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Smoking ban might waft all over city athletic fields

The St. Petersburg City Council is considering banning smoking on or near city-owned athletic fields.

By JON WILSON
Published May 8, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Cigarettes, cigars and pipes won't make it to first base - or even the dugouts - if City Council member Richard Kriseman has his way.

Responding to a constituent's complaint, Kriseman has proposed a smoking ban on or near city-owned athletic fields.

That would mean, for example, that spectators could no longer light up in the bleachers.

Lots of details remain to be considered, and the idea will come before a committee before it heads to the full council.

But it represents another volley in the state's smoking wars.

Smokers' rights advocates won a battle last week when the Legislature approved an exemption from the state's smoking ban for Sloppy Joe's, a historic Key West bar. Gov. Jeb Bush has the final say.

On the outdoors front, park smoking bans of one kind or another have been adopted in several Florida cities, including Largo.

Kriseman said he decided to propose a ban when a constituent associated with youth baseball complained that spectators' tobacco smoke was drifting into youngsters' dugouts and lingering there.

"He said that didn't make sense. Here we are trying to promote athletic activities and good health, and here we are subjecting kids to secondhand smoke," Kriseman said.

Dugouts are where team members sit when not playing or awaiting their turn at bat. Baseball and softball fields have two, one on each side of the field and usually situated close to spectator seating.

How wide the no-smoking areas would reach is a question to be resolved. For example, what about walking with a lighted cigarette in a park with athletic fields, such as the Northwest Community Center park in Kriseman's district?

"I don't know if we want to get that restrictive yet," Kriseman said.

Enforcing the ban is another issue.

"One of the things we'll be talking about is whether we should do it by park rule or by city ordinance," said Mark Winn, chief assistant city attorney.

"If it's a park rule, somebody would have to be there, basically saying "You can't do that, you have to leave the premises.' Then you'd have to call the police" if the violator didn't leave, Winn said.

A city ordinance would cut out the middle man and let the police deal directly with a smoker upon spying one, Winn said.

Fine structures for violations also will have to be determined, he said.

City recreation indoor areas already are smoke-free and have been for years, said Rick Craft, city recreation manager.

But there is no policy prohibiting smoking in city parks, said Clarence Scott, parks director.

The Pinellas County School District does not allow smoking, inside or out, on any of its properties, said district spokesman Ron Stone.

[Last modified May 8, 2005, 00:45:19]