City Council to consider smoking ban in public parks

Published 12:00 am Thursday, December 19, 2013

SALISBURY — Although smoking has been banned for years in restaurants and bars, people still can light up at parks and playgrounds.
The Salisbury Parks and Recreation Advisory Board hopes to change that.
Next month, City Council will consider the advisory board’s proposal to ban smoking and the use of other tobacco products at all Salisbury Parks and Recreation Department playgrounds and buildings, including the ball fields and lake at Salisbury Community Park on Hurley School Road.
The city has 28 park properties and more than five miles of greenway.
City Council set a public hearing for Jan. 7 to take public comment on the proposed ban.
“Parks should be a healthy place,” said Amy Smith, advisory board co-chair and a health education specialist for the Rowan County Health Department.
Smith made the proposal Tuesday to City Council with advisory board co-chair Jeff Jones and Stephen Brown, maintenance manager for Salisbury Parks and Rec.
If the ban passes, Salisbury would be among about a dozen cities and counties in North Carolina to prohibit cigarettes, cigars and snuff from public parks. Concord, Mooresville, Kannapolis, Macon County, Pinehurst, Black Mountain, Huntersville and Wake Forest banned smoking in parks, and Durham banned tobacco on any city property, including parks, buses and sidewalks.
Park staff would enforce the ban, issuing a verbal warning to smokers, followed by a written warning to those who do not comply. As a last resort, the city would fine people who continue to smoke or dip on park property.
The Health Department won an anti-smoking grant that would pay for signs in every city park. Councilwoman Karen Alexander came up with the design, which reads, “Young lungs at play! This is a tobacco-free zone.”
Smith said park-goers would feel more comfortable asking smokers to put out their cigarettes if signs were posted.
Smith told the Post she expects some opposition to the ban.
“Some people’s feathers will be ruffled because they think it is an infringement on their rights,” Smith said.
But according to a 2010 survey, 73 percent of Rowan County residents said they want smoke-free playgrounds and 79 percent said they do not smoke, Smith said.
The four leading causes of death in Rowan County — heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease and chronic lower respiratory disease — are all related to smoking, she said. Cerebrovascular disease refers to a group of conditions that affect the circulation of blood to the brain, causing limited or no blood flow to affected areas of the brain.
A smoking ban in parks could help economic development in the city, Smith said. Businesses consider a community’s health and quality of life when considering relocating or expanding, she said.
Children playing in city parks are exposed to secondhand smoke, which contains hundreds of toxic chemicals and about 70 cancer-causing chemical compounds, Smith said.
Cigarette butts, which take years to decompose, make up more than 20 percent of all litter collected during many community cleanups, she said. The plastic filter in a cigarette butt is designed to accumulate toxins and poses a danger to children or pets who may eat them, Smith said.
The smoking ban would include Hurley Park, even though the park has its own advisory board, Smith said. The park entrance became a popular place for hospital employees and visitors to smoke after Novant banned smoking on all hospital grounds, Smith said.
Smoking in any park sets a bad example for children, she said.
“Parks are made for family involvement,” she said.
Salisbury Parks and Recreation maintains 508 acres of park land and 28 parks with 18 playgrounds and six outdoor basketball courts. The department also has four recreation facilities, 10 tennis courts, 5.2 miles of greenway and seven cemeteries.

Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.