During the council's Judicial/Legislative Committee meeting Wednesday, which is chaired by Councilman Philip Goldstein, Jim King made the motion seconded by Van Pearlberg with a 3-0 vote to approve a ban on smoking in all city parks and athletic facilities.
The matter advances to the City Council meeting on Sept. 9.
Last month, the council banned smoking in Marietta Square's Glover Park. Council members Holly Walquist and Annette Lewis spearheaded the ban in reaction to complaints from residents about smoking at Friday concerts on the Square.
Goldstein directed Rich Buss, parks director, to identify locations in the city's 19 parks that could be set aside for smokers, but Buss said off the top of his head the only parks he could think of to provide a space for smokers without exposing children to secondhand smoke were the 25-acre Laurel Park on Manning Road and the 7-acre athletic complex on Aviation Road.
Mayor Bill Dunaway said the wooded 28-acre Wildwood Park on Barclay Circle and the nearby 45.6-acre Burruss Nature Park on South Cobb Drive were large enough to house a smoking section, but Buss advised against it, citing a fire risk.
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smoking is bad for you....we all know that...but discriminating against a portion of the people who put you in office is bad for YOU! You don't want smokers on city property, we don't want you in city offices!