Sammamish ban of smoking in parks to get further study

During a March 13 study session, the City Council considered a unanimous Parks and Recreation Commission recommendation that the city ban smoking in public parks. The council was lukewarm in their support for the measure and sent it back to the commission to consider something less drastic than an outright ban – like a polite request that attendees at public events in parks like the Fourth of July celebration and Summer Concerts in the Park go somewhere else to light up.

“It’s an unenforceable and close to ‘nanny state’ rule,” Councilman John Curley said. “We’re all going to pat ourselves on the back saying that this is good legislation, but it’s not necessarily based on real science.”
The policy would have prohibited the use of any tobacco in parks, including chewing tobacco. Several other nearby cities have passed similar bans in recent years, including Auburn, Shoreline and Snoqualmie.

The ordinance would not criminalize smoking in parks – those that are caught would be “asked to discontinue tobacco use or leave the park immediately.”
Curley called the ordinance “ridiculous” and questioned the science behind the assumption that second-hand smoke levels outdoors were high enough to cause health problems. He compared a ban on smoking to a ban on barbecuing in a park, since smoke from burned charcoal has been shown to contain carcinogens.
“There’s the old saying: ‘Your right to swing your fist ends at my nose’ … You can do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t have an adverse effect on my health,” Curley said. “The science just doesn’t back this up.”

Councilman Tom Vance countered that he’d like to see more information on the effects of second-hand smoke in an outdoor setting before dismissing the idea of a ban.
“I guess we can throw out the science just because Councilmember Curley says there is none,” Vance said. “I would like to know more about if the science is there or not.”
Several studies in recent years have measured levels of second-hand smoke in outdoor environments that are comparable to indoor environments, though most of those studies have measured outdoor patios at bars and restaurants and other locations where smokers congregate.
City Manager Ben Yazici said the idea for the ban stemmed from complaints city staff hear about smoking during large summer parks events. He said the commission envisioned putting up no-smoking signs but was not proposing to have city staff or police enforce the ban.
“The policy is not going to be to send people out there with a shotgun and shoot smokers, but rather to put a sign out there that says, ‘This is not the place to be smoking,’ ” Yazici said.

Councilwoman Nancy Whitten, who noted that she used to smoke 15 years ago, said she might be supportive of banning smoking near playgrounds or other places where children congregate, but not throughout all of the city’s parks. She called a ban “Big Brother.”
“I find it ironic that we can ban smoking cigarettes, which is a legal activity, but we can’t ban guns, which are clearly hazardous to kids,” she said.