Raleigh moves closer to parks smoking ban

RALEIGH -- The city is one step closer to banning smoking in public parks.

The Raleigh City Council on Tuesday voted 6-2 to craft a no-smoking ordinance, which it will vote on later.

If approved, the ordinance would forbid smoking in city-owned parks and greenways, but allow it in Nash Square and Moore Square downtown. Both of those parks are owned by the state but operated by the city. Officials said they act more like gathering places than normal parks.

If the council approves the ban, it would go into effect July 1.

"The council's action could get rid of over 90 percent of smoking in parks, which is a good thing in terms of littering and public health," Mayor Charles Meeker said.

The ordinance would allow smokers to light up in parking lots of parks and greenways, and would call for the city to provide bins at park entrances where residents can leave cigarettes or cigars. City officials estimate that putting up the bins and new no-smoking signs would cost about $25,000.

John Odom, the council's lone Republican, and Thomas Crowder voted against the measure.

Odom said the city didn't have enough details to move forward. "Enforcement will be a nightmare," he said. "There are a lot of unanswered questions, as far as I'm concerned."

Advocacy groups opposed to the change weighed in Tuesday with e-mail messages to council members.

Dallas Woodhouse, state director of the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, said the ordinance infringes on the rights of smokers. And a spokesman for the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association said smoking should never be forbidden in outdoor public spaces.

"This is the mayor's attempt to punish citizens for behavior he doesn't agree with," Woodhouse said in an interview. "It's a heavy-handed approach that treats people like subjects and not taxpayers."

The council's action is a good step forward, said Sally Herndon, head of the tobacco prevention and control branch of the N.C. Division of Public Health. But smoking in parking lots and smokeless tobacco also set bad examples for children, Herndon said. She said most tobacco users in North Carolina start at ages 12 to 14.

"From our perspective, this is very positive," she said. "Anything we do to limit tobacco use in public places helps create a social norm, especially for our children, that tobacco use is a dangerous habit."