City snuffs out smoking around library, city hall

COEUR d’ALENE — There’s a new smoke-free campus in town.

The city’s library, city hall and the McEuen Park playground were designated as smoke-free by city council members this week, with one member voting against the proposal.

Coeur d’Alene City Library Director Bette Ammon pitched the idea that has been in the works for several years, she said.

“The library board is totally in support of this,” Ammon said.

Patrons, she said, have complained over many years, that people smoke outside the doors of the library under the awning, despite a state law prohibiting smoking within 20 feet of the building.

Ammon said smokers near the entryway have dampened the fervor of people with asthma and respiratory problems, as well as regular patrons, to frequent the library.

“Smoking bad,” Ammon said. “Walking into the library without walking through a clouding of smoke, very good.”

Enforcement of the ban was a hiccup for some council members who said the current 20-foot ordinance was not being heeded. Their concerns were affirmed by Coeur d’Alene Police Capt. Lee Brainard.

“It wouldn’t be a big priority for us,” Brainard said. “It’s not that we don’t support something like this, but we prioritize our calls for service and a smoking violation will probably be very low on our priority list.”

No-smoking signs already in the playground are meant to keep second-hand smoke away from children, and to prevent anyone from burning the flammable mats and wood chips near the playground equipment, said Bill Greenwood, director of the city’s parks and recreation department.

“This is just a zone, it’s not the entire park,” Greenwood said.

The same thing was adopted on City Beach for a while, he said.

“It’s not the first time we’ve enacted something like this,” he said.

The campus of nearby North Idaho College is also smoke-free.

Nationwide, Greenwood said, 900 municipalities have banned smoking in their parks.

The national park service has also banned smoking in its parks, he said.

“This is not a new thing,” Greenwood said.

Councilmember Dan English recalled in the early 1990s when the city had a proposed ordinance to restrict thong bathing suits on City Beach.

“We were going to task our city police with being the thong police,” he said.

It’s not good policy to make laws that won’t be enforced, English said.

After a round of discussion, longtime council member Ron Edinger pushed to pass the bill.

“As a longtime smoker for many years I support this bill,” Edinger said.

Council member Dan Gookin opposed the ban, calling it the path down the road to banning all fun in the city.

“It starts tonight,” Gookin said. “Smoking is legal. It is legal, you can smoke.”

The surgeon general and librarians have been warning people for a half century not to smoke, Gookin said.

“It’s not working,” he said.

The ordinance was passed 5-1, with Gookin casting the sole no vote.