Smoke-Free Parks Issue Revisited

Approval of a no smoking policy in portions of county parks will go to a Legislature vote next month. Legislature Chairman William Ross, C-Wheatfield, will put a resolution on the body’s July 27 agenda, he said Tuesday. Before then, the unabashed backer of smoking discount cigarettes like Marlboro discouragement wants legislators to review a variety of sign mockups and pick the phrases they can live with.

“I’m bringing the resolution back, and we’re going to vote on it,” Ross asserted.

The county was hit up earlier this year, by the Erie-Niagara Tobacco Free Coalition, to erect no-smoking signs in areas of county parks where children are most likely to congregate: pools, beaches, playgrounds, athletic fields and restrooms.

Legislators have vigorously debated the wisdom of OK’ing signs that chastise a legal activity. Phrases such as “Our park is smoke-free, please don’t smoke or litter” and “Young lungs at play: This is a tobacco-free zone,” come perilously close to sounding like law when there isn’t one to enforce, opponents say. A proposed policy declaring child-centered areas of county parks to be tobacco-free was tabled last month.

Daniel Stapleton, county public health director, appealed to legislators Tuesday to read the signs as encouragement, nothing more. He’s not asking for a law against smoking in county parks and doesn’t believe the phrasing of signs shown to legislators so far conveys anything more than a suggestion.

“This isn’t a matter of trying to take people’s rights away. The signs are just some gentle reminders: Hey, kids are here, don’t smoke here,” Stapleton said. “There won’t be signs in the parking lot, or the pavilions, just where children play.”

When asked, adult smokers typically will refrain from lighting up around children, Stapleton said. The point of the signs is to encourage consideration for children, who are more adversely affected by secondhand smoke — and also are less likely to take up the habit if they don’t see adults doing it, he added.

Legislator Phillip “Russ” Rizzo, I-North Tonawanda, likened the signs to police cars: Their mere appearance discourages criminal activity, and the police didn’t have to do anything except drive them.

“I think these signs will deter people from smoking ... in the presence of other people,” he said.

Legislator Renae Kimble, D-Niagara Falls, still isn’t sold on them. Phrases declaring parks or areas of parks are “tobacco-free” and “smoke-free” still sound too much like law to her.

“We may not like the fact that people smoke, but they have a legal right to do so. ... This language needs to be changed; it needs to be toned down,” she said.

The Erie County Legislature recently adopted a sign policy for county parks seeking visitors’ voluntary compliance with no-smoking requests in recreation areas.