Ridgewood proposal may ban smoking in parks
Sunday, March 3, 2013
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
The Record
RIDGEWOOD — The council will advance a plan that would outlaw smoking in all village parks, but would not expand that ban to include other public places.
A proposed ordinance could go to a vote within the next two weeks and would designate parks in Ridgewood as smoke-free environments.
More than 140 municipalities in New Jersey have banned cigarette smoking in open public spaces, including 14 towns in Bergen County.
While the governing body agreed cigarette smoke presents a health hazard to non-smokers, it stopped short of banning smoking on sidewalks.
Councilman Tom Riche said he couldn’t support extending the ban to public right of ways when the village is ill-prepared to enforce such legislation.
“It becomes a Pandora’s box because we don’t have the police force to enforce non-smoking on a public sidewalk,” Riche said. “I think there are bigger and better things to worry about.”
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/194593751_Ridgewood_proposal_may__ban_smoking_in_parks.html#sthash.CpSt5Vyr.dpuf