Press Release: Atlanta City Council Seeks to Ban Smoking in Public Parks
July 11, 2012 (Atlanta, GA) — The Atlanta City Council will receive an ordinance to ban smoking in Atlanta public parks as soon as next week. If Mayor Kasim Reed approves it, it will go into effect immediately and ban smoking in walking trails, golf courses, acquatic areas, tennis courts and athletic fields.
The ordinance was approved on Tuesday, July 11th by a city council committee in a four-to-one vote.
Bill Spann, CEO of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association, said: “This is another attempt by the government to take away individual rights. As adults we should be allowed to enjoy a legal product. If the council’s true aim is to reduce littering in parks as they say, then the simple solution is to provide more ashtrays and trashcans—NOT to infringe on our liberties by banning legal products.”
Some parks will be exempt from this smoking ban, namely the ones that generate revenue. Two amphitheaters and a tavern will be excluded. The city wouldn’t want to drive away smoking patrons when they could possibly make money off of them. However, smoking would still be banned everywhere else.
In Norcross, GA the city council recently repealed their smoking ban after outcry from citizens. According to councilman Ross Kaul, who originally proposed the outboor ban, it “went from being a ‘quality of life’ issue to an ‘intrusion by government’ issue.”
If enacted, fines for smoking in a public park could reach up to $1,000.
Patrick Lagreid
I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.
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