Montpelier Mayor Anne Watson said she is opposed to an all-out smoking ban in the capital city’s downtown area ahead of a meeting next week with organizers of a campaign to prohibit cigarette smoking and vaping in a half-mile area.
The Central Vermont New Directions Coalition has gathered over 1,500 signatures for a petition supporting the ban.
“It is a public health issue,” said the coalition’s director, Ann Gilbert. “I want to see a community which provides a clean air opportunity for all citizens.”
The group is proposing a smoking ban on central stretches of Main Street, Barre Street, State Street, Elm Street, Court Street and all of Langdon Street and Park Avenue. There is already a similar measure on Church Street in Burlington.
Watson said she’s opposed to the proposal as it stands.
“I would not support that right now because there are a lot of people who live in Montpelier who do smoke and it’s better for them to not be smoking inside their homes,” Watson said.
“Whether we like it or not, some people use smoking as a coping mechanism for whatever stress is going on in their life,” she added. “I’m interested in having this conversation and seeing what options we might have, but I’m not interested in an all out ban in the downtown.”
Watson said her biggest concern was that a discussion at City Hall would leave out a “substantial” portion of people with mental health issues who also smoke. “It’s just not likely that they’re going to turn up,” she said.
Ginny Burley, a prevention educator atCentral Vermont New Directions Coalition, said she thought there was a way to keep smoking off the sidewalks without pushing people indoors.
She said the group hoped to come up with “a carefully crafted plan so that the majority of people who are non-smokers do have sidewalks that are free from secondhand smoke, which is a huge health hazard.”
Accomodations can be made for people who are addicted to smoking so that “they don’t have to go far to be off the sidewalk in a place where they can smoke legally and other people are able to avoid it.”
Vermont passed a law in 2014 that banned smoking on school grounds and in licensed child care facilities, hotels, motels, outside state buildings, and in vehicles with children in a booster or car seat. Tobacco consumption is also prohibited on the Statehouse lawn and in Montpelier and Burlington parks.
Gilbert said the group was also seeking to ban e-cigarettes and vaping in downtown areas because it wasn’t clear how great the health risks of secondhand exposure might be.
“We’re really trying to limit the number of people who may be affected by smoking or secondhand smoke,” she said. “We’re also trying to limit anybody from the other toxins that might come off other devices that maybe we don’t know yet.”
Ron Merkin started a petition for the cause that has gained 1,517 signatures, according to a WCAX report. About 400 of these are Montpelier residents. Business and store proprietors make up 48 signatures.
Downtown Montpelier has already installed 15 cigarette butt receptacles throughout the city, but volunteers with Trash Tramp say they still pick up anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 cigarette butts every week.
Gilbert said she would like to see all public places in Vermont eventually become smoke free. The coalition will bring its proposal for a ban in downtown Montpelier before a City Council meeting on June 27.
“I am open to that discussion,” Watson said. “I just think that there are ways to be accommodating of people while also recognizing that it is a real nuisance to other people in the community.”
