Salt Lake smoke ban may spread
Council mulls plan for many outdoor places
The City Council on Tuesday heard the details of Mayor Rocky Anderson's proposal for an ordinance that would ban smoking in many outdoor public places — all 72 public parks, Library Square, Washington Square, the city cemetery and city-owned ball fields, to name a few.
"If you're sitting at a baseball game and you're not smoking, why should you have to share that cigarette?" Council Chairman Dave Buhler said.
Smoking would also be forbidden within 50 feet of any large public gathering, defined as a gathering of at least 500 people that can be expected to last for two hours. That would include a number of special events like the Jazz Festival and the Days of '47 Parade. The public-gathering restriction would apply only to city-owned property.
Violation of the new ordinance would be on par with violation of other parks and public-places rules, punishable by a fine of up to $299.
"What (smokers) do to themselves is up to them, but secondhand smoke is not a good thing for anybody in any amount," Buhler said.
The proposal rests on research showing secondhand smoke to be at least as dangerous as smoking itself, with high concentrations of hundreds of carcinogenic chemicals, according to the U.S. Surgeon General's Office.
Councilwoman Nancy Saxton said her only qualm was uncertainty concerning whether the ordinance would be actively enforced.
"I am not in favor of anything on the books that we are not intending to enforce and that's just going to make us look good," Saxton said. But, she added, "I think it's wonderful that the administration has put this forward."
And Councilman Soren Simonsen, while also praising the concept, wondered whether tackling secondhand smoke would do any good without reducing other airborne pollutants such as car exhaust.
"There may be one child in a park twice a year that may have an asthma attack" due to secondhand smoke, while people year-round suffer the health effects of air pollution. "It seems it's not really going to solve the problem of air quality."
Salt Lake City would not be breaking any new ground with the proposed ordinance. At least nine Utah cities have already enacted some kind of outdoor smoking ban, including Sandy, West Jordan, Logan, Midvale, Spanish Fork and South Jordan.
Fifty-seven California cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego, have restricted or banned smoking in public outdoor locations, according to City Council staff research.
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