Smoking ban in Seattle parks takes effect with minimal punishment
Jul 6, 2015, 8:48 AM | Updated: 10:37 am
The Seattle Parks & Recreation Department has released this slogan in conjunction with its new smoking ban in parks. (City of Seattle)
(City of Seattle)
Fresh air got a little more fresh Monday as Seattle implemented its new smoking ban in city parks.
July 6 marks the first day of the ban, making all Seattle parks smoke-free. The new ban takes a step beyond the city’s previous rule of no smoking within 25 feet of other park visitors. Smoking is still allowed on sidewalks and other rights-of-way in the city.
“We put up signs in our downtown parks and our large regional parks,” said Parks and Recreation Spokesperson David Takami. “Then we have park rangers and Seattle police who, through the normal course of their patrols, will be reminding people.”
Related: Seattle parks smoking ban is “unnecessary” advocates say
Violators of the park smoking ban will not be fined, as previously proposed. Instead, they will receive a warning and eventually a trespassing notice.
“First a reminder to folks, then a verbal warning, then possibly a trespass notice,” Takami said. “There is a possibility of arrest way down the line of discipline. We don’t really expect that, or want to do that. We’re pretty confident the reminders and the warnings are going to be effective.”
“We’re not going to be heavy handed about this right away,” he said. “We don’t intend to be heavy handed at all.”
The parks department promotes that the smoking ban response will be largely educational. That education means park rangers will approach smoking violators with cessation information and a word of advice about the new ban.
Takami said that the parks and recreation department will assess how the initial educational push is working before deciding on more strict enforcement.
Rangers don’t have the authority to hand out any eventual trespassing notices. For that, they will turn to police officers.
According to Seattle police, no trespassing notices — in response to a smoking ban violation — will be given out for up to a year.
“We have to give people a chance to learn,” said Seattle Police Detective Patrick Michaud.
Michaud noted that when the use of a cell phone while driving was banned, cops waited 30 days before citing people. Police instead warned drivers about the cell phone ban. This is a similar situation, he said.
Homeless advocates have objected to the new smoking ban, arguing that it unfairly targets homeless in city parks. Not everyone in Seattle agrees with that argument, however.
Violators of the smoking ban who have been given a trespassing notice can dispute the citation by calling 206-684-4075 or emailing Right2dispute@seattle.gov.
More than 1,000 cities in the United States have smoking bans in parks, including Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Portland.
