I recently just heard in the news that Duluth is in the works of implementing a smoking ban in all of its parks, including the boardwalk (Yay!!!!!!) I really enjoy taking walks down on the boardwalk and cannot stand when I smell second hand smoke from people especially when I'm trying to get some sort of exercise. I found the following information regarding the possible smoking ban from the Northland's News Center website: The Duluth city council is still working out the kinks on a smoking ban in city parks and playgrounds. Currently the proposed ordinance says smokers won't be able to light–up within 100 feet of any city sponsored, organized or scheduled youth event in a park where most of participants are under 18. This comes along with a ban on smoking in all playgrounds. The American Lung Association is working alongside the two councilors proposing this ban, and they are still figuring out how to notify park goers so it can be enforced properly. One of the ideas is placing signs near the perimeters of playgrounds and events. This wouldn't be the first smoking ban of its nature in the area. There is already a smoking ban policy in parks in place in Duluth, but this ordinance would give the policy more enforcement and more specifics. There could still be more changes coming for the proposal. The councilors have talked about tightening up the wording and possibly expanding the ordinance to cover more ground. This idea/proposal makes a lot of sense to me and I hope that it gets past. The link also takes you to the video of the article if you would like to see that as well (Smoking Ban).
I find your Share & and Voice very interesting because I just did mine on this same topic. Currently, there are several smoking bans that are in the process of being implemented for all public places. I could not agree more with these bans. Secondhand smoke is very gross and is not fair to those of us who do not smoke. I also like to run/walk on the boardwalk and it is very frustrating when you cannot even get fresh air because of the people smoking down there. I know many states and the American Lung Association are really pushing for this because of the younger kids being affected by this. It definitely is not fair for kids when they are not being able to escape the smoke because they are too young to realize how bad it is! Hopefully these bans get passed as soon as possible.
ReplyDeleteThis is such good news to hear. I think its great that Duluth is doing more and more of these smoking bans because it creates for a healthier environment for all of us. I hope that they continue to do so. I will have to look into these bans more because I am very interested in it. Great post!
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