Not At Liberty to Smoke in Liberty Park?

No More Puffin’ in Salt Lake Parks

By Amy Seigel, 10-12-06

Once allowed everywhere—even in airplane lavatories—smoking in public is quickly becoming an endangered habit; smokers can no longer enjoy their cigarettes in the warmth of the club, the airport concourse, the office lounge. But until now, in Salt Lake City at least, outdoor venues have not been targeted by the anti-smoking movement in any organized way. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, this may be about to change. On Thursday, city council discussed a proposal by Mayor Rocky Anderson’s office that would ban smoking in all of Salt Lake’s 75 parks, as well as within 50 feet of gatherings of at least 500 people, such as the summertime jazz and arts festivals.

The proposed ban, which closely follows legislation passed in Utah earlier this year that calls for all bars and private clubs to be smoke-free by 2009, would make smoke-free zones of all the city’s baseball diamonds, trails, soccer fields, and parks, along with the city cemetery and the grounds around City Hall. And anyone caught lighting up in the city’s public open spaces could be hit with a hefty fine—up to $299.

While non-smokers are sure to be delighted with the thought of summertime concerts and playgrounds without a haze of cigarette smoke lingering in the air, smokers are calling foul. Though the ban would not forbid smoking on sidewalks (except for sidewalks inside of parks), it would add some pretty significant restrictions to the shrinking list of public places where people can still feel free to put a match to their cigarette, cigar or pipe.

Of course, only a few die-hard smokers are still debating the science that links the over 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke to an increased risk of asthma, respiratory infections, bronchitis, pneumonia, sudden infant death syndrome and cancer in children, and coronary heart disease and lung cancer in adults, but many still find it hard to believe that secondhand smoke in open-air venues can really be that harmful. Indeed, it was the lack of conclusive scientific research linking outdoor tobacco smoke to negative health effects that kept the Salt Lake Valley Board of Health from accepting an earlier (2005) proposed ban on outdoor smoking. But this lack of “conclusive scientific research” hasn’t stopped numerous other U.S. cities—over 400, mostly along the West Coast—from banning smoking in such popular outdoor settings as sports venues, golf courses and beaches.

Whether or not Salt Lake decides to go through with this ordinance, it’s clear that the days of smokers being given free range to light up at public venues—both inside and out—are long gone. Everyone knows that smoking just isn’t good for you, and while it’s impossible to force people to quit, a decision to ban smoking in parks may have the unintended effect of helping a few more people kick the habit. Just try explaining to your kid that you missed his big hit on the baseball diamond because you had to step into your car for a smoke, or that his push on the swing will have to wait just a few more minutes. So you can’t smoke at your local park, but you might just add a few years to your life. Is it really such a terrible trade off?

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