Michigan City’s attempt to ban smoking on government property is drawing pushback.
City council members initially proposed moving smokers farther away from the entrances to city buildings, to avoid having smoke disturb the workers inside. But a newer proposal would go much further: banning smoking on all city property, including the city’s beach, golf course and other park facilities.
During a work session last week, resident Kathy Parker said that while smoking is bad, it’s not the city council’s job to get people to quit. “We don’t want our city council to be legislating our health,” Parker added.
Additionally, the city’s park and special events departments were concerned that a smoking ban could drive away business, like golf outings and facility rentals.
But council member Tim Bietry said that while smoking is a private decision, secondhand smoke has a larger impact. “If you create a risk to bystanders who are not smoking, then that is a public issue, and we should be looking at that,” Bietry said.
The ordinance’s sponsor, council member Greg Coulter, said LaPorte County has a higher rate of tobacco use than the state as a whole, and secondhand smoke has a $36.4 million annual impact on the county’s economy. He added that most smokers want to quit.
“We’re trying to create an environment that allows our kids to grow up in a space that they don’t see tobacco all the time,” Coulter explained.
He said his goal isn’t to ticket people for smoking in public, but to make it less socially acceptable for them to do so.
Still, other council members said they’d rather go with the original proposal, keeping smokers farther away from entrances to city buildings. As a compromise, Coulter suggested continuing to allow smoking on the golf course and creating a non-smoking “family area” on the beach.
A revised ordinance will be discussed at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
