The Ithaca Common Council is considering legislation that would limit outdoor smoking in public places by early 2010.

According to alderperson Eric Rosario (I-2nd Ward), chair of the subcommittee that reviews smoking regulations, the subcommittee’s proposal to the Council focuses on restricting smoking in highly trafficked public areas. The areas being considered for the ban include areas that people have difficulty avoiding, such as outdoor dining areas, as well as areas frequented by children, such as playgrounds and schools.

Rosario said that the idea of smoke-free zones was brought to the Council in 2007 by Tobacco Free Tompkins. The group, known as “T-Free,” is a coalition of groups and individuals dedicated to decreasing the presence of tobacco in the community. When T-Free advocated the creation of voluntary smoke-free zones in 2007, members of the Council felt that rather than relying on voluntary compliance, enforceable legislation needed to be passed. After Rosario joined the Council in 2008, he suggested that a subcommittee be created to focus on this issue. Outdoor dining

“We called on experts within the city as well as subject matter experts to come up with an outline and proposal that was presented to the legislative committee as a whole last month,” Rosario said. “We wanted to look to science wherever possible to help us in crafting a public policy that would be protective of human health and not just one that was guided by what we thought was right.”

Rosario cited several examples of science supporting public policy. For example, in 2006 the U.S. Surgeon General reported that there is no such thing as risk-free exposure to second hand smoke. Moreover, second hand smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or cancer causing, and it has been designated as a known human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Rosario also referred to a study done at Stanford University that revealed, amongst other things, that under some conditions outdoor tobacco smoke concentrations can be as high as indoor levels, and when multiple smokers are present other people can be appreciably exposed to the toxins more than ten feet away.

“Ultimately what the Common Council is working on is to create smoke free areas in order to protect public health,” said Ted Schiele, coordinator of T-Free.

The original proposal put to the Council’s Legislative Committee suggested a 25 foot buffer zone around any non-smoking areas in which smoking was prohibited. However, after some debate, the Legislative Committee amended this buffer zone to 10 feet. Schiele said that his interpretation of the New York State Clean Indoor Air Act is that smoking in any outdoor dining area is prohibited, and any smoking area must be at least three feet from other non-smoker areas. Therefore, according to state law, there should already be a three foot buffer zone around outdoor dining areas.

“Right now cigarettes are legal and an adult has the right to buy something and to choose to smoke it; however, we’re not aware of any natural or constitutional right for anyone to generate toxic air pollution in the breathing space of others, especially when the pollution generating activities are for recreational purposes,” Rosario said.

According to Rosario, the ultimate ratio of smoking areas to non-smoking areas will be roughly even. This balance will ensure that if an employee only has five minutes to take a break and is addicted to tobacco, he or she will not be restricted from finding a place to smoke.

“We certainly hear complaints about [smokers in Ithaca] off and on,” said Gary Ferguson, executive director of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance. “I think that’s why people are trying to make an effort to do something about it.”

Ferguson also said that DIA provides supplemental cleaning for downtown and cigarette butts. The DIA conducted a survey in partnership with Keep America Beautiful Inc., in which they monitored the number of cigarette butts picked up, and over a period of one to two days counted thousands.

The Legislative Committee has asked the city attorney’s office to draft an ordinance based on the proposal, which will be reviewed at the next meeting of the Legislative Committee next month. The committee will either make further changes or will ask that the ordinance be prepared for review by the public through informational meetings and hearings.

“If the proposal were passed as it currently stands, I think it would actually have a really positive impact on the community,” said Alderperson Jennifer Dotson (I-1st ward). “Particularly the buffer zone around schools and playgrounds would have a very big impact in terms of the health of young people. Also in terms of outdoor dining, I think this could have a positive impact on businesses on restaurant row, not to mention places in Collegetown where there is outdoor dining such as Rulloffs, Green Café and Aladdin’s.”

Rosario stressed that public input and education is an important part of the process. Once enacted, the legislation will rely heavily on signage to inform the community of the limitations to smoking. T-Free will be consulted on the signage and will also help to underwrite the cost of it. According to Shiele, T-Free is funded by a state grant from the New York State Tobacco Control Program, which is part of the New York State Department of Health. The fiscal agent for the state grant is the Tompkins County Health Department.

“Our surveys show that if you ask smokers if they want to quit then half of them say yes,” Schiele said. “Anything we can do to assist that is an advantage to the smoker, the public health in general and even the economic situation. We all pay for the health care that smokers require, which is higher health care than non-smokers — that’s just a fact.”