A proposed ordinance to ban smoking from public playing fields, playgrounds, schools and other places children congregate cleared a major hurdle as a Board of Alders committee unanimously approved the measure.
Alders also changed the language in the ordinance, which is still subject to a full-board vote, to add electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products to the items banned inside city buildings. Current state law does not yet prohibit the use of these items inside these areas, town officials said.
“This ordinance is sending a message that certain spaces are non-smoking spaces,” said East Rock Alder Jessica Holmes, the committee’s chairperson. “And we want to put e‑cigarettes on the level of other tobacco products.”
“If kids don’t know they shouldn’t be vaping in school, then they ought to know,” she continued.
The vote took place Monday night.
Also present for the vote were Alders Jeanette Morrison, Sarah Eidelson, as well as Santiago Berrios-Bones and Adam Marchand, who both sponsored the proposal along with Downtown Alder Abby Roth.
“I’m very supportive of this,” said Marchand, who acknowledged Mayor Toni Harp’s initiative to make the city “tobacco free” and has supported cessation assistance, educational resources about the impact of secondhand smoke, education for youth, and the designation of more smoke-free spaces in the city.
“It was very important to me that we make our first goal on the list to stop people from smoking,” he said.
Under the proposed regulations, smoking would be prohibited on ballfields and playgrounds of the city’s parks, on all school grounds, as well as the beach at Lighthouse Point Park, town officials said. Signage would indicate spaces where it would be OK to light up. Upon approval, there would be a 90-day “grace period” after which city police may fine offenders up to $100 for each infraction. The alders refined the language of the ordinance, which originally barred smoking for general, non-defined public area.
Max Bakke Photo
City social-services chief with Alder Holmes at Monday night’s hearing.
Before the vote speakers voiced overwhelming support for the measure, citing statistics arguing that many of the city’s premature deaths are tobacco related, the dangers of second-hand smoke, and the hit that frequent nicotine breaks make to economic productivity.
But most of all, parents wanted to stress their desire to keep smoke out of places where their children play and congregate.
“I’m much less concerned about enforcing [this ordinance] than I see it as making a statement that it’s not really OK to smoke in a playground,” said Alycia Santilli.