Raleigh bans smoking in public parks

Lighting up during a leisurely stroll in Raleigh parks will be illegal starting July 1.

A new ordinance was approved by the Raleigh City Council on Tuesday that will ban the public from smoking in any public park in Raleigh.

“We had kids playing in sand areas where people were throwing away cigarettes,” said Mayor Pro Tempore Mary-Ann Baldwin.

Smoking will remain legal in Moore and Nash Square parks and parking lots.

And smokeless tobacco will be permitted in all parks.

“I felt that totally banning smoking wasn’t fair to people who pay taxes to support the parks,” Baldwin said.

She said secondhand smoke and littering were the main reasons for the ordinance.

But Baldwin said enforcement won’t be strict.

“We are not going to have people running around chasing down smokers,” she said.

“It’s not going to be heavy-handed enforcement.”

Baldwin said first offenders will be issued a written warning while second offenders will be issued a citation and a $50 fine.

She said she wasn’t sure how the police department would keep track of the number of first-time smoking offenses.

In 2009 new legislation granted cities the power to designate non-smoking areas. A statewide smoking ban in restaurants and bars already exists.

Bronson Frick, associate director of Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, said bans in other states have not required much intervention.

“The reaction from other communities around the country is that these policies are popular and work well,” he said.

Frick emphasized the need for signs to assure compliance.

“Signs are important so that the people know that the policies are in place,” he said.

“Otherwise it is hard to comply if people aren’t aware that it exists.”

An estimated 400 signs will be needed, said Diane Sauer, director of the City of Raleigh Parks and Recreation Department.

If a grant cannot be secured, funding for the signs will come from Parks and Recreation’s allocated funds.

Local business owner and Raleigh resident George Hoffman said he disagrees with the ban.

“If you are going to put a law on the books, put a law on the books that makes sense,” he said.

Hoffman, who has owned Pipes by George on Hillsborough Street since 1975, said the parks’ littering problem comes from litter other than cigarettes.

UNC students and regular flagpole smokers echoed Hoffman’s sentiment.

“If it’s littering, then the law should be about littering and not smoking,” said Alauna Safarpour, a junior history and political science major.

Sophomore Tyler Fletcher said he was concerned about people’s misconceptions of secondhand smoke.

“It is not an issue outdoors,” he said.

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