City Council members agree they would like to prevent tobacco use around municipal playgrounds and picnic areas, but clashed on how it should be done. At a Monday committee of the whole meeting, the council decided a policy banning tobacco use in parks would be unenforceable and unpopular. “I see it as a start to things I absolutely don’t like — people telling me how to live my life,” Councilor R. Storm Cilley said. “We can’t totally ban a legal activity, and I am not in favor of passing laws and policies that would put penalties in place.”
Instead, the council decided to erect signs asking people not to smoke in park areas used by children.
“I think that is what people are asking for — a voluntary cessation,” City Manager Philip A. Cosmo said. “That policy can be ‘we currently ask; we hope people will voluntarily comply.’”
