No butts: South Portland set to OK smoking ban

In an effort to convince South PortlandCity Councilors to ban tobacco products from all town parks and beaches, Conor Beck, center, gestures to a bucket of 1,011 cigarette butts he and fellow Interact members, Jackson Beck, left, and Elisa Martin picked up off Willard Beach in a single hour this past April. 

Photo by Duke Harrington

SOUTH PORTLAND — South Portland is one step closer to snuffing out cigarettes from all public spaces.

On Monday, the City Council voted unanimously to adopt the first reading of a new ordinance designed to ban the use of tobacco products within 25 feet of all parks, beaches and outdoor recreation facilities owned and/or operated by the city, including the municipal golf course on Wescott Road.

Possible final adoption of the ordinance, proposed by a trio of teens about to enter their junior year of high school, is scheduled for the next City Council meeting, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 6.

Support for the ban seemed positively enthusiastic, as councilors were quick to add the word "all" to the student-submitted ordinance, instantly expanding the smoke-free zone beyond an initial list of 21 parks provided by City Manager James Gailey.

"Your right to smoke ends at my lungs," said Councilor Tom Coward, summing up the apparent feeling of the board.

“This is about second-hand smoke and the health impact on nonsmokers,” he added. “It’s about litter. But it’s also about doing our small part to make it less socially acceptable to smoke.”

Smoking already is banned on state parks and beaches within 20 feet of municipal buildings in South Portland. Since 2005, the city has had a resolution on the books banning tobacco from its outdoor spaces.

However, as members of Interact (the youth affiliate of the Rotary Club) learned earlier this year when officials from Healthy Maine Partnerships made an appearance at one of their meetings, a resolution lacks the force of law. At the urging of Healthy Maine Partnerships – a group tasked with stamping out smoking statewide that owes its existence to a 2000 multi-state settlement with the tobacco industry – the students wrote Mayor Rosemarie De Angelis, asking her to give the existing ban some teeth.

At Monday's meeting, three Interact members underscored the need for tobacco control in South Portland by placing upon the podium a clear, plastic jar filled with 1,011 cigarette butts. The refuse, they said, was collected during a one-hour excursion to Willard Beach by half of Interact's 50 members.

“And that was in April,” said Elisa Martin, who made the presentation alongside twins Conor and Jackson Beck. “Just imagine what we might get if we went back there now.”

The butt count was undertaken at the behest of De Angelis, who has worked with the Interact team since they first reached out to her in March. In addition to demonstrating the pollution problem, De Angelis also had the students conduct a survey to gauge support for a smoking ban and gather material to access the public health impact created by tobacco products. After researching state laws and regional ordinances, the students submitted a draft based on similar smoking restrictions passed in Westbrook (in 2006), Portland (2009), Lewiston (2010) and Scarborough (2011).

“If we have learned anything in this process, it’s that passing an ordinance is a process,” said Jackson Beck. “It takes a lot of time, thought and research. But we’ve also learned that anybody can make a change, they just need to take the proper steps. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are.”

As currently envisioned, the ordinance carries a fine of $100 for the first public use of smoking or chewing tobacco, $250 for the second offense and $500 for each subsequent violation.

However, a last-minute amendment voted in by councilors at the request of Police Chief Edward Googins proclaims that, “Nothing in this ordinance shall prevent the enforcement agent from obtaining voluntary compliance by way of warning, notice or education.”

That seems to mirror the approach of Googins’ peers in Scarborough. On Monday, Scarborough Police Chief Robert Moulton said enforcement of his town’s recently adopted smoking ban “has been “a tough situation.” 

“We haven’t run into any real problems yet,” he said, “although at this point we are mainly relying on peer pressure to help convince people to obey the restriction.”

Councilors did pay some lip service to what Coward called “a lot of loose talk about people’s rights,” even though only one dissenter in the audience rose to oppose the ban, by way of suggesting the creation of designated smoking areas in each park. The council allowed that the ordinance should not apply to every public space, because a broad interpretation would include sidewalks and roadways.

“That may open it up a little more than we intended,” Coward said. “I think we’ve covered the ground we want to cover.”

Still, beyond that concession, the council largely declined to view the proposal as a chain on personal liberty.

“This is a fairly substantial change in our community and I think we are taking the right step here,” said Councilor Tom Blake. “We are not taking anyone’s rights away, we’re just making it more restrictive. In society, when it comes to health and safety, we do that all the time. We just did it up in Augusta by passing a new restriction that has to do with texting [while driving].

“Drugs. Seatbelts,” said Blake, ticking off other areas where people are not allowed to do whatever they please. “When it comes to health and safety, I think we have a responsibility as elected officials to assure that people lead a healthier and a safer life.”

The one minor hiccup came when the council, at Blake’s suggestion, enlarged the smoking ban from a set list to “all” parks, beaches and “outdoor recreation facilities.”

Blake said his intent was to keep from having to update the anti-smoking ordinance every time a new park trail is created. However, Gailey pointed out that “all” would include the municipal golf course, which the city depends on as a source of revenue. It is not unthinkable, Gailey suggested, that people could take their membership fees to other places that will let them smoke on the greens.

“I do have some concerns,” he said, noting that Portland exempted Riverside Golf Course from its smoking ban.

“When we see people leave our course for one reason or another, they are heading to Riverside,” said Gailey. “So, there is that competition.”

The council did not seem sympathetic to this concern.

“The bottom line is, either we believe in this, or we don’t,” said Councilor Alan Livingston.“

“There is a price to do things right,” agreed Blake.

“I’m not for putting a price on health in terms of a short-term revenue gain,” said Councilor Patti Smith. “If someone could live 10 more years, philosophically, I think this is the right thing to do.”

“Just tell ‘em they’ll golf better,” joked Blake.

“If we agree to exclude one recreational facility, that doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense,” said De Angelis. “To have our open spaces and walkways, that’s really a privilege. To keep them clean for everyone, including smokers, I think it’s really a gift that we’re proposing.”

De Angeles closed debate by thanking Martin and the Beck twins for their work.

“That, for me, has been the most exciting aspect of this, to see young adults participate in city government,” she said, addressing the trio.

“You provided a great lesson and a great example, being what we really hope will be the future leaders of our community,” said De Angelis. “I thank you are setting a standard and we hope that you will take over after us.