While I supported banning smoking in drinking and eating establishments (to protect workers in confined areas). I find it quite silly that the city of Sioux Falls is considering banning smoking in our public parks;
Another option would be to ban smoking in parks, which is what Yankton County did back in 2006. Their parks are now completely smoke free.
Yankton County Parks are smoke free? LOL!
1) Impossible to enforce.
2) Tobacco is a legal substance.
3) It is outdoors, there is probably more pollution in the air from traffic and JM’s before people smoking in parks.
4) Public parks are taxpayer funded. Shouldn’t taxpayers decide whether this is a good idea or not?
Obviously if this ban goes in affect, people will ignore it. You will probably see more butts in the parking lots of parks and more butts in the parks themselves. Leave the ‘smoker’s outlet’ ashtrays. I kind of put this in the same category of providing junkies with clean needles. Why complicate it. I would apply the KISS theory;
‘We prefer you do not smoke in our public parks. But if you choose to do so, please dispose your butts properly.’