City considers smoking ban
May 22—CUMBERLAND — The mayor and City Council on Tuesday discussed a possible smoking ban for Baltimore Street downtown.
City Administrator Jeff Silka said maintenance crews have spent a lot of time cleaning up cigarette butts.
The city had put in place outdoor ashtrays, "but someone is breaking into them to get the butts out," he said.
The receptacles had to be welded shut to stop folks from taking the remains of used cigarettes, Silka said.
Councilwoman Laurie Marchini said she recently volunteered to help clean Veterans Memorial Park in the city.
"Picking up the cigarette butts took me all day," she said. "It was disgusting."
Cumberland Mayor Ray Morriss talked of a smoking ban on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, and said Baltimore Street in Cumberland could be treated the same way.
He recommended the ban start with Baltimore Street between either George Street or Queen City Drive and Mechanic Street, and expand the order if needed in the future.
Silka said he will draft an ordinance for the council's review and proposed adoption.
According to the National Library of Medicine, Arizona in 1973 became the first state to have some smoke-free public places, and the Civil Aeronautics Board requested no-smoking sections on all commercial airline flights.
"In the late 1990s and early 2000s, some states implemented comprehensive smoking bans that prohibited smoking in most workplaces and all public places, including previously exempted bars and restaurants," the organization's website states.
A city ordinance states tobacco use, including smoking and the use of smokeless tobacco, is prohibited in all parks and recreation facilities in Cumberland.
Folks who violate the law can be removed from the park and/or banned from future use of the parks, it states.
"There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website states. "People who do not smoke but who are exposed to secondhand smoke, even for a short time, can suffer harmful health effects."
Teresa McMinn is a reporter for the Cumberland Times-News. She can be reached at 304-639-2371 or tmcminn@times-news.com.
