Ithaca Common Council's Legislative Committee debates smoking regulations
Categories:
· Tobacco control
International:
· USA
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Source:http://www.theithacajournal.com/,2009-11-08
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Potential changes to the outdoor smoking regulations proposed by Ithaca Common Council include eliminating the no-smoking buffer around outdoor dining areas and extending the no-smoking area on the Commons.
Common Council's Legislative Committee met Monday night to continue discussion on Ithaca's attempt to limit outdoor smoking. If implemented, Ithaca would be the first municipality in the state to enact outdoor smoking regulations as law, enforceable by police and punishable with fines.
Under a previous recommendation, smoking would not be allowed 25 feet around any outdoor dining area. That meant that virtually all of Aurora Street's Restaurant Row would be smoke-free.
Smoking is also slated to be banned 25 feet around playgrounds, child care centers, bus stops, and school buildings. In an attempt to compromise with property owners worried about banning smoking on all of Aurora Street, the smoking sub-committee reduced the buffer zone in many areas to 10 feet.
At Monday night's meeting, Ted Schiele, coordinator of the Tompkins County Health Department's Tobacco-Free Tompkins program, suggested the council instead eliminate the buffer around outdoor dining and reinstate the 25-foot buffer everywhere else.
Alderwoman Maria Coles, D-1st, said the compromise was probably necessary to ensure larger buffers in other locations. She also emphasized that most city residents she's heard from support restrictions on outdoor smoking.
"I don't think people see this as the city taking something away. I think people view this as the city providing more opportunity for healthier outdoor activity," Coles said. "I think this will actually bring more people downtown."
Alderman Eric Rosario, I-2nd, recommended the city reconsider the buffer zones around bus stops. Smoking restrictions in partially enclosed bus shelters make sense, but buffers around bus stops would be hard to enforce, especially on portions of Seneca and Green Streets where there are multiple bus stops on one block, he argued.
Rosario also asked that the "smoke-free Inner T" of the Commons be extended to the west to cover the amphitheater/pavilion complex near Alphabet Soup and Brotchen. That extension would mean two pavilions on the Commons would be smoke-free, while two would allow smoking. Previously, three pavilions would have allowed smoking, with one smoke-free.
City Clerk Julie Conley Holcomb asked that the smoke-free zone also extend further north in bank alley to accommodate more food vendors.
The committee didn't vote on any of the specific proposals, but plans to next month. A public information meeting on the topic is tentatively scheduled for December, with a public hearing in January. The council could pass the law by February, in anticipation of the 2010 outdoor dining and vending season, according to a timeline presented by City Attorney Dan Hoffman. |
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What do you get when local legislators can't get anything meaningful done but really want to show the folks at home they are working hard?
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