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A smoking ban eyed in parks
Newsday

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi launched a new front in his war on smoking yesterday, announcing that the county is considering a smoking ban in parks.

At a news conference to tout a proposed $2 per pack regional cigarette tax, Suozzi said the county's health department will investigate making the parks smoke-free.

"It's something we're thinking about," he said. "I'd like to do it."

The cigarette tax hike Suozzi is seeking, which needs state legislative approval, has support in the Assembly, but may stall in the Republican-controlled Senate. However, a smoke-free park initiative requires only local legislative approval and has already won support from Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury), who said banning smoking in the parks would be consistent with the county's other smoking cessation efforts.

"Parks are synonymous with nature and health, and certainly smoking doesn't fit under that at all," said Jacobs, whose husband, Sidney, was a smoker and died of lung cancer in 2004.

Several California cities, including San Francisco, have enacted smoking bans in public parks and on golf courses. Belmont, a suburb of San Jose, may ban smoking citywide, excluding only the interiors of single-family homes.

Mary Curtis, Suozzi's deputy county executive for health and human services, said banning smoking in parks is still an idea, not a formal proposal.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy has never considered banning smoking in parks, said Levy spokesman Ed Dumas, who said the issue hadn't come up. Suffolk Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) would not support a parks smoking ban, spokeswoman Kara Hahn said.

Not surprisingly, the idea of making parks smoke-free elicited strong opinions from smokers and smoking-rights activists. Audrey Silk, a retired New York City police officer who founded Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment, said banning smoking outdoors has no discernible benefit. "Show me a study about harm outdoors," she said. "It's social engineering, it's stigmatizing a group of people."

Ryan Schoenfeld, 23, a SUNY-Old Westbury student from Uniondale, said the outdoors is the only place left to smoke. "I think it's all right to be able to smoke outside," he said. "We're already not allowed to smoke inside."

With the park smoking ban still being researched, Nassau's odds of winning state approval for a $2 per pack cigarette tax appeared long yesterday, as influential Republicans in the state Senate either backed away from the proposal or rejected it altogether. Also, officials in Suffolk, Westchester and Rensselear counties have expressed skepticism about enacting a cigarette tax.

Sen. Kemp Hannon (R-Garden City), the chairman of the Senate Health Committee, said he will not introduce the bill and is opposed to any new taxes. Spokesmen for Sen. Charles Fuschillo (R-Merrick) and Majority Leader Joe Bruno (R-Brunswick) said they have no plans to be part of a cigarette tax increase.

Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), the deputy majority leader, could not be reached.

Hannon said Nassau can find ways other than taxes to curtail smoking.

New York's state legislators typically allow local governments to raise their own sales taxes, said Frank Mauro, the executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute in Albany. But without a Nassau sponsor in the Senate, raising the cigarette tax will be a hard sell, he said.

Staff writer Carl MacGowan contributed to this story.

NOT JUST BLOWING SMOKE

Ryan Schoenfeld, 23, of Uniondale. Smoker.

"I think it's all right to be able to smoke outside ... We're already not allowed to smoke inside, which I'm in favor of. "

Donald Jansson, 55, of Hicksville, retired dock builder. Smoker.

"I don't think they should [ban smoking in parks]. The Town of Oyster Bay tried banning smoking on the beach and they couldn't .. . It's too hard to enforce. "

Matt Musumeci, 55, of Carle Place, electrician. Nonsmoker.

"I'm not a smoker but I don't think it should be banned when you're outside. It's not a problem. I think there's too many laws now. "

Colleen Richards, 17, of Forest Hills, senior at Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood, Queens. Nonsmoker.

"Could you even do that? Ban smoking in a public park? ... Someone who doesn't put out their butt could cause a fire. "

Roger Cadet, 17, of Bay Shore, senior at St. Anthony's High School in Huntington.

Nonsmoker.

"It doesn't matter to me that much [but] it's better for people's health."

YOU CAN'T SMOKE HERE

Among the toughest enacted or proposed smoking bans:

CALABASAS, Calif. Prohibits smoking in all public places, indoor or outdoor, including bus stops, soccer fields and sidewalks. Smoking in one's car is permitted only if the windows are closed.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. Banned smoking on 75 percent of the gambling floors in all casinos. Still pending: state legislation for an outright casino smoking ban.

STATE OF CALIFORNIA. Considering plan to prohibit smoking in any vehicle carrying children.

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA. Considering a ban anywhere on its 1,900-acre campus in Iowa City.