista Alder Barbara Constantinople slipped out the front doors of City Hall to take a few drags on a cigarette before voting in favor of banning all forms of tobacco products from government-owned property.
“I’m voting for it,” said Constantinople (pictured). “I don’t see any reason not to.” Neither did her colleagues.
The new ordinance, which specifically outlaws tobacco products in any form from government buildings, playgrounds, sports fields, school grounds and specifically Lighthouse Park, was passed without opposition at a Monday Board of Alders meeting.
But it didn’t totally kick smokers out of all public spaces.
The new ordinance gives the city the option of creating and restricting smokers to spaces designated for tobacco use within the public space. And while it covers the inside of government buildings, it puts the onus on the city to designate and mark any outdoor city property that it wants to keep smoke free. The original version of the bill was broader; it would include all outdoor city-owned property.
Thanks to the amended version passed Monday night, Constantinople’s smoke-break space near the front stairs of City Hall appears safe from the ban.
East Rock Alder Jessica Holmes, who chairs the board’s Legislation Committee, submitted an amendment to the ordinance that she said clarified and narrowed the scope of the original ordinance, giving the city the ability to designate smoking areas within the tobacco-free zones, such as at parks like Lighthouse or Edgewood. “The amended ordinance is still based on a tobacco ban in public spaces,” she said. But the focus is mostly about city-owned recreational spaces and keeping tobacco away from children. (Click here for a story about one alder’s concerns about the original bill; and here for a story about smokers’ reactions.)
The city’s tobacco ban includes all forms of tobacco, including what Holmes called “electronic nicotine delivery units,” which are your electronic cigarettes, e‑hookahs and vapor pens, chewing tobacco and snus.
Get busted smoking in a tobacco free zone and you will be issued a warning ticket the first time. Get caught after that warning and you could be fined up to $100.